ZAPOPAN: The notorious Mexican drug lord Nemesio Oseguera was laid to rest in a simple grave on Monday in a ceremony that featured trucks overflowing with flowers, traditional music and dozens of masked soldiers in armoured vehicles.

The remains of the man who led the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel — he was the US government’s most-wan­ted drug trafficker — presumably lay in a gold-coloured coffin, observed through ri­­n­­gs of federal security forces at the scene.

Famous drug lords in Mexico are often buried in opulent mausoleums but Oseguera’s final resting place is a plain plot in a cemetery next to a military post outside Guadalajara. The site is about five kilometers (three miles) from a stadium due to host four World Cup games this summer.

On Saturday, federal prosecutors handed Oseguera’s body over to his family, which took it from Mexico City to Guadalajara for burial in the suburb of Zapopan. Oseguera, alias “El Mencho,” for whom the US government had offered a $15 million bounty, was fatally wounded in a raid by elite Mexican troops on Feb 22 in a country club in the western state of Jalisco.

The funeral home holding his body was surrounded by dozens of soldiers, national guardsmen, and police who interrogated anyone who came close. The security forces dissuaded curious onlookers but did not halt an endless stream of floral bouquets sent to pay tribute to Oseguera. One had angel wings made of red roses and another looked like a rooster — a nod to his love of cockfighting.

Published in Dawn, March 4, 2026