Infamous Mexican drug lord Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, also known as “El Mencho”, was buried in a golden casket by his family on Monday.
The cartel leader died after being wounded in a firefight between his bodyguards and Mexican special forces personnel deployed to capture him in late February.
The 59-year-old founder of the feared Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) was the country’s most-wanted man, while the US had offered a $15m (£11.2m) reward for information leading to his arrest.
His death triggered widespread retaliatory violence in which cartel members set fire to vehicles and blockaded roads across 20 Mexican states.
Members of the National Guard were out in force to prevent fresh violence from breaking out during the colourful funeral near Guadalajara in Jalisco state, a stronghold for the cartel.
Large floral tributes were seen being carried into the funeral home ahead of the ceremony, including one shaped like a rooster in a reference to his love of cockfighting.
According to AFP news agency, five lorries were needed to take all the tributes to the cemetery, most of which had been sent anonymously.
The funeral procession was accompanied by a band playing ranchero music and narcocorridos – songs praising drug lords.
The traditional song El Muchacho Alegre (The Cheerful Boy) was played as Oseguera’s gold-coloured coffin arrived at a chapel located inside the cemetery grounds, local media reported.
After an hour-long ceremony, the mourners – many of whom concealed their identities using face masks – followed the coffin as it was carried to the grave.
Mexican media noted that the plot was relatively plain compared with those of other drug lords, which are often topped by large mausoleums.
Under Oseguera’s leadership, the CJGN became a powerful transnational criminal organisation which spread from its stronghold in Jalisco into many other Mexican states, where it engages in drug production and trafficking.
Oseguera’s killing by Mexican special forces has been seen as a victory for President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government, which has come under increasing pressure by her US counterpart Donald Trump to do more to combat drug trafficking.
But there have been fears that the vacuum left behind by the powerful cartel leader could trigger a surge in violence in the short term, as different factions within the criminal group – which is estimated to have tens of thousands of members – fight for control.
