Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG)

The most aggressive of the Mexican cartels, formed out of a fragmentation the state itself caused, and now the Sinaloa organisation's principal rival. The Jalisco New Generation Cartel emerged around 2009 from the remnants of the Milenio organisation after its leadership was arrested, initially presenting itself as a force that would kill members of the rival Zetas - the pattern by which each crackdown produces a successor group is the central dynamic of the Mexican drug war. It expanded far faster than its predecessors, and is now assessed to have a presence in most Mexican states and a distribution reach across dozens of countries. Its distinguishing feature is willingness to fight the state directly: it has ambushed police convoys, shot down a military helicopter with a rocket launcher in 2015, and attempted to assassinate the police chief of Mexico City in the capital in 2020. It fields uniformed units with armoured vehicles and publicises them. Its economy rests heavily on methamphetamine and fentanyl produced in laboratories rather than on cultivation, and it extends into extortion of legitimate businesses including agriculture and mining. Its leader Nemesio Oseguera, known as El Mencho, is among the most wanted fugitives in the world with a large American reward offered. Recruitment has included deceptive job advertisements leading to forced training camps. Mexico's homicide rate remains among the highest in the hemisphere. The cartel has operated since around 2009 and is based in Jalisco state. Guadalajara, Mexico's second city, lies at its centre. Mexico has around 130 million people. The cartel is designated a transnational criminal organisation by the United States. Its recruitment has been documented by Mexican prosecutors.

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