The leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel was buried Monday in a shiny golden casket amid enormous floral wreaths and a heavy military presence in the state that gave name to one of Mexico’s most powerful cartels.
A federal official confirmed Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias “El Mencho,” was interred in a cemetery in Zapopan, a suburb of Guadalajara. Dozens joined the funeral procession, many carrying black umbrellas on a sunny day while a banda played regional Mexican music. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case. The Attorney General’s Office declined to confirm the burial location for security reasons.
Security had been tightened since Sunday around a funeral home where large anonymous wreaths arrived; some included a rooster image, a nod to Oseguera Cervantes’s nickname, the “Lord of the Roosters.” A local journalist said so many flowers arrived that five trucks were needed to move them to the cemetery. Earlier, eight people dressed in black, believed to be family members, followed the white hearse in two cars to the graveyard.
Mexican army forces killed Oseguera Cervantes just over a week earlier while trying to capture him. The cartel leader, who had a $15 million U.S. bounty, died of multiple gunshot wounds, according to the death certificate obtained by The Associated Press. The certificate lists bullet wounds to his chest, abdomen and legs.
Authorities said a crucifix, religious candles and a handwritten psalm were found in his home after the operation, and they tracked one of his romantic partners to the hideout. Defense Secretary Ricardo Treviño said Oseguera Cervantes and two bodyguards were badly wounded in a gunfight with soldiers outside a home in Tapalpa, Jalisco, and that the three died while being taken to a hospital.
Oseguera Cervantes’s body was taken to Mexico City for an autopsy and was returned to his family on Saturday, the Attorney General’s Office said. The death certificate notes burial, a standard step in violent-death cases to allow for additional forensic evidence gathering if needed; it did not specify the burial site.
The cartel leader’s killing triggered retaliatory violence across some 20 states. Officials said more than 70 people died in the period spanning the military operation and the ensuing unrest. The government has said operations continue against other senior cartel figures.
Burials of high-profile drug traffickers in Mexico are often shrouded in secrecy and can be used by supporters to mythologize them. Within hours of El Mencho’s death, ballads known as narcocorridos celebrating his killing appeared. In neighboring Sinaloa state, some cemeteries are known for lavish crypts and mausoleums for former kingpins such as Ignacio Coronel and Arturo Beltrán Leyva. Other cartel leaders have met unusual ends or had their bodies disappear — examples include Nazario Moreno, whose death was claimed twice, Heriberto Lazcano, whose corpse was reportedly stolen in 2012, and Amado Carrillo Fuentes, who died during plastic surgery.
Agence France-Presse contributed to this report.