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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Thomas Graham in Tijuana

Mexico’s cartel crackdown hits top ranks – but will it fuel Jalisco violence?

five soldiers stand with a detained man in front of a helicopter
Mexican special forces members escort Audias Flores, ‘El Jardinero’, in Nayarit, Mexico, in this handout distributed on 27 April 2026. Photograph: Secretaria de Marina via Reuters

The golden coffin of “El Mencho”, the late leader of the Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG), had barely been lowered into the ground when the Mexican military dealt a second blow to the very top of the organisation this week.

As special forces descended on a ranch in the state of Nayarit, grainy drone footage showed El Mencho’s possible successor, Audias Flores, alias “El Jardinero”, being hauled from a drainage pipe he had tried to hide in, all without a shot being fired.

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