Manhunt[edit]
On 25 August 2012, a unit of the
Mexican Federal Police based in
Tonaya, Jalisco, responded to an anonymous tip stating that there was an organized crime cell present in a rural community close by. When the security forces got to the area, a shootout broke out between the two parties.
[28] 6 CJNG gunmen were killed in the firefight. Initial reports stated that El Mencho was captured in the operation, but the Mexican government later confirmed that he was not in custody.
[29][30] Other reporting stated the U.S authorities had alerted the Mexican authorities based on their surveillance of the subject's girlfriend who was importing meth at Gulfport, Mississippi.
[31]
In a series of highly coordinated tactics to prevent El Mencho's arrest, the CJNG blocked several highways and roads across the
Guadalajara Metropolitan Area by setting at least 37 vehicles on fire.
[32] The purpose of the burning vehicles was to place them as blockades to impede the security forces from traveling across Jalisco's capital and giving El Mencho ample time to escape.
[15] The blockades were placed in strategic routes to prevent police reinforcements to come in or leave Guadalajara. After the attacks were over, the government confirmed that El Mencho was in the area and had evaded capture.
[33]
On 19 March 2015, in
Ocotlán, Jalisco, CJNG gunmen ambushed a Federal Police convoy.
The total death toll was 11; five police officers, three civilians, and three CJNG gunmen. The attack was a response by the CJNG to protect El Mencho, who was reportedly in the area for a meeting.
[34] On 23 March, Heriberto Acevedo Cárdenas (alias "El Gringo" and "El Güero"), one of El Mencho's close associates, was killed in a shootout with the Federal Police in
Zacoalco de Torres, Jalisco. Three other CJNG suspects were killed. According to government sources, Acevedo Cárdenas directed CJNG cells in Zacoalco,
Tlajomulco,
Cocula,
Tapalpa and
Atemajac de Brizuela, Jalisco.
[35]
In response to his death, El Mencho commanded the CJNG to carry out attacks against the Mexican Federal Police.
[36] On 30 March, CJNG gunmen in
Zapopan, Jalisco, ambushed a convoy containing Alejandro Solorio Aréchiga, Jalisco's security commissioner. No one was killed in the fire exchange.
[37]
On 6 April, CJNG gunmen blocked a road in
San Sebastián del Oeste, Jalisco, with a burning vehicle and opened fire at a convoy of the Federal Police,
killing 15 policemen and wounding 5 more.
[38][39] The incident was the deadliest single attack on the Mexico's police force since 2010.
[40] That same day, Miguel Ángel Caicedo Vargas, the police chief of Zacoalco de Torres, was killed by CJNG hitmen.
[41]
A month later on
1 May 2015, the Mexican government launched Operation Jalisco, a military-led campaign that intended to combat organized crime groups in Jalisco and capture their respective leaders.
[42] The announcement came after a series of violent attacks from the CJNG in previous weeks. The day the operation was inaugurated, intelligence reports stated that El Mencho was in Tonaya, which prompted an offensive to apprehend him. As the security forces moved to the area where El Mencho was allegedly hiding, a gunfight broke out between law enforcement officials and gunmen of the CJNG.
[43]
In the small town of
Villa Purificación, Jalisco, El Mencho's men shot down a Mexican Army
helicopter with a
rocket-propelled grenade launcher, killing 9 soldiers.
[44][45] The battle extended throughout several municipalities in Jalisco; El Mencho's men blockaded several roads across the Guadalajara area to slow down the mobilization of law enforcement and facilitate their leader's escape. The CJNG set 39 buses, 11 banks, and 16 gas stations on fire. The attack spread through 20 different towns and in three neighboring states.
[46]
According to the Mexican government, El Mencho may be hiding in the state of Jalisco, the CJNG's stronghold. They believe he does not stay in one place for long, and travels across several municipalities in Jalisco and into the states of Michoacán, Colima, and Nayarit.
[47][48] He usually travels across the mountains and rural terrains in these areas since it provides multiple escape routes in the event that security forces attempt to encircle him.
[47] Authorities suspect El Mencho's inner circle is made up of mercenaries with former military training. His second security circle is much larger in size and serves as a rearguard to notify El Mencho's inner circle of suspicious activity and ambush potential parties that attempt to get close to him.
[49]
