From ‘Los Cuinis’ To ’85’: These Were The First Leaders Of The CJNG Alongside ‘El Mencho’.

Mica for cartelinsider.com

Despite its foundation being registered in 2009, years after the Sinaloa Cartel, the organization led by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes has reached the power of its main rival and even surpassed the number of territories it controls in Mexico. However, ‘El Mencho’ had the help of other criminals who together gave life to one of the most dangerous criminal groups in Mexico: the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).

Before being recognized under the initials ‘CJNG’, the cartel led by ‘El Mencho’ went through several stages. After being part of the Milenio Cartel and the armed branch ‘Los Mata Zetas’, several of its members became independent and officially created the ‘cartel of the four letters’.

Reports refer to the CJNG starting its operations under that name between 2009-2010 and was led by more than one person. Among them are Abigael González Valencia, leader of ‘Los Cuinis’; Erick Valencia Salazar, alias ‘El 85’; Emilio Alejandro Pulido Saldaña, ‘El Tiburón’; Martín Arzola Ortega, ‘El 53’; among others.

Abigael González Valencia, aka ‘El Cuini’, is considered one of the first members of the CJNG. He is the leader of ‘Los Cuinis’, a criminal cell based in Michoacán that serves as the armed branch of the ‘cartel of the four letters’. His sister, Rosalinda, is married to Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes.

His criminal career began alongside El Mencho in California. Both drug traffickers and other members of their family led a drug distribution network in the name of the Millennium Cartel, but over the years, he began working directly with Oseguera Cervantes for the CJNG.

He was arrested on February 28, 2015, in an operation carried out in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco. The United States has been seeking his extradition since then.

One of the men who is considered the founder of the CJNG, even by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), is Erick Valencia Salazar, also known as ‘El 85’, ‘Ochenta’ and ‘El Mono’. He has two known dates of birth: March 11, 1977, and November 19, 1982.

Just like ‘El Mencho’, Valencia Salazar was a member of the Millennium Cartel.

According to reports from the Mexican Army, during the early years of the CJNG’s existence, Valencia Salazar was in charge of supervising shipments of cocaine and ephedrine from Colombia and China to Mexico. He was also responsible for orchestrating armed attacks against rival groups, Los Zetas and La Resistencia.

On its part, the United States points out that ‘El 85’ controlled various central areas of Mexico for drug trafficking, primarily in Jalisco, Baja California, Colima, and Michoacán. American authorities also accuse him of kidnapping, homicide, corruption, and other illegal activities.

Valencia Salazar was arrested on March 12, 2012. However, he was released five years later. In October 2018, the District of Columbia filed a charge against him, alleging that between 2003 and 2018, he participated in a conspiracy to distribute narcotics in the United States.

It is believed that, after his release, ‘El 85’ accused ‘El Mencho’ of betrayal, so it is presumed that he joined the Sinaloa Cartel. The DEA offers a reward of 5 million dollars for information leading to his arrest or conviction.

Like Valencia Salazar, although Martín Arzola Ortega was considered a leader and founder of the CJNG, his involvement in the criminal organization was brief.

‘El 53’ or ‘El Negro’, as he was also known, began his criminal life as a trailer robber. After serving a sentence for this crime – and another for homicide – he joined the Cartel del Milenio, where he would have met ‘El Mencho’ and the others.

Arzola Ortega was arrested on July 13, 2011, by the Federal Police in Tlajomulco de Zúñiga, Jalisco. He was accused of coordinating CJNG operation groups in Guadalajara, Zapopán, Tonalá, Tlaquepaque, and other areas. It is also said that he was responsible for leading a squad of assassins to fight against ‘La Resistencia’, as well as using his influences within the government to facilitate his criminal activities.

In 2018, he obtained his freedom, but a year later, he was a victim of an armed attack against him and lost his life at the Zapopan Shopping Center.

Another one of the alleged founders of the CJNG is Emilio Alejandro Pulido Saldaña, also known as ‘El Tiburón’. He is one of the former members of whom very little information is known.

It is believed that, like ‘El 85’, Pulido Saldaña switched sides and joined the ranks of the Sinaloa Cartel, specifically the faction led by Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada.

But ‘El Mencho’ would not have received assistance solely from this group. The US government points out that the native of Aguililla, Michoacán, has also had the participation of his wife, children, brothers, and brothers-in-law.

From his closest family circle, the following are currently incarcerated: his wife, Rosalinda González Valencia; his son, Rubén Oseguera González, also known as ‘El Menchito’; his brother, Antonio Oseguera Cervantes, better known as ‘Tony Montana’; among others.

It is worth noting that the CJNG is currently considered one of the most powerful cartels in Mexico, while the Department of Justice describes it as one of the top five most dangerous transnational criminal organizations in the world.

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Mica

Email: mica@cartelinsider.com

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