Mexican cartel leader’s body left wrapped in plastic on park bench

The corpse was found shortly after ‘El Cholo’ appeared on video surrounded by heavily armed men

Cartel boss Carlos Enrique Sanchez, ‘El Cholo’, appeared in a video shortly before found dead in a Mexico park (YouTube)

Mexican authorities believe a body found wrapped in plastic and left on a park bench in Guadalajara belongs to notorious drug lord "El Cholo."

While not yet formally identified, signs pinned to the corpse with knives said in Spanish, "the traitor El Cholo", the nickname for Carlos Enrique Sanchez.

Formerly a top member of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), Sanchez left the group to form a competing criminal gang known as La Nueva Plaza in 2017, according to Infobae.com.

The ensuing war for control of Guadalajara's drug trade led to an escalation of violence in the city.

The body was found in Jardin Hidalgo in the city of Tlaquepaque, Jalisco, on Thursday, shortly after video emerged on YouTube of Sanchez handcuffed and surrounded by six masked and armed men as he took responsibility for the spate of violence in recent years.

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It included the 2018 attack on the US consulate in Guadalajara, a shooting in Tonala that left 11 people dead, and the discovery of hidden graves in Tlaquepaque, according to Mexico News Daily.

In the video, Sanchez also says he was working with the Mexican authorities against the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, naming Mexico City police officer Garcia Harfuch.

Mr Harfuch, who has survived a shooting in 2020, denied the claims on Twitter, saying that statements made by a criminal kidnapped by other criminals were false.

"My commitment to society is firm, fighting crime to the last consequences," he said.

Sanchez said in the video that he also had the support of two Guadalajara police commanders, who were suspended following the video's release pending investigation.

Jalisco attorney general Gerardo Octavio Solís Gómez said the video of Sanchez would be used as evidence in the investigations of violent crime in the region, according to Reforma.

“This material confirms the existence of an orchestrated strategy to destabilise the state by an organised crime group,” he said.

About 30 per cent of police in Guadalajara were reportedly involved with an alliance of La Nueva Plaza and Sinaloa cartels against Jalisco New Generation, according to law enforcement sources quoted by VICE World News.

Asked whether claims by Sanchez in the video that there was favouritism among Guadalajara's police in the drug war were believable, one detective said "totally."

“It’s well-known that there is too much trash in the police and the government,” the detective told the outlet.