Oregon gun supplier linked to downing of military helicopter in Mexico by cartel boss ‘El Mencho’

PORTLAND, Ore. – A joint Mexico-U.S. investigation linked a weapon used to blast a Mexican military helicopter out of the sky to a supplier from Oregon, federal firearms officials confirmed to The Courier Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network.

Eight Mexican soldiers with SEDENA, Mexico’s national defense, and one Mexican police officer died in the 2015 crash on a mission to arrest top U.S. target El Mencho, the world’s most powerful cartel boss. But the link between the incident and Portland, Oregon, had not been made public until now.

Erik Flores Elortegui, a Mexican native and U.S. citizen who lived in Portland, now tops the Most Wanted list of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and is blamed for supplying cartel members with a belt-fed .50-caliber semiautomatic rifle, said Jason Chudy, spokesman for the ATF’s Seattle Field Division, which includes Oregon.

GUN DEALERS SUED:Mexico sues 5 Arizona gun dealers, claims they are contributing to deadly cartel violence

‘BONE-CHILLING’ DEATHS:How the US appointed ‘drug czar’ plans to counter cartels, reduce overdose deaths

The short summary under his photo on the ATF’s website mentions an indictment charging the 40-year-old fugitive with illegally buying weapons and smuggling them out of the U.S., but it doesn’t describe the ensuing death toll.

The Mexican Attorney General’s office asked the ATF to trace a .50-caliber semiautomatic machine gun they say helped take down the military helicopter in a May 1, 2015, incident that rattled law enforcement on both sides of the border. After it was recovered, officials traced it back to Flores Elortegui.

Along with the nine who died, there were others who were injured. Ivan Morales, the only other Mexican police officer on board, had to crawl through the fiery wreckage and suffered severe burns and disfigurement.

They had been on a mission so secretive they weren’t told about it until they hurried in the darkness to a caravan of six helicopters at the Colima airport, six hours south of Puerto Vallarta and headed out to capture the leader of global powerhouse Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación.

Many Americans don’t know his name – Rubén Oseguera Cervantes or El Mencho – but he plays a big role in the availability of illegal drugs in bustling cities and rural towns across the U.S., driving up record-high overdose deaths.

After learning of his hideout, the military flew north over the mountain peaks of rural Jalisco, cartel headquarters.

El Mencho and his team of mercenaries were ready inside their own caravan of trucks and heavily armed. Mexican officials told the ATF the cartel fired the .50-caliber semiautomatic machine gun from Portland along with other weapons. A round tore through the rotor of Morales’ aircraft, causing it to catch on fire and spiral to the ground.

During an interview with The Courier Journal in 2019, Morales said: “I thought I was going to die.” Before leaving home early that morning, his wife told him he was going to be a father for the first time. The then-33-year-old repeatedly told paramedics and doctors so they would understand that despite the severity of his injuries, he had to fight to live.

Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación, which has an army of 5,000, also set up “narco blockades,” roadblocks at major intersections to the main city, Guadalajara. They set businesses on fire, blew up gas tanks at convenience stores and created chaos.

“That was a message to the Mexican government from El Mencho, saying: ‘We run Jalisco. Don’t come after me again. Don’t do it again or this will be the result,'” said Matt Donahue, retired chief of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s foreign operations. .

“If you look at today, the Mexican government has zero control of Jalisco, and Guerrero, as well,” Donahue said. “The military does not go in there. The Navy does not go in there.”

Guerrero, known for its coastal tourist town of Acapulco, is one of six Mexican states with “do not travel” warnings from the U.S. State Department. Department officials also advise reconsidering travel to Jalisco.

Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación produces an enormous amount of illicit drugs in both Guerrero and Jalisco, known as “narco states.”

‘I STARTED TO HEAR THE SCREAMS’:An outbreak of Mexican cartel violence targeting innocents

DANGEROUS DESTINATIONS:US tourists warned about popular Mexico spots plagued by drug cartel intimidation, violence

The downing of the helicopter and ensuing violence is a key reason why El Mencho remains free to this day, despite a decadelong search by the DEA and a $10 million reward.

“Even though there’s a warrant for his arrest in Mexico as well as the United States, they haven’t even taken a run at him since then,” Donahue said.

“That tactic – attacking innocent people, blowing everything up and going after government buildings – worked for him. They know he’ll do it again.”

A special investigative report in 2019 by The Courier Journal warned of the cartel’s ruthlessness in Mexico and its reach across the U.S. into small towns. The cartel is based in Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-largest city, in the state of Jalisco. But it has expanded operations in the majority of Mexico’s states. And the cartel has been detected on every continent except Antarctica.