Guadalajara
AP
—
The leader of the Jalisco New Generation cartel was buried Monday in a shiny gold coffin with a giant wreath and a large military presence in the state that gave its name to one of Mexico’s most powerful cartels.
Federal officials confirmed that Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, also known as “El Mencho,” was buried in a cemetery in Zapopan, on the outskirts of Mexico’s second-largest city, Guadalajara. The funeral procession was accompanied by dozens of people, many carrying black umbrellas on sunny days, and a band playing Mexican folk music known as banda.
Officials discussed the location requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the incident. The attorney general’s office declined to confirm the location of El Mencho’s burial, citing “security reasons.”
Security had been stepped up since Sunday around the funeral home where large wreaths were being delivered anonymously. Some flowers contain the image of a rooster, and Oseguera cervantes was sometimes called the “King of Roosters.”
About a week ago, Mexican troops killed Oseguera Cervantes while trying to capture him. He died from multiple gunshot wounds, according to a death certificate obtained by The Associated Press.
The killing sparked violence in about 20 states. The death certificate matches the description of the operation to capture Oseguera Cervantes, which Defense Secretary Ricardo Torrevira said involved a gunfight with soldiers outside his home in Tapalpa, Jalisco, in which the cartel leader and two of his bodyguards were seriously injured. All three died on the way to the hospital.
The certificate stated that Oseguera-Cervantes had gunshot wounds to the chest, abdomen, and legs.
The attorney general’s office said in a brief statement that his body was taken to Mexico City, where an autopsy was performed and handed over to his family on Saturday.
The death certificate also states that Oseguera-Cervantes will be buried, as is standard practice in cases of violent death, so that additional forensic evidence can be collected if needed in the future. The document does not say where the burial will take place.
Officials’ safety concerns over burial sites are well-founded. Oseguerra Cervantes’ murder sparked retaliation by cartels in many states. More than 70 people were killed during the military operation and the ensuing violence. The government said security operations against other cartel leaders continued.
The burials of drug cartels in Mexico typically have an air of mystery, which supporters of the drug gangs seek to exploit to elevate them into legends. Within hours of El Mencho’s death, a ballad known as a narcocorrido had already been composed about his murder.
Culiacan, in neighboring Sinaloa state, home to the cartel of the same name, is home to a cemetery known for its lavish crypts and mausoleums for former kingpins like El Mencho’s old associates Ignacio Coronel and Arturo Beltrán Leyva.
Famous twice-murdered drug lord Nazario Moreno, leader of the violent pseudo-religious Knights Templar cartel, was killed in 2010, but authorities said he was actually killed in 2014.
Sometimes bodies disappear, as in the case of Heriberto Lazcano, the leader of the feared Zetas, whose body was stolen in 2012. Or they die under bizarre circumstances, like Amado Carrillo Fuentes, the King of the Skies, who died after a botched plastic surgery.
