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Mexico fears more violence after army kills leader of powerful Jalisco cartel
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The Associated Press
A soldier stands guard by a charred vehicle after it was set on fire, in Cointzio, Michoacán state, Mexico, Sunday, Feb.
The U.S. State Department had offered a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to the arrest of El Mencho.
In February 2025, the Trump administration designated the cartel as a foreign terrorist organization.
− 22, 2026, following the death of the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Nemesio Oseguera, known as "El Mencho." Armando Solis/AP hide caption
GUADALAJARA, Mexico — School was canceled in several Mexican states and local and foreign governments alike warned their citizens to stay inside, as widespread violence erupted following the army's killing of the powerful leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
+ 22, 2026, following the death of the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Nemesio Oseguera, known as "El Mencho." Armando Solis/AP hide caption
TAPALPA, Mexico — A day after the Mexican army killed the country's most powerful drug lord, the picturesque town where it happened was a study in contrasts.
− World Mexican army kills leader of Jalisco New Generation Cartel, official says Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as "El Mencho" was the boss of one of the fastest-growing criminal networks in Mexico, notorious for trafficking fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine to the United States and staging brazen attacks against government officials who challenged it.
+ Tourist shops in Tapalpa were open Monday, and workers were on the job. But gunshots also rang out, and in the street was a dead man lying beside a bullet-pocked vehicle.
− He was killed during a shoot-out in his home state of Jalisco as the Mexican military attempted to capture him.
+ World Mexican army kills leader of Jalisco New Generation Cartel, official says Meanwhile, heavily armed Mexican security forces kept up their battle with cartel gunmen following the killing that sparked a surge in violence and put the country on edge.
− Cartel members responded with violence across the country, blocking roads and setting fire to vehicles.
+ Cartel fighters continued to block roads as smoke rose on the outskirts of the town in the state of Jalisco.
− President Claudia Sheinbaum urged calm and authorities announced late Sunday they had cleared most of the more than 250 cartel roadblocks across 20 states.
+ More than 70 people died in the attempt to capture Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes and the aftermath, authorities said Monday.
− The White House confirmed that the U.S.
+ Known as "El Mencho," he was the notorious leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of the most powerful criminal organizations in Mexico.
The body count taken by security officials included security forces, suspected cartel members and others.
− provided intelligence support to the operation to capture the cartel leader and applauded Mexico's army for taking down a man who was one of the most wanted criminals in both countries.
+ Officials did not offer details, and the circumstances of most of the deaths were unclear.
− Mexico hoped the death of the world's biggest fentanyl traffickers would ease Trump administration pressure to do more against the cartels, but many remained hunkered down and on edge as they waited to see the powerful cartel's reaction.
+ Oseguera Cervantes was the boss of one of the fastest-growing criminal networks in Mexico, known for trafficking fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine to the United States and staging brazen attacks against Mexican government officials. The organization responded to his death with widespread violence, including erecting more than 250 roadblocks across 20 states and setting fire to vehicles.
− Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco state and Mexico's second-largest city, was almost completely shut down on Sunday as fearful residents stayed home.
+ Oseguera Cervantes died after a shootout with the Mexican military. Mexican Defense Secretary Gen. Ricardo Trevilla said Monday that authorities had tracked one of his romantic partners to his hideout in Tapalpa.
− Passengers arriving to the city's international airport Sunday night were told it was operating with limited personnel because of the burst of violence.
Jacinta Murcia, a 64-year-old nutrition products vendor, was among those nervously walking late Sunday night through the airport, where earlier in the day travelers sprinted and ducked behind chairs fearing violence.
+ The cartel leader and two bodyguards fled into a wooded area where they were seriously wounded in a firefight.
− Most flights into the city were suspended on Sunday.
+ They were taken into custody and died on the way to Mexico City, Trevilla said.
− Murcia anxiously scrolled through news stories on social media showing the face of "El Mencho" and sent messages to her children, who were tracking her location as she tried to travel across the city to her house after dark.
+ In a different location in Jalisco, soldiers killed another high-ranking cartel member who Trevilla said was coordinating violence and offering more than $1,000 for every soldier killed.
− "My plan today leaving the airport is to see if there are any taxis, but I'm scared of everything.
+ The dead included 25 members of the Mexican National Guard who were killed in six separate attacks, Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch said.
Harfuch said some 30 criminal suspects were killed in Jalisco, and four others were killed in the neighboring state of Michoacan.
− That there are blockades, that there's a curfew, that something could happen," she said.
+ Also killed were a prison guard and an agent from the state prosecutor's office.
The White House confirmed that the U.S.
− "I'm all alone."
Authorities in Jalisco, Michoacan and Guanajuato reported at least 14 other people killed Sunday, including seven National Guard troops.
+ provided intelligence support to the operation to capture the cartel leader and applauded Mexico's army for taking down a man who was one of the most wanted criminals in both countries.
− Videos circulating on social media showed tourists in Puerto Vallarta walking on the beach with smoke rising in the distance.
+ Mexico hoped the death of the world's biggest fentanyl traffickers would ease Trump administration pressure to do more against the cartels, but many people were anxious as they waited to see the powerful cartel's reaction.
− In another part of the airport a group of elderly Mexicans gathered, discussing how to get home.
+ As the threat of more violence loomed, several Mexican states canceled school Monday, while local and foreign governments warned their citizens to stay inside.
− "We better all go together," one said.
+ Steve Perkins, 57, had been visiting Puerto Vallarta with his wife and friends.
− "Go with God."
David Mora, Mexico analyst for International Crisis Group, said the capture and outburst of violence marks a point of inflection in Sheinbaum's push to crack down on cartels and relieve U.S. pressures.
+ The couple was scheduled to return to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, on Monday when their flight was canceled.
− U.S.
+ Perkins said he and his wife were having coffee on the terrace of their hotel room in downtown when they heard an explosion around 8:30 a.m.
− President Donald Trump has demanded Mexico do more to fight the smuggling of the often-deadly drug fentanyl, threatening to impose more tariffs or take unilateral military action if the country does not show results.
+ They saw a big plume of smoke, heard another "big boom" and then saw more smoke. Perkins and his wife heard gunshots and they realized "something was going on."
"At one point we had seven or eight plumes of black, thick smoke around us and the entire downtown in the bay was just covered in thick black smoke, pretty scary," Perkins told The Associated Press during an interview Monday over Zoom. "And then at one point, we heard screams. We heard a lot of screams … So then we started getting really worried."
Perkins said he and his wife became so concerned that they got out of their flip-flops and put on their running shoes in case "we needed to make a run for it."
"My wife called our kids to tell them goodbye if we were never gonna see them again, that kind of thing. It was fairly unsettling," Perkins said.
− There were early signs that Mexico's efforts were well received by the United States.
U.S.
+ The U.S.
− Amb.
+ Embassy said via X that its personnel in eight cities and in the state of Michoacan would shelter in place and work remotely Monday.
− Ron Johnson recognized the success of the Mexican armed forces and their sacrifice in a statement late Sunday.
+ It warned U.S.
− He added that "under the leadership of President Trump and President Sheinbaum, bilateral cooperation has reached unprecedented levels."
But it may also pave the way for more violence as rival criminal groups take advantage of the blow dealt to the CJNG, Mora said.
+ citizens in many parts of Mexico to do the same.
− "This might be a moment in which those other groups see that the cartel is weakened and want to seize the opportunity for them to expand control and to gain control over Cartel Jalisco in those states," he said.
+ In Guadalajara, the state capital, there was light traffic Monday with the start of the workweek, a notable change from Sunday, when Mexico's second-largest city was almost completely shut down as fearful residents stayed home.
− "Ever since President Sheinbaum has been in power, the army has been way more confrontational, combative against criminal groups in Mexico," Mora said.
+ More than 1,000 people were stuck overnight in Guadalajara's zoo, where they slept in buses.
Luis Soto Rendón, the zoo's director, said many had been trapped there since Sunday morning, when violence broke out in Jalisco and the surrounding states.
− "This is signaling to the U.S.
+ Families concluded they could not return home in nearby states like Zacatecas and Michoacan.
"We decided to let people stay inside the zoo for their safety," Soto said.
− that if we keep cooperating, sharing intelligence, Mexico can do it, we don't need U.S.
+ "There are small children and senior citizens."
José Luis Ramírez, a 54-year-old therapist, was in a long line of people waiting outside a pharmacy, one of the few businesses that were open Monday in Guadalajara.
− troops on Mexican soil."
Oseguera Cervantes, who was wounded in the operation to capture him Sunday in Tapalpa, Jalisco, about a two-hour drive southwest of Guadalajara, died while being flown to Mexico City, the Defense Department said in a statement.
+ Families were buying food, medicine, water, diapers and baby formula, from pharmacists through a chained door.
− During the operation, troops came under fire and killed four people at the location. Three more people, including Oseguera Cervantes, were wounded and later died, the statement said.
+ It was Ramírez's first time leaving the house since the violence erupted.
− White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said via X that the U.S.
+ "We have to not think scared, but be cool-headed, like they say, and take things as they come," he said.
Those who had to work carefully made their way across the city.
Irma Hernández, a 43-year-old hotel security guard in Guadalajara, normally takes public transportation to her job, but buses were not running, and she had no way to cross the city.
− government provided intelligence support for the operation.
+ Her bosses organized a private car to pick her up.
− "'El Mencho' was a top target for the Mexican and United States government as one of the top traffickers of fentanyl into our homeland," she wrote.
+ Her family, she said, was staying at home, too scared to leave.
"I am worried because I don't know how to get home if something happens," she said.
U.S.
− She commended Mexico's military for its work.
+ President Trump has demanded Mexico do more to fight the smuggling of fentanyl, threatening to impose more tariffs or take unilateral military action if the country does not show results.
− The Jalisco New Generation Cartel is one of the most powerful and fastest growing criminal organizations in Mexico and began operating around 2009.
+ The Jalisco New Generation Cartel began operating around 2009.
−
Sheinbaum has criticized the "kingpin" strategy of previous administrations that took out cartel leaders, only to trigger explosions of violence as cartels fractured.
− While she has remained popular in Mexico, security is a persistent concern and since U.S. President Donald Trump took office a year ago, she has been under tremendous pressure to show results against drug trafficking.
+ It has been one of the most aggressive cartels in its attacks on the military — including on helicopters — and is a pioneer in launching explosives from drones and installing mines.
− The Jalisco cartel has been one of the most aggressive cartels in its attacks on the military — including on helicopters — and is a pioneer in launching explosives from drones and installing mines.
+ At a blockade Monday on the outskirts of Tapalpa, 25-year-old Joel Ramírez and two friends were waiting for soldiers to clear a blockade of tree limbs.
− In 2020, it carried out a spectacular assassination attempt with grenades and high-powered rifles in the heart of Mexico City against the then head of the capital's police force and now federal security secretary.
+ He hauls things in his pickup for a living and had not been able to get home since Sunday's violence.
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+ "Everything seems calmer, but we were almost there and got stuck," he said. "We're scared."
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