Audias Flores Silva, alias "El Jardinero", regional head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, considered a possible successor to Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias "El Mencho", at the head of the cartel, was arrested by Mexican special forces .

The United States had offered a $5 million reward for his capture. According to authorities, the drug trafficker controlled methamphetamine laboratories, clandestine airstrips, and drug trafficking routes between Central America, Mexico, and the United States. Originally from Michoacán, he was considered a trusted man of "El Mencho" and operated in several states, including Jalisco and Zacatecas. He is accused of international cocaine and heroin trafficking and the use of firearms.

The capture is a hard blow for the Cartel, but it is not clear whether the arrest is due to US intelligence information or to a betrayal within the criminal organization , aimed at eliminating one of the main contenders to succeed "El Mencho" to power.

According to national security expert David Saucedo, the strategy shares similar characteristics with the actions undertaken against the Sinaloa Cartel, given that the capture of Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada in July 2014 sparked a civil war between "Los Chapitos" (a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel formed by the sons of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán) and "La Mayiza" (another powerful faction of the Sinaloa Cartel loyal to the family of co-founder Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada García), which led to the fragmentation of the criminal organization. "It seems to me that the objective of Mexico and the United States, without explicitly stating it, was to provoke the same thing: a fracture within the Jalisco Cartel."

(Unioneonline)