The Avocado Boy Who Became the Most Wanted Man in Mexico
A story about poverty, power, ambition, and the cost of choices.
There’s something about stories like this that feel unreal. A boy grows up in a dusty village, drops out of school, crosses the border chasing something bigger… and decades later, entire highways burn because the government is trying to catch him.
That was the life of Nemesio Rubén “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes — the head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) — who died on February 22, 2026, after being wounded in a Mexican military operation.
But if you strip away the headlines, the rewards, the politics, the violence — what you are left with is a story that begins in a poor avocado field in Michoacán.
The Boy in the Fields
Born in 1966 in rural Michoacán. Poor family. Five brothers. Fifth-grade education. By 14, he was guarding marijuana plantations.
Like many young men from villages across Mexico, he crossed illegally into California in the 1980s. The dream was simple: money. Opportunity. A better life.
Arrests in San Francisco. Deportations. Federal charges. Prison in Texas. Back to Mexico.
If you look closely, it’s not glamorous. It’s messy. Desperate. The kind of story that starts with poverty and ends with choices stacking up.
From Policeman to Cartel Boss
After deportation, he briefly joined local police in Jalisco. Then entered the Milenio Cartel. Married into the family. Survived internal wars.
When leaders were arrested or killed, he climbed. When factions split, he fought. Eventually, his group became the CJNG — one of the most powerful criminal organizations in Mexico.
Governments offered up to $15 million for information leading to his arrest.
The Highway Fires
What made him different from older cartel bosses was not just money — it was audacity.
Vehicles burned across highways. Cities shut down. In 2015, his men shot down a Mexican Army helicopter with a rocket launcher.
He became known as “the enemy of the state.”
The Manhunt
For years, he evaded capture. Authorities believed he moved constantly through mountain terrain in Jalisco and surrounding states.
Road blockades would appear before security forces could move in. Security circles within security circles.
It almost became mythological — the idea of a man who could not be caught.
The Final Operation
On February 22, 2026, he was taken into custody during a military operation in Tapalpa, Jalisco, but died from gunshot wounds while being transported.
The aftermath was immediate: road blockades, burning vehicles, clashes across multiple states.
The Bigger Question
Whenever I see stories like this, I don’t just see crime. I see systems.
Poverty in rural Mexico. Demand for drugs globally. Corruption. Immigration struggles.
If the demand remains… does the supply ever really disappear?
History will record him as a drug lord.
But the more important story is not about one man.
It’s about the conditions that allow men like him to rise in the first place.
Written by Krishna Bhaskar