Washington’s strategy seeks not only arrests, but potentially to exploit internal fractures within one of Mexico’s most powerful criminal organizations.
Mexico City, Mexico | August 2026
The United States has intensified its offensive against the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) by offering more than $100 million in combined rewards for information leading to the capture or conviction of senior figures in the organization. The unprecedented financial pressure comes as U.S. authorities seek to weaken the cartel’s leadership, financial networks and operational structure following the death of its longtime leader, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, “El Mencho,” earlier this year.
At the center of the new strategy is Juan Carlos Valencia González, also known as “El Pelón” or “El 03,” identified by U.S. authorities as a leading figure in the organization’s new command structure. Washington is offering $25 millionfor information leading to his capture, while multimillion-dollar rewards have also been announced for other senior CJNG figures.
The campaign extends far beyond financial incentives. U.S. authorities have unveiled criminal indictments against alleged high-ranking members, imposed sanctions against individuals and companies associated with the organization and introduced visa restrictions targeting people linked to its networks. The objective appears designed to simultaneously increase pressure on the cartel’s leadership, financial infrastructure and international connections.
One of the strategic possibilities surrounding such a large rewards program is that it could encourage defections, betrayals or negotiated surrenders from within the organization itself. Financial incentives can potentially transform trusted associates, intermediaries or rival factions into intelligence sources, particularly during periods of leadership transition when loyalties and internal hierarchies may be less stable.
The strategy nevertheless carries significant risks. Fragmenting a powerful criminal organization does not automatically eliminate its operational capacity. Leadership pressure can produce competing factions, territorial disputes or new alliances, potentially generating additional violence as different groups attempt to inherit routes, financial networks and regional control.
Washington’s offensive therefore represents something broader than a traditional manhunt. By combining rewards, indictments, sanctions, financial investigations and diplomatic pressure, U.S. authorities are attempting to attack the CJNG as an interconnected criminal ecosystem rather than merely pursue individual leaders.
The central question is whether that pressure will produce surrender, internal betrayal or further fragmentation. In the struggle against transnational organized crime, dismantling a hierarchy may be only the beginning; what emerges from the vacuum can ultimately determine whether the strategy succeeds.
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