Who Is El Jardinero?

Who Is El Jardinero? 

Audias Flores Silva, a.k.a “El Jardinero,” “Gabriel Raigosa Plascencia,” “Comandante,” “El Bravo 2,” “Audi,” and “Mata Jefes,” is a senior regional commander of the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), one of Mexico’s most powerful and violent transnational criminal organizations. He was captured by Mexican security forces during a major military operation in Nayarit on April 27, 2026. 

He was born on November 19, 1980, in Huetamo, Michoacán de Ocampo, a Tierra Caliente region historically shaped by entrenched organized crime and prolonged cartel-related violence. Little is officially documented about his early life, which is common for individuals from this background. Amid Mexico’s difficult economic conditions during the 1990s, economic hardship drove his emigration to the United States, as was the case for many future cartel figures. 

Early Criminal Career 

The early criminal career of ‘El Jardinero’ remains poorly documented, as he began at the bottom of the criminal hierarchy and was initially considered a minor player. Early records, likely limited to non-public paper documentation, remain inaccessible. However, like other criminal families from Michoacán, such as the Valencia organization, his rise rooted in the drug trafficking landscape of the 1990s, when marijuana, cocaine, and heroin dominated Mexico’s narcotics trade. This trajectory is supported by his eventual imprisonment in the United States, where he served five years on drug trafficking charges. 

After his release from prison in the United States, he returned to Mexico. Although his earliest criminal associations remain limited due to his status as a lower-level player, he returned to his native Huetamo, a Tierra Caliente region in Michoacán de Ocampo. At that time, the criminal landscape of Tierra Caliente was dominated primarily by the Cártel del Milenio and the emerging synthetic drug trade, particularly methamphetamine production and trafficking to the United States. 

Rise Within Organized Crime 

Since the mid-2000s, there has been little public information regarding El Jardinero’s criminal activities. However, it is likely that he moved among the various criminal organizations that emerged, transformed, and collapsed throughout Michoacán during that period. His first significant public identification through official investigations came when he was linked as a key figure responsible for the April 6, 2015, attack that killed 15 officers from Jalisco’s now-extinct Fuerza Única police force. 

For this criminal act, he was apprehended in 2016 by federal security forces in Bahía de Banderas, Nayarit, and charged with aggravated homicide, attempted aggravated homicide, crimes against state authorities, and organized crime. He was released in 2019 after a successful appeal citing procedural errors and insufficient evidence. At that time, he was already considered a relevant CJNG figure but not yet publicly prominent, once again allowing him to return to his leadership role within the organization. 

First U.S. Indictment 

On April 14, 2021, the U.S. Treasury Department issued its first public indictment against El Jardinero and announced a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to his capture. He was accused of controlling multiple methamphetamine laboratories in the Mexican states of Jalisco and Zacatecas. The indictment also alleged that he oversaw drug trafficking operations into the United States through the use of aircraft and clandestine airstrips, while managing tractor-trailer shipments and passenger vehicles used to transport cocaine and other narcotics from Central America into Mexico, and onward to CJNG distribution hubs in California, Texas, Illinois, Georgia, Washington, and Virginia. 

From his first indictment through 2025, El Jardinero served as chief of security and one of the most trusted men of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes (“El Mencho”). He was responsible for the production and trafficking of synthetic drugs and was also allegedly linked to timeshare fraud operations, overseeing the collection of fees through a network of call centers operating under the CJNG. These activities contributed to his extradition order to the United States. 

The Beginning of His Downfall 

After the outbreak of the Sinaloa conflict on September 9, 2024, between La Mayiza and Los Chapitos, various journalistic reports and security analysts indicated that El Jardinero maintained contact with the Chapitos faction in order to forge tactical alliances and operational cooperation. He functioned as an operational liaison and security coordinator, providing foot soldiers, tactical assistance, and logistical support in strategic regions to help sustain the conflict in Sinaloa. This aligns with public information from the Mexican military, which confirmed that intelligence operations targeting El Jardinero began in October 2024. 

On June 18, 2025, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) applied Executive Order 14059, which targets the proliferation of illicit drugs and their means of production, as well as Executive Order 13224, which targets terrorists and their supporters, against CJNG leader Rubén Oseguera Cervantes (“El Mencho”) and three other senior cartel members, including El Jardinero. He was designated for controlling clandestine laboratories in Mexico used to produce fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, and other illicit drugs, as well as for trafficking those substances into the United States. 

Leadership Crisis and Downfall 

After the death of El Mencho on February 22, 2026, during a major military operation in Tapalpa, Jalisco, El Jardinero’s eventual downfall was set in motion. El Mencho had been his primary protector, and historically, the fall of a major cartel leader is often followed by internal power struggles and the weakening of the broader criminal structure. Military reports indicate that following El Mencho’s death, El Jardinero began mobilizing personnel, resources, and weaponry in an effort to consolidate power within the CJNG. 

The Arrest. 

On April 27, 2026, “El Jardinero,” was apprehended during a surgical military operation in the state of Nayarit carried out by the Mexican Navy’s Special Forces (SEMAR) without any reported fatalities. Alongside him, authorities also apprehended César “N.,” known as “El Güero Conta,” a key financial and logistics operator for the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG). 

Is This the End of El Jardinero? 

His arrest occurred amid an ongoing internal power struggle within CJNG. Early media reports positioned Juan Carlos Valencia González (“El 03”) as the primary successor to El Mencho, but El Jardinero was also viewed as capable of maintaining an independent cartel operation and was considered by some to be the legitimate successor to CJNG leadership. However, the relative ease with which authorities located and arrested El Jardinero, combined with the lack of significant resistance from his security forces during the operation,suggests his capture may have been tied to an internal CJNG power struggle aimed at consolidating Juan Carlos Valencia González’s position as the cartel’s primary leader. 

Given his high-ranking role, El Jardinero’s future appears dire. Due to the current political climate and sustained pressure from the United States, he will most likely be extradited in a future round of criminal transfers conducted by the Mexican government. At best, he may face a lengthy period of incarceration within a Mexican prison. 

Sources:  

https://2021-2025.state.gov/narcotics-rewards-program-target-information-wanted/audias-flores-silva/  

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0122 

https://insightcrime.org/news/el-jardinero-latest-cjng-commander-arrested-mexico/