The drug trafficker Rubén Oseguera González, aka “El Menchito”, son of the leader of the CJNG, one of the most dangerous criminal groups in Mexico, was sentenced this Friday, March 7 to spend the rest of his life in a prison in the United States.
Judge Beryl Howell, from the Federal District Court of Columbia, in Washington, issued a life imprisonment and 30 years of prison. In addition, he ordered the drug trafficker, 35, to pay more than US $ 6 billion in damage repair.
Dressed in a white t -shirt and black sweater, the prisoner attended without flinching in judicial view, which lasted for several hours. The press could not see its face during the verdict reading.
Minutes later, imperturbable, he squeeze his lawyers, who plan to appeal the sentence, if necessary, before the Supreme Court.
“It should have been a case tried in Mexico, not in the United States, because no acts were committed in US territory,” lawyer Anthony Colombo told AFP at the end of the view.
Passing the rest of his life in a United States prison is one of the worst punishments for a drug trafficker. Or so the Colombian Pablo Escobar said, shot in 1993.
The sentenced is the son of one of the most sought -after bosses by the United States and Mexico: Nemesio Rubén Oseguera, aka “El Mencho”, leader of the CJNG, one of the eight criminal groups designated by Washington as global terrorist organizations.
In 2023, “El Menchito” was declared guilty of cocaine and methamphetamine traffic, as well as illegal use and possession of firearms, after a two -week trial with jury.
“Second in command”
According to judicial documents and evidence presented at the trial, between 2007 and 2017 “El Menchito” led a drug trafficking organization, in which he held the position of “second to command”.
During the process it was evidenced that he personally resorted to firearms, murders and kidnappings.
His hitmen, whom he called “Special Forces of the High Command”, used weapons to protect him. In 2015 he ordered his subordinates to knock down a helicopter from the Mexican Armed Forces that transported 18 soldiers and police. At least nine people died on board.
The heir of the Cartel based in Jalisco (Central-West) intended to build an empire with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that causes thousands of overdose deaths per year in the United States, the US Department of Justice reported in 2023 ..
The Mexican authorities captured him less than two months after that attack. When it was surrounded by soldiers and police, it wielded an assault weapon and a launching, demanding its release because it was a member of the CJNG.
In 2020 he was extradited to the United States, where he was born.
While he was in prison in Mexico, “El Menchito” continued to control the CJNG, negotiating drug transactions and approving the purchase of weapons, according to Washington.
The sentence was made public days after former President Donald Trump affirmed that the time came that “United States free a war against cartels” of Mexican drugs, which he accuses of threatening the national security of the country.
According to the Insight Crime Analysis Center, the CJNG not only sows terror in Mexico, but its networks extend to several countries in Latin America, Canada, Australia and Southeast Asia.
The organization of the Oseguera brothers was created in 2007 as a group of hitmen at the service of the Sinaloa Cartel, then led by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, sentenced to life imprisonment in the United States.
Around 2010, the CJNG became independent and now disputes with its former allies several territories for drug trafficking. He has distinguished himself for attacking senior Mexican officials.