Cartel violence engulfs Mexico after military kills El Mencho

by · Boing Boing

Mexican special forces killed Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes — the cartel boss known as "El Mencho" — on Saturday in a firefight in Tapalpa, Jalisco. He was 59. The US had put a $15 million bounty on his head.

El Mencho ran the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), which the FBI considers Mexico's most powerful drug trafficking organization. A former police officer and avocado farmer, he co-founded the cartel around 2007 and built it into a network spanning all 50 US states, moving cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and fentanyl north in industrial quantities. He was wounded in Saturday's raid and died during a military helicopter flight to Mexico City. Six of his bodyguards were also killed. The White House confirmed American intelligence helped plan the operation.

What followed was swift. CJNG members retaliated across 20 Mexican states, torching banks, pharmacies, and buses, and piling burning vehicles into roadblocks. Authorities counted more than 250 blockades. At least 14 people were killed in the chaos, including seven National Guard troops, according to NPR.

Puerto Vallarta, the Pacific resort popular with American and Canadian tourists, saw black smoke rising over residential neighborhoods. One American described it as "like a war zone," the BBC reported. Some 300 travelers were stranded at the airport after flights were grounded; they were eventually moved to the city center under heavy police escort. Air Canada suspended its Puerto Vallarta routes. American Airlines waived change fees.

In Guadalajara — scheduled to host matches at this summer's FIFA World Cup — panicked travelers at the airport ducked behind chairs after hearing gunshots from a nearby highway. The state governor declared an emergency, shutting down transit, canceling schools, and suspending public events. Streets emptied as residents stayed indoors. The US State Department told Americans in nine Mexican states to shelter in place.

The chaos recalled Sinaloa in 2019, when the capture of Ovidio Guzmán López — son of jailed kingpin "El Chapo" — triggered such fierce street battles that authorities let him go to stop the bloodshed. He was eventually recaptured and sent to face charges in the US.

David Mora of the International Crisis Group warned that El Mencho's death could set off territorial wars as rival cartels move on CJNG's turf. But Mora told NPR that President Claudia Sheinbaum's aggressive posture also "signals to the US that Mexican forces can handle cartels without American troops on Mexican soil." Officials said most roadblocks had been cleared by Monday morning, but Jalisco — the cartel's home base — remained tense.

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