Unknown individuals within Mexico’s Navy provided restricted weapons, tactical gear, and body armor to members of the terrorist organization Cartel Jalisco New Generation. The revelation comes from a former cartel hitman who revealed to authorities in April 2025 that he personally went to pick up stashed weapons for the criminal organization.
The information is based on the written statements made by El Elegante, a code name given to a protected witness by Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office. Mexico’s Reforma first published some of El Elegante’s statements this week, revealing that the weapons and gear that cartel gunmen used would often come straight from Mexican Navy warehouses.
The witness testimony revealed that once the cartel got the weapons from Mexico’s Navy, they would hide them in their stashes. The weapons and gear would be wrapped in plastic wrap and hidden inside a burlap sack filled with sawdust. The witness claimed that the gear included weapons, body armor, helmets, and boots.
Despite the information in El Elegante’s testimony and various other similar cases, politicians in Mexico continue to place the sole blame for cartels having weapons on the United States. Those politicians make no mention of Mexican Customs officials, who appear to be unable to stop the smuggling of weapons as well as the smuggling of fuel by criminal organizations.
The revelations from the ongoing case come at a time when Mexico’s Navy has also been linked to a large-scale fuel smuggling operation involving CJNG and some of the country’s highest-ranking officers, as well as top political figures with Mexico’s ruling party MORENA. As Breitbart previously reported, the allegations related to the fuel smuggling operation point to the former Secretary of the Navy, Rafael Ojeda, having helped cover up the case. A previously recorded audio conversation captured the moment when Ojeda, other naval officials, and a whistleblower discussed the case. As Breitbart Texas has reported, two of Ojeda’s relatives are named in the ongoing investigation as having been among the top-ranking naval officials who oversaw the fuel smuggling operation. The issue has since turned into a political scandal when it was revealed that at least two whistleblowers in the case, including the one in the audio recording, have been killed.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
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