Violence erupts in Mexico after killing of drug cartel kingpin ‘El Mencho’ | Drugs News

Mexican security forces have killed a drug lord who led one of the most powerful criminal organisations in the country, triggering a wave of violence in several areas, including the western state of Jalisco.

The Mexican Secretariat of National Defence said Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, also known as “El Mencho”, was wounded in a clash with soldiers in the town of Tapalpa, in Jalisco state, on Sunday and died while being flown to Mexico City.

He had a $15m bounty by the United States on his head.

The operation set off a wave of ⁠violence, with gunmen torching cars and blocking highways in more than half a dozen states.

Jalisco’s capital, Guadalajara, which will host several matches in the upcoming FIFA World Cup, was turned into a ghost town on Sunday night as civilians hunkered down.

Videos circulating on social media showed people sprinting through the Guadalajara airport in panic and smoke billowing over the tourist city of Puerto Vallarta.

Jalisco Governor Pablo Lemus told residents to stay at home and suspended public transportation.

School was canceled on Monday in several states.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum praised the country’s security forces in a post on X and called for calm.

“There is absolute coordination with the governments of all states,” she wrote. “In the vast majority of the national territory, activities are proceeding with complete normality.”

‘Great development for Mexico’

Oseguera, 59, is one of the biggest Mexican drug lords to be taken down since the capture of the founders of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and Ismael Zambada, who are now both in US custody.

The Mexican defence secretariat said Sunday’s raid was carried out with “complementary information” from US authorities. It said four members of Oseguera’s Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) were killed in the raid, while two others died during their transfer to Mexico City.

Two more were arrested and armoured vehicles, rocket launchers and other arms were seized.

Three members of the armed forces were wounded and receiving medical treatment, it said.

The US has classified the Jalisco cartel as a “terrorist organization” and accuses it of sending cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl into the country.

US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau welcomed the operation and called Oseguera “one of the bloodiest and most ruthless drug kingpins”.

“This is a great development for Mexico, the US, Latin America, and the world,” he added.

The US State Department warned Americans in Jalisco, Tamaulipas, Michoacan, Guerrero and Nuevo Leon states to remain in safe places due to the ongoing security operations.

Canada also issued a travel warning for some areas, citing “shootouts with security forces and explosions” in Jalisco, Guerrero and Michoacan states. It warned its citizens in Puerto Vallarta to shelter in place and generally to keep a low profile in Jalisco.

Air Canada announced it was suspending flights to Puerto Vallarta “due to an ongoing security situation” and advised customers not to go to their airport.

United Airlines ‌and American Airlines also said they have canceled flight operations to Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara.

El Mencho and CJNG

The military operation against Oseguera follows a pressure campaign from the Trump administration on Sheinbaum’s government to ramp up its crackdown on drug trafficking, including US threats to intervene directly in Mexico.

The US considers the cartel to be as powerful as the Sinaloa cartel, one of Mexico’s most infamous criminal groups, with a presence in all 50 US states.

It is one of the main suppliers of cocaine to the US market and, like the Sinaloa cartel, earns billions from the production of fentanyl and methamphetamines.

An ex-police officer and former avocado farmer, Oseguera had been significantly involved in drug trafficking activities since the 1990s.

When he was younger, he migrated to the US where he was convicted of conspiracy to distribute heroin in the US District Court for the Northern District of California in 1994 and served nearly three years in prison.

After his release, he was deported to Mexico, where he joined the local police. He reengaged in drug trafficking activity with drug lord Ignacio Coronel Villarreal, alias “Nacho Coronel”.

After Villarreal’s death, Oseguera and Erik Valencia Salazar, alias “El 85,” created the Jalisco New Generation Cartel around 2007.

He had built an aura of mystery around himself, drawing on the overwhelming power of the CJNG and his limited media presence: All photos of him were decades old, according to the Spanish newspaper Al Pais.

The FBI has described Oseguera as one of the most wanted fugitives in Mexico, and the CJNG as one of the most violent cartels in the country.

“It has been assessed to have the highest cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine trafficking capacity in Mexico, and over the past few years, includes the trafficking of fentanyl into the United States,” the FBI said in a 2024 statement.

“Under Oseguera Cervantes’ leadership, CJNG has been responsible for many homicides against rival trafficking groups and Mexican law enforcement officers.”