Jalisco New Generation Cartel

The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (Spanish: Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación) or CJNG, formerly known as Los Mata Zetas, is a Mexican organized crime syndicate based in Jalisco which is headed by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes ("El Mencho"), one of the world's most-wanted drug lords. The cartel has been characterized by its aggressive use of extreme violence and its public relations campaigns. Although the CJNG is particularly known for diversifying into various types of criminal rackets, drug trafficking (primarily cocaine and methamphetamine) remains its most profitable activity. The cartel has also been noted for cannibalizing some of its victims, sometimes during the training of new sicarios or cartel members, as well as using drones and rocket-propelled grenades to attack its enemies.

As of 2020, the CJNG is generally considered by the Mexican government to be the most dangerous criminal organization in Mexico and the second most powerful drug cartel in the country after the Sinaloa Cartel. CJNG is heavily militarized and more violent than other criminal organizations. It has a special operations group and other sections for specific types of warfare. Its hitman training program is strict and professional. The CJNG is the most dominant criminal group in the state of Jalisco but the cartel also dominates criminal and drug operations in the states of Nayarit and Colima, with the latter being an important area for shipments of South American cocaine and chemical precursors from Asia. While this cartel is best known for its fights against the Zetas and Templarios, it has also fought La Resistencia for control of Aguililla, Michoacán and its surrounding territories. More recently, tensions have also begun to rise with the CJNG's arch-rival, the Sinaloa Cartel within the states of Chiapas and Zacatecas.

Jalisco New Generation Cartel started as one of the splits of the Milenio Cartel, the other being La Resistencia. La Resistencia accused CJNG of giving up Oscar Valencia ("El Lobo") to the authorities and called them Los Torcidos ("The Twisted Ones"). The Jalisco Cartel defeated La Resistencia and took control of the Millenio Cartel's smuggling networks.

Jalisco New Generation Cartel expanded its operation network from coast to coast in only six months, making it one of the criminal groups with the greatest operating capacity in Mexico by 2012. At this time, the Sinaloa Cartel allied with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel to fight off Los Zetas. In the period following the emergence of the CJNG cartel, homicides, kidnappings and the discoveries of mass graves spiked in Jalisco.

In 2017, the CJNG reportedly broke its alliance with Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada of the Sinaloa Cartel. By 2018, the CJNG became the second most powerful cartel in Mexico, and was believed to have over 100 methamphetamine labs throughout the country. Based on the average street value, its trade could net upwards of $8.1 billion for cocaine and $4.6 billion for crystal meth each year. In 2018, CJNG co-founder Érick Valencia Salazar and former high ranking CJNG leader Carlos Enrique Sánchez also both left the cartel and co-founded a rival cartel called the Nueva Plaza Cartel. The CJNG are currently fighting the Nueva Plaza cartel for control of the city of Guadalajara, Jalisco; La Unión Tepito for Mexico City; Los Viagras and La Familia Michoacana for the states of Michoacán and Guerrero; Los Zetas in the states of Veracruz and Puebla; Cártel del Noreste in Zacatecas; the Sinaloa Cartel in Baja California, Sonora, Ciudad Juarez, Zacatecas and Chiapas; as well as the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel in Guanajuato. They currently have an alliance with the Cártel del Golfo in Zacatecas, La Línea in Juárez, and several smaller cartels in Mexico City which help it fight against La Unión Tepito.

Combatting CJNG is proving difficult because of police corruption. The retention and hiring of new police officers is poor, and many of Mexico's smaller communities prefer to police their communities themselves. Vigilantism is one way in which these communities are resisting the control of cartels and the government. Although the government has asked these groups to lay down their arms, the vigilantes continue with some success.

In March 2019, Texas Republican congressman Chip Roy introduced a bill that would list the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, the Gulf Cartel and the Cártel del Noreste faction of Los Zetas as foreign terrorist organizations. Former United States President Donald Trump had also expressed interest in designating cartels as terrorist organizations. However, he halted plans to do so at the request of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. From 2018 to 2020, the CJNG engaged in 298 reported acts of gang-related violence; more than any other cartel during the period. By 2020, U.S. counter-drug officials considered CJNG its "biggest criminal drug threat" and Mexico's former security commissioner called the group "the most urgent threat to Mexico's national security".