(NewsNation) — The U.S. government has increased the bounty on one of Mexico’s most notorious drug lords while simultaneously releasing another infamous cartel leader from prison.
The State Department has raised the reward for the leader of the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” to $15 million.
El Mencho, whose cartel has become a dominant force in international drug trafficking, is wanted for orchestrating widespread cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl smuggling operations.
The increased reward comes on the heels of a significant blow to the cartel — the arrest of El Mencho’s son-in-law, Cristian Gutierrez-Ochoa, in Riverside, California.
Gutierrez-Ochoa had gone to extraordinary lengths to evade capture, even fabricating his own death before fleeing to the United States. Authorities allege he played a critical role in the cartel’s international operations, managing massive drug shipments and laundering millions of dollars in criminal proceeds.
In a parallel development, Fabio Ochoa Vásquez, a former leader of the infamous Medellin cartel, was released from a U.S. prison after serving 25 years of a 30-year sentence.
Ochoa Vásquez, who was central to the cocaine boom of the 1980s, was linked to over 40 tons of cocaine shipments and was indicted in connection with the killing of DEA informant Barry Seal.
Law enforcement officials are closely monitoring his return to Colombia while El Mencho remains at large, with authorities warning that despite the arrest of key lieutenants, the CJNG’s criminal infrastructure remains largely intact.