Mexican authorities said on Wednesday that Jesús González Peñuelas, known as Chuy Peñuelas, was killed in a shootout with Mexican Navy personnel during an operation near Alfredo V. Bonfil in the municipality of Sinaloa. Omar García Harfuch said González Peñuelas was among two people who died on Monday in the clash.
The announcement put a name to one of the most wanted figures in that stretch of narcotrafficking. The United States had offered a $5 million reward for him, and Harfuch said that reward was tied to a man accused of manufacturing, distributing and importing cocaine and heroin.
Marines secured four automobiles, three long guns, magazines and ammunition after the confrontation. But the death notice stopped short of the final word: the identities of the two dead men were still pending pericial confirmation, a reminder that the operational claim and the forensic record are not always delivered at the same pace.
González Peñuelas was described as one of the main operators of the Cártel de Guasave, based in Guasave in Sinaloa, and federal sources said he had led an organization dedicated to methamphetamine, marijuana and heroin since the beginning of the century. More recently, he had ventured into fentanyl trafficking, while also keeping ties with Rafael Caro Quintero, who was extradited to the United States last year.
That network was not confined to one state. Authorities said it operated mainly in Sinaloa and Sonora, with connections on the northern border and distribution lines in California, Texas, Colorado and Washington. They also identified González Peñuelas as one of the main operators of Fausto Isidro Meza Flores, alias El Chapo Isidro, who leads the Cártel de Guasave and is among the FBI's most wanted fugitives.
The killing lands inside a broader criminal war that has been grinding on since 2024. The Cártel de Guasave has been caught in its own internal conflict, and the wider Cártel de Sinaloa is also split between factions linked to Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán and Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada, both imprisoned in the United States. Culiacán has been the main scene of that score-settling, and the violence there has left more than 2,000 dead since 2024.
For now, the government has announced the death, the Navy has listed the weapons and vehicles seized, and the forensic confirmation remains the last step before the state can say with certainty that the man Washington valued at $5 million is among the dead.
