The wife of an infamous Mexican cartel boss has been arrested by authorities in the west of the country on suspicion of running the fiances for the fierce Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG).
Rosalinda Gonzalez-Valencia, according to a joint statement from Mexico’s attorney general, defence department and national intelligence agency on Tuesday, was captured in Zapopan, Jalisco, on Monday afternoon.
She is the husband of “El Mencho”, or Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, who is head of CJNG and on the run from authorities in Mexico and the neighbouring United States.
Her arrest by Mexican solders was described as “a significant blow to the financial structure of organized crime in the state”, in that statement.
Authorities in Mexico allege that Ms Gonzalez-Valencia was responsible for the illegal finances behind the CJNG, and thus organised crime in the country.
CJNG is one of the two biggest gangs in Mexico, and aligned with the Los Cuinis drug-trafficking organisation (DTO) through marriage. The DTO is also based in Jalisco, a state in the west of Mexico.
Jose Gonzalez-Valencia, her brother and head of the DTO, was extradited from Brazil to the United States as recently as last week on charges of international drug trafficking.
The US department of defence described both gangs as among the “most dangerous” and most “prolific drug cartels in Mexico” following his arrest.
It added that the gangs “have been and continue to be responsible for trafficking ton quantities of illegal drugs into the United States and employing extreme violence to further that objective”.
Tuesday was not the first arrest for Ms Gonzalez-Valencia, who was previously detained in May 2018 in Jalisco but was later released on a bond of 1.5m pesos (£58,000).
There were no reports of bail this time around and she is thought to be in jail in Jalisco. Footage allegedly of her arrest also appeared on social media.
Through the CJNG, her husband has conducted a number of deadly attacks on Mexico’s security forces, including an assassination attempt on Mexico City’s police chief last year in the capital.
The attack wounded him and left three people dead. Meanwhile in 2015, a group of gunmen shot down a Mexican military helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade.
The cartel’s main business is trafficking drugs to the United States, especially methamphetamine and fentanyl, according to reports.
Additional reporting by The Associated Press
