This Was The Millennium Cartel, The Criminal Organization That Gave Rise To The CJNG.

Mica for cartelinsider.com

The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) is one of Mexico’s largest criminal organizations. However, its origins can be traced back to the 1970s in Aguililla, Michoacán, the birthplace of its top leader: Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, “El Mencho”.

As has happened with the vast majority of drug cartels in the country, family structures have been fundamental for the consolidation of the CJNG, whose roots can be traced back to the Valencia family lineage.

Various investigations point to the Valencia family, originally from the town of Dos Aguas, as the first to introduce drug cultivation in the region since 1940. At that time, agents from the Public Ministry began to identify that some corn and bean crops were being replaced by marijuana and poppy plantations.

Between 1962 and 1982, this group experienced a boom due to their control over a large portion of drug shipments to the United States. They even received support from Sinaloa drug traffickers such as Ernesto “Don Neto” Fonseca.

By the 1980s, the leaders in the drug trade were Armando Valencia Cornejo and Miguel Ángel Félix Cornejo, who shipped their loads to the United States from a clandestine airstrip in Mesa de la Paloma, a community in Tumbiscatío.

During the 1990s, “El Mencho” began to become involved with the criminal leaders of his hometown, as he was in charge of organizing parties that Félix Cornejo would offer to bosses like Héctor “El Güero” Palma, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, and Arturo Beltrán Leyva.

After Félix Cornejo was murdered in July 1994, “El Mencho” distanced himself from the organization and began to consolidate his criminal career on his own.

Meanwhile, the members of the Valencia family – also known as the Avocado Kings – had to restructure their ranks and in 1999 the authorities became aware of their existence.

By the year 2000, the Valencias began to proclaim themselves as the Cartel of the Millennium and were embroiled in a violent feud against Los Zetas (at the time still loyal to the Gulf Cartel).

On August 15, 2003, Armando Valencia Cornelio, who was considered the top leader of the cartel at that time, was captured. His nephew, Oscar Orlando Nava Valencia, had to fill his position, also known as “El Lobo”.

During his term within the structure, “El Lobo” set up his operations centers in Jalisco, Colima, Michoacán, and the former Federal District.

By 2008, when the split between the Sinaloa Cartel and the Beltran Leyva occurred, the Millennium Cartel remained loyal to the group of “El Chapo” Guzmán, which positioned them as rivals to the Beltran Leyva.

As part of his alliance with Guzmán Loera, “El Lobo” and his followers brought to life a group of hitmen baptized as Los Matazetas, solely responsible for wiping out those with the last name in Veracruz. One of the top leaders of this deadly faction was “El Mencho”.

Nava Valencia was captured by members of the Army in October 2009 while “El Mencho” and his henchmen were reclaiming territory for the Sinaloa Cartel on the Gulf coast.

Little by little, the scenario began to have the ideal conditions for the CJNG to be born, as the Millennium Cartel was weakened by its dispute with La Familia Michoacana, and the Sinaloa Cartel was receiving heavy blows in its war against the Beltrán Leyva.

This, coupled with the unequal proportion of security operations by Felipe Calderón’s government, benefited “El Mencho” and his men. In 2011, Oseguera Cervantes announced the new nickname of his criminal group, and by 2013, he revealed his split with the Sinaloa Cartel.

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Mica

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