Washington, Nov. 13 (EFE).- Mexican drug trafficker Antonio Oseguera Cervantes, the brother of drug lord El Mencho, was sentenced Friday by a federal court in Washington to 22 years and six months in prison for drug trafficking and firearms offenses.
U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell of the District Court for the District of Columbia handed down the sentence after Oseguera pleaded guilty last July to conspiring to traffic drugs on behalf of the Milenio Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel over two decades.
Howell reduced the 30-year sentence sought by prosecutors, citing the defendant’s age, 68, and his chronic medical conditions, including cardiovascular problems and an immune system disorder that causes “confusion,” according to the defense.
The drug trafficker’s attorney also argued that the conditions of Oseguera’s confinement in isolation were contributing to his “mental and physical decline.”
The judge also noted that the defendant had helped bring cocaine and methamphetamine into the United States and had been involved in criminal organizations. In her view, these offenses had a “destabilizing effect” on the country.
Prosecutors had requested the 30-year sentence to ensure that “the defendant never has another opportunity to harm the United States.”
Before the sentence was read, Oseguera addressed the court in Spanish and offered a “public apology” for his “serious actions,” expressing regret for his “actions and the harm caused,” as EFE witnessed in the courtroom.
He also asked the court to ensure that, while he understood he had to “face the consequences,” the length of his sentence would allow him not to “die far away” from his family, one of his “greatest fears,” according to a letter he had prepared and read aloud.
Oseguera showed no visible reaction throughout the hearing to what he heard through an interpreter, as he does not speak English. He was wearing a green prison jumpsuit.
El Mencho, the founder and leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, died on Feb. 22, 2026, after being wounded during a Mexican Army military operation in Tapalpa, in the state of Jalisco.
His son, Rubén Oseguera González, known as El Menchito, was sentenced in March 2025 to life in prison plus 30 years in the United States for drug trafficking and firearms offenses. He is serving his sentence at ADX Florence, a federal supermax prison in Colorado.
SOURCE: EFE.