A leader of a prominent Mexican drug cartel, for whom the United States had issued a bounty, has died during a confrontation with army troops, authorities confirmed on Saturday.
Sinaloa state, the stronghold of the powerful cartel bearing the same name, has been plagued by intense conflict between two rival factions, resulting in approximately 1,200 deaths since September.
Jorge Humberto Figueroa, known by the alias “El Perris,” was fatally shot on Friday during a raid conducted to apprehend him, according to a social media statement by public safety secretary Omar Garcia Harfuch.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had offered a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to Figueroa’s arrest, as he was suspected of involvement in fentanyl trafficking and money laundering.
Harfuch stated that Figueroa was a key figure in a notorious clash with authorities that occurred in Culiacan in 2019. In that incident, cartel members engaged in fierce fighting with security forces who had arrested Ovidio Guzman, a son of Sinaloa cartel co-founder Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. Mexican authorities controversially released Ovidio Guzman at the time in an effort to prevent further bloodshed. However, he was eventually re-arrested in 2023 and extradited to the United States, where he remains in custody.
Earlier this month, Harfuch confirmed that 17 family members of cartel leaders recently crossed into the U.S. as part of an agreement between Ovidio Guzman and the Trump administration. Local media reported that El Chapo’s ex-wife, Griselda Lopez Perez, and her daughter were among those who entered the U.S.
According to Mexican press reports, Figueroa belonged to a Sinaloa cartel faction led by the sons of the elder Guzman, who is currently serving a life sentence in the United States. This faction has been engaged in an ongoing power struggle with another group headed by the heirs of cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, who was arrested in the United States in 2024 following a sting operation.
The newspaper Reforma reported that Figueroa served as the head of security for the faction led by Guzman’s sons, known as “the Chapitos.” A 2023 indictment by the U.S. Justice Department detailed the brutal tactics allegedly employed by the Chapitos and their associates, including the use of corkscrews, electrocution, and hot chiles to torture rivals, with some victims reportedly being fed to tigers, either dead or alive.
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