Our Wednesday Sociedad Media Now daily newsletter on Latin America’s top issues focusing on regional security.
“Tony Montana,” El Mencho’s Brother & CJNG’s Financial Architect, Pleads Guilty in Washington
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Antonio Oseguera Cervantes, “Tony Montana,” brother of the late CJNG founder “El Mencho,” pleaded guilty in Washington, D.C. to trafficking over 450 kilos of cocaine and 45 kilos of methamphetamine into the U.S. between 1998 and 2022, closing out two decades as the cartel’s chief financial and logistics operator.
The case, already underway since his February 2025 extradition, unfolds months after El Mencho was killed by the Mexican Army in an operation that sparked nationwide unrest, leaving more than 70 dead. He faces sentencing November 13, with a mandatory minimum of 15 years and up to two consecutive life sentences.
Fujimori Begins Expelling Venezuelan Migrants, Fulfilling a Campaign Pledge Shared Across the Region’s New Right
LIMA, PERU — Less than a week into office, Peru’s Keiko Fujimori began expelling Venezuelan migrants with criminal records, deporting three alleged Tren de Aragua members directly to Caracas via Peruvian Air Force jet — fulfilling a campaign pledge that closely echoes Chile's José Antonio Kast, who has pursued a nearly identical “humanitarian corridor” policy but remains stalled by the lack of consular relations between Santiago and Caracas.
Unlike Chile, Peru appears to already have working diplomatic channels with Delcy Rodríguez’s government sufficient to carry out direct deportation flights — a meaningful operational advantage, with more expulsions already confirmed in the pipeline.
Spain Dismantles CJNG Cell, Seizes 2.5 Tons of Meth Smuggled in Liquid Vanilla
CATALONIA, SPAIN — Spanish and French police dismantled a CJNG cell in Catalonia, seizing 2.5 tons of methamphetamine smuggled from Mexico dissolved in liquid vanilla flavoring — one of the largest interdictions of its kind ever recorded in Europe.
Thirteen people were arrested, most of them Mexican nationals from Guadalajara and Sinaloa, in a bust that follows a similar operation last November and points to CJNG actively building refining and logistics infrastructure directly on European soil rather than simply exporting finished product from Mexico.
