Husband of Rosalinda González Valencia, "El Mencho", Arrested in Mexico
The head of the infamous Jalisco Cartel New Generation was just killed by the Mexican government. His wife has been in the crime game as long as he has.
When I read that Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias “El Mencho,” the notorious boss of the Jalisco Cartel New Generation (CJNG), had been killed in a military operation by the Mexican military from my bed in Mexico City this morning, my mind turned immediately to Rosalinda González Valencia, his wife.
Known as “La Jefa” (The Boss), González Valencia has a significant reputation in Mexico’s organized crime landscape independent of the man she is reportedly married to. She grew up in a family that has been connected to organized crime as far back as the 1970s and 1980s.
Reporting shows that she is the niece of Armando Valencia Cornelio, alias “El Maradona,” founder of the now-defunct Milenio gang, which was one of the groups that eventually turned into the CJNG in around 2010. El Mencho was also a Milenio Cartel member, which could have been where he and Rosalinda met. Her family was in the weed-growing and trafficking business and also founded the Cuinis, an adjacent money-laundering outfit considered something of a sister organization to the CJNG.
Rosalinda was first arrested in Jalisco in May 2018 on money laundering charges, only to be freed three months later due to a lack of evidence. Then she was captured again in November 2021, for a federal tribunal to rule that she wasn’t connected to organized crime. But she was sentenced to five years for financial crimes, and released around this time last year for good behavior.
Where is she now? Probably not that far from where El Mencho was killed this morning in the Jalisco Cartel heartland. His demise signals the end to a generation of Mexican drug bosses that also included Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán and Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, both of whom are now in US custody. No doubt Rosalinda and the family members who remain will be lying low, mourning their loss, and watching developments closely to figure out what comes next.