The State Department on Wednesday raised the reward for Juan Carlos González to $25 million, up from $5 million, and said the Trump administration was now offering $102 million in total rewards for leaders of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
The move puts a fresh price on one of the most wanted men in Mexico's cartel war. González, a U.S. citizen born in Santa Ana, California, on Sept. 12, 1984, has emerged as the figurehead of the country's most powerful cartel and, according to U.S. officials, has taken control of the group once led by his stepfather, Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes.
The reward package is broad. The State Department said it is offering up to $15 million for Audias Flores Silva, up to $15 million each for Gonzalo Mendoza Gaytán and Julio Alberto Castillo Rodríguez, up to $10 million each for Ricardo Ruiz Velasco, Julio César Montero Pinzón and Carlos Andrés Rivera Varela, and up to $2 million for Griselda Margarita Arredondo Pinzón. The stated aim is to cripple the organization's leadership.
The escalation comes after several other moves against the cartel. A few weeks earlier, the Trump administration slapped sanctions on 50 people and companies linked with the group, freezing assets and blocking U.S. financial transactions. In June, the U.S. Treasury announced a new bank alert targeting the cartel, and Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions on two men and nine companies tied to a cartel-linked fuel theft ring.
That pressure has not come without a contradiction. In February, Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as El Mencho, was killed by the Mexican military, with U.S. intelligence helping with the operation, yet the cartel remains active enough for Washington to keep widening the net. The Jalisco New Generation Cartel is among eight Mexican cartels designated as foreign terrorist organizations, has a presence in 21 of Mexico's 32 states and operates in several countries, including the U.S.
Marco Rubio said the U.S. is hunting down, dismantling and destroying Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación. Whether the higher Rewards prompt a break in the cartel's inner circle is the next test, and González's case is the one that will show whether Washington's biggest offer can move a leader who has so far stayed out of reach.
