Mexico Safety Secretary Omar García Harfuch mentioned Monday that 25 members of the Nationwide Guard have been left lifeless in Jalisco in six separate assaults after the killing of Jalisco New Technology Cartel chief Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes.
Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes — generally known as “El Mencho” — was the boss of one of many fastest-growing prison networks in Mexico, infamous for trafficking fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine to america and staging brazen assaults in opposition to authorities officers who challenged it.
He was killed throughout a shoot-out in his residence state of Jalisco because the Mexican army tried to seize him. A U.S. protection official advised CBS Information the U.S. army performed a job within the operation by way of the Joint Interagency Activity Power-Counter Cartel, which often works with the Mexican army by the U.S. Northern Command. The official emphasised that “this was a Mexican army operation, so the success is theirs.”
Cartel members responded with violence throughout the nation, blocking roads and setting fireplace to autos.
Additionally killed have been a jail guard, an agent from the state prosecutor’s workplace and a girl whom García Harfuch didn’t determine. He additionally mentioned some 30 prison suspects have been killed in Jalisco and 4 others have been killed in Michoacan.
A number of Mexican states canceled college on Monday, with native and international governments warning their residents to remain inside after widespread violence erupted.
Daniel Cardenas/Anadolu by way of Getty Photographs
President Claudia Sheinbaum urged calm Monday and authorities mentioned all the greater than 250 cartel roadblocks throughout 20 states had been cleared. The president was anticipated to handle the state of affairs at her each day information briefing Monday morning.
Mexico hoped the demise of the world’s largest fentanyl traffickers would ease Trump administration stress to do extra in opposition to the cartels, however many remained hunkered down and on edge as they waited to see the highly effective cartel’s response.
Fears of extra violence
The U.S. Embassy mentioned by way of X that its personnel in eight cities and the state of Michoacan would shelter in place and work remotely Monday, and it warned U.S. residents in lots of elements of Mexico to do the identical. The Division of State Consular Affairs, in a message telling U.S. residents to proceed sheltering in place, mentioned on social media that taxi and rideshare service had been suspended in Puerto Vallarta.
Vehicles started circulating in Guadalajara earlier than dawn Monday with the beginning of the work week, a notable change from Sunday when Jalisco’s state capital and Mexico’s second-largest metropolis was nearly fully shut down as fearful residents stayed residence.
Greater than 1,000 individuals have been caught in Guadalajara’s zoo in a single day, sleeping in buses. On Monday morning, moms wrapped up in blankets carried their toddlers out of the buses for a much-needed rest room break as police vehicles guarded the realm.
Ulises Ruiz/AFP by way of Getty Photographs 
Luis Soto Rendón, the zoo’s director, mentioned many had been trapped there since 9 a.m. the day earlier than, when violence broke out in Jalisco and the encircling states. Households have been left stranded, making an attempt to distract their kids, as they determined they could not return residence in close by states like Zacatecas and Michoacan.
“We determined to let individuals keep contained in the zoo for his or her security,” Soto mentioned. “There are young children and senior residents.”
Irma Hernández, a 43-year-old lodge safety guard in Guadalajara, arrived at work early Monday morning.
She usually takes public transportation to work, however buses weren’t operating and she or he had no technique to cross the town. Her bosses organized a personal automobile to select her up. Her household, she mentioned, was staying at residence, too scared to go away.
“I’m fearful as a result of I do not know learn how to get residence if one thing occurs,” she mentioned.
Passengers arriving on the metropolis’s worldwide airport Sunday evening have been advised it was working with restricted personnel due to the burst of violence.
Authorities in Jalisco, Michoacan and Guanajuato reported a minimum of 14 different individuals killed Sunday, together with seven Nationwide Guard troops.
Movies circulating on social media Sunday confirmed vacationers in Puerto Vallarta strolling on the seashore with smoke rising within the distance.
Blow in opposition to cartel may very well be diplomatic coup
David Mora, Mexico analyst for Worldwide Disaster Group, mentioned the seize and outburst of violence marks a degree of inflection in Sheinbaum’s push to crack down on cartels and relieve U.S. pressures.
President Trump has demanded Mexico do extra to battle the smuggling of the often-deadly drug fentanyl, threatening to impose extra tariffs or take unilateral army motion if the nation doesn’t present outcomes.
Mr. Trump on Monday known as on Mexico to spice up its efforts focusing on drug cartels at some point after the army raid.
“Mexico should step up their effort on Cartels and Medicine!” he wrote in a social media publish.
There have been early indicators that Mexico’s efforts have been properly obtained by america.
U.S. Ambassador Ron Johnson acknowledged the success of the Mexican armed forces and their sacrifice in a press release late Sunday. He added that “below the management of President Trump and President Sheinbaum, bilateral cooperation has reached unprecedented ranges.”
However it might additionally pave the way in which for extra violence as rival prison teams reap the benefits of the blow dealt to the CJNG, Mora mentioned.
“This may be a second by which these different teams see that the cartel is weakened and wish to seize the chance for them to increase management and to realize management over Cartel Jalisco in these states,” he mentioned.
“Ever since President Sheinbaum has been in energy, the military has been far more confrontational, combative in opposition to prison teams in Mexico,” Mora mentioned. “That is signaling to the U.S. that if we preserve cooperating, sharing intelligence, Mexico can do it. We do not want U.S. troops on Mexican soil.”
“El Mencho” was a serious goal
Oseguera Cervantes, who was wounded within the operation to seize him Sunday in Tapalpa, Jalisco, a couple of two-hour drive southwest of Guadalajara, died whereas being flown to Mexico Metropolis, the Protection Division mentioned in a press release. Oseguera Cervantes had a $15 million U.S. bounty on his head.
In the course of the operation, troops got here below fireplace and killed 4 individuals on the location. Three extra individuals, together with Oseguera Cervantes, have been wounded and later died, the assertion mentioned.
White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt mentioned on X that the U.S. authorities offered intelligence assist for the operation. “‘El Mencho’ was a prime goal for the Mexican and United States authorities as one of many prime traffickers of fentanyl into our homeland,” she wrote. She counseled Mexico’s army for its work.
The Jalisco New Technology Cartel is among the strongest and fastest-growing prison organizations in Mexico and started working round 2009.
“El Mencho” was “the primary precedence for DEA and albeit for federal legislation enforcement in america,” Matthew Donahue, the DEA’s prime agent in Mexico, advised CBS Information in 2019.
In February 2025, the Trump administration designated the cartel as a international terrorist group.
Sheinbaum has criticized the “kingpin” technique of earlier administrations that took out cartel leaders, solely to set off explosions of violence as cartels fractured. Whereas she has remained widespread in Mexico, safety is a persistent concern and since President Trump took workplace a 12 months in the past, she has been below large stress to point out outcomes in opposition to drug trafficking.
The Jalisco cartel has been one of the aggressive cartels in its assaults on the army — together with on helicopters — and is a pioneer in launching explosives from drones and putting in mines. In 2020, it carried out a spectacular assassination try with grenades and high-powered rifles within the coronary heart of Mexico Metropolis in opposition to the then head of the capital’s police drive and now federal safety secretary.
