Mexico Says US Intelligence Aided in Capture of Cartel Boss

Mexico leaned on US intelligence to arrest an alleged cartel boss with a $5 million bounty on his head, although officials stressed that no foreign agents were on the ground for the operation.

Authorities on Tuesday drew a distinction between the arrest of Audias Flores Silva, a member of the Jalisco Nueva Generacion cartel, and a previous drug bust in the state of Chihuahua, after which two CIA agents died in a car crash.

“Rather than US involvement, it was an exchange of information,” Defense Minister Ricardo Trevilla Trejo said during a news conference, where officials detailed the Monday arrest of Flores Silva. “It is very different to have an exchange of information, as permitted by law, than to have agents on the ground.”

The deaths of the US officials following the Chihuahua operation sparked renewed security-related tensions between the Trump administration and the Mexican government. President Claudia Sheinbaum said afterward that Mexican security officials weren’t told about the presence of foreign agents, which she described as a clear breach of protocol.

Still, the use of US intelligence highlights continued efforts to cooperate on security matters as President Donald Trump pressures Mexico to intensify its targeting of the drug trade.

Flores Silva, known as “the Gardener,” had been sought for crimes including drug trafficking. The US had also accused him of leading a fraud scheme that scammed older US citizens out of their savings.

Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch said Flores Silva oversaw operations along the Pacific Coast and had served as security chief and top ally to Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, the cartel leader known as “El Mencho” killed in a Mexican operation in February.

Authorities also captured Flores Silva’s right-hand man during the operation, a development Garcia Harfuch characterized as a severe blow to the cartel’s operations.

Cesar “N,” known as “Guero Conta,” was in charge of purchasing aircraft, leading an extortion ring and investing in tequila producers for the cartel, Trevilla said.

Earlier this year, in the area where Flores Silva operated, authorities arrested the mayor of Tequila over an extortion racket that included an attempt to shake down Becle, the world’s oldest maker of tequila spirits. He was accused of committing crimes in collaboration with the cartel. 

There have been no roadblocks, a common form of protest from criminal groups, following the arrests, Trevilla said, adding that no agents were injured during the operation.

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