Rosalinda González Valencia (; born ) is a Mexican businesswoman and suspected money launderer of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), a criminal group based in Jalisco. She also been known by her alias La Jefa (The Boss). She was married to Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes ("El Mencho"), Mexico's most-wanted man and the CJNG leader until 2018. Born in rural Michoacán, Rosalinda grew up in a family of 18 siblings and was the eldest of her sisters. Her family originally grew avocados, but eventually turned to cultivating marijuana and opium poppy. In the 1970s, her family formed the Milenio Cartel, the predecessor group of the CJNG, and began trafficking narcotics from Mexico to the United States.
According to Mexico's Secretariat of the Interior, González oversaw the CJNG's financial and legal resources, including over 70 businesses affiliated with the criminal group. Some of them were sanctioned under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act. González's defense claims she is not guilty and was a victim of defamation due to her relationship with El Mencho. On 26 May 2018, González was arrested by the Mexican Navy in Zapopan, Jalisco, for her alleged involvement in money laundering. After three months of hearings and legal battles, a judge granted her release from prison after she paid a MXN$1.5 million bail. González's trial is ongoing and held behind closed doors. On 15 November 2021, González was recaptured.
Early life
Rosalinda González Valencia was born in El Naranjo, a rural community in Aguililla, Michoacán, Mexico, in . Her father was J. Abigael González Mendoza and her mother was Estela Valencia Farías. According to the Mexican government, Rosalinda's family includes at least 18 siblings. The males were Abigael, José María, Arnulfo, Ulises Jovani, Elvis, Édgar Edén, Mauricio, Gerardo, José and Luis Ángel. The females were Rosalinda (also known as Rosalía), Noemí, Berenice, Marisa Ivette, María Elena, Érika and Abigaíl. Rosalinda was the eldest of the sisters. People in their hometown nicknamed the clan "Cuinis" in reference to a squirrel (spermophilus adocetus) from the area that is known as "Cuinique". It is common for this squirrel to have over a dozen babies each time the mother gives birth.
When González was young, her family was poor and grew avocados for a living in a plantation field they owned in Michoacán. By the 1970s, however, the family began cultivating and trafficking marijuana and opium poppy from Mexico to the United States. González's economic status improved when her siblings emigrated to the U.S. in the 1980s and got involved in the drug trade in California. Her siblings worked for the Milenio Cartel, a criminal group from Michoacán that was formed several members of González's family; their main leader was Armando Valencia Cornelio ("El Maradona" and/or "El Juanito"), who was responsible for large shipments of narcotics to the U.S. from the Mexican states of Michoacán and Jalisco. Though few details are known of her personal life, security forces believe that González was married to Armando. Armando and González eventually separated in the 1990s, and she began dating Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes ("El Mencho").
El Mencho was a close associate of his siblings and grew up in the same rural community as González's. He worked as a guard for the clan's marijuana plantations and eventually joined González's siblings in the drug trade in the U.S. After Oseguera was deported to Mexico, he joined a local police force and married González in 1996. Their matrimony helped strengthen Oseguera's relationship with González's clan. They had three children: Laisha, Jessica Johana, and Rubén Oseguera González ("El Menchito"). Oseguera was one of the founders of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), a criminal group that sprung in the 2010s after the Milenio Cartel splintered. In the 2000s, several of González's family members were arrested by security forces, which splintered the Milenio Cartel into two factions, Los Torcidos and La Resistencia. Los Torcidos was headed by Oseguera and several of González's family members, and they eventually consolidated their influence after defeating La Resistencia. After Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán was extradited to the U.S. in 2017, Oseguera became Mexico's most-wanted man.