Mexico’s most wanted drug lord, Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera, was killed in a military raid on the Pacific coast, triggering sweeping retaliation by his cartel across multiple states and prompting urgent travel warnings from the United States and Canada.
Oseguera, 60, the elusive leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or CJNG, died in custody after being wounded in a special forces operation in the town of Tampalpa in Jalisco state, Mexico’s Defense Ministry said. His body was flown to Mexico City under heavy National Guard escort. The White House said the United States provided intelligence support for the operation; press secretary Karoline Leavitt publicly commended Mexican authorities for what she called a successful mission.
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The killing, one of the highest-profile blows against a Mexican cartel in years, immediately set off a wave of violence. Gunmen blocked highways with burning vehicles and torched businesses in more than half a dozen states, paralyzing swaths of the country. No civilian deaths have been reported. In Puerto Vallarta, a major beach resort in Jalisco, tourists described a “war zone” as thick columns of smoke rose around the bay, according to social media posts.
Air travel and public services were disrupted. The U.S. State Department urged Americans in affected areas to shelter in place, citing “ongoing, widespread security operations and related road blockages and criminal activity,” and warned that airline operations were impacted in Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta. Several U.S. and Canadian carriers — including United, American, Southwest, Alaska, Air Canada and WestJet/Sunwing — canceled flights to Puerto Vallarta, Guadalajara and Manzanillo. Some aircraft turned back midflight, including four Southwest planes originally bound for Puerto Vallarta. Southwest said it planned to send aircraft to repatriate stranded passengers and staff once conditions stabilize.
President Claudia Sheinbaum, facing heightened pressure from Washington to stem fentanyl trafficking and other organized crime, said most of the country was operating normally even as schools in several states canceled classes as a precaution. Sheinbaum pledged closer cooperation with the United States against cartels while vowing to uphold Mexico’s sovereignty and warned against any unilateral U.S. military action on Mexican soil.
Oseguera, a former police officer who rose to become one of the hemisphere’s most feared crime bosses, built CJNG into a sprawling and notoriously violent enterprise. The cartel diversified well beyond drug smuggling into fuel theft, extortion, human smuggling and financial fraud, and pioneered weaponized drones in Mexico’s criminal conflicts. The U.S. had offered a $15 million bounty for information leading to his capture.
Security analysts are watching for signs of a succession struggle that could fracture CJNG’s command-and-control. “There will definitely be skirmishes between the various factions, and these spasms of violence could last for years,” said Carlos Olivo, a former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration assistant special agent in charge who has tracked CJNG’s rise.
U.S. and Canadian officials urged travelers to keep a low profile and follow local guidance, with Canada specifically advising citizens in Michoacan, Guerrero and Jalisco to shelter in place due to shootouts and explosions. The response contrasted with past takedowns of cartel leaders, including Sinaloa bosses Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, who were captured alive and are now in U.S. prisons, according to Mexican and U.S. authorities.
In Washington, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, formerly the ambassador to Mexico, called Oseguera’s killing a “great development” for both countries and the region. Trump administration officials praised the raid, with Leavitt saying the United States “commends and thanks the Mexican military” for its cooperation. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump said “the cartels are running Mexico” and warned, “we are going to start now hitting land with regard to the cartels.”
Mexican security officials said further details about the operation that felled Oseguera would be released in due course. For now, the immediate challenge for authorities is containing the CJNG’s violent show of force — and preventing Mexico’s most powerful cartel from splintering into factions that could fuel a longer, bloodier cycle.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
