Eight top notch Jalisco New Generation Cartel members targeted by the US Department of State: 102 million dollars in rewards

THE BAJA POST
NEWSROOM

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs announced reward offers under the Narcotics Rewards Program (NRP) and Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program (TOCRP) adding up to $102 million for information leading to the arrests and/or convictions, in any country, of eight leaders and associates of Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG).

These rewards are offered in coordination with the DOJ, DEA, FBI, HSI, IRS, CBP, and the National Coordination Center, and were announced in a press conference

The reward offers include up to $25 million (an increase from up to $5 million) for Juan Carlos Valencia González, a.k.a. “Pelón,” the new leader of CJNG following the recent death of his stepfather, CJNG founder Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, a.k.a. “El Mencho”.

Up to $15 million (an increase from up to $5 million) for Audias Flores Silva, a.k.a. “Jardinero”; up to $15 million each for Gonzalo Mendoza Gaytán, a.k.a. “Sapo,” and Oseguera Cervantes’ son-in-law, Julio Alberto Castillo Rodríguez, a.k.a. “Chorro”, all these people are considered prioritary objectives and are high ranked members of the CJNG.

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And rewards amounting up to $10 million each for Ricardo Ruiz Velasco, a.k.a. “Tripa,” Julio César Montero Pinzón, a.k.a. “El Tarjetas,” and Carlos Andrés Rivera Varela, a.k.a. “La Firma”; and up to $2 million for Griselda Margarita Arredondo Pinzón. These reward offers support our U.S. law enforcement partners in crippling the organization’s leadership.

Additionally, the Department is imposing visa restrictions on 65 individuals who are family members or close personal or business associates of persons linked to CJNG (who have been sanctioned under Executive Order 14059, Imposing Sanctions on Foreign Persons Involved in the Global Illicit Drug Trade).

Twenty-six of those people had existing visas, which have now been revoked. Since announcing this visa restriction policy in June 2025, a total of 93 visas have been revoked from family members and associates of sanctioned drug traffickers connected to FTO-designated cartels. Thus, violent cartel operatives and their criminal facilitators are no longer able to enter the United States and terrorize the American people.