GUADALAJARA, Mexico (AP) — The leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias “El Mencho”died after a confrontation with the military in western Mexico, which decapitates the most powerful cartel in the country and gives the government its best result to date in the fight against drug trafficking to show to US President Donald Trump.
The operation unleashed a wave of violence in 20 of Mexico’s 32 states, with burning and looting of dozens of stores, bank branches and vehicles, and 252 road blockades, many of which were lifted hours later. Authorities in the states of Jalisco, Michoacán and Guanajuato reported at least 14 deaths — among them seven members of the National Guard — and 64 detainees.
The 59-year-old CJNG boss was killed during an operation in the western state of Jalisco, a federal official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because she is not authorized to testify about the case.
In a statement, the Secretariat of National Defense detailed that special forces of the Army, with the support of various Air Force aircraft, were deployed in the municipality of Tapalpa – about 100 kilometers (62 miles) southwest of Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco – and there the arrest of “El Mencho” was achieved, who was seriously injured at the scene and died while being transferred to Mexico City by air.
During the operation, six other members of the organization were killed, two people were arrested and armored vehicles and various weapons, including rocket launchers, were seized. Three Army personnel were injured.
The government reported in the statement that the capture and death of the CJNG leader was achieved after military intelligence work, and within the framework of coordination and cooperation with United States authorities, who provided “complementary information” for the operation.
The participation of US authorities was confirmed by the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, who noted on the social network
Leavitt stated that “El Mencho” was a priority target for both governments because he was one of the main traffickers of fentanyl to the United States. On behalf of the Trump government, the spokesperson praised and thanked the Mexican military for their cooperation and for carrying out the successful operation.
Washington, which last year declared the CJGN a terrorist organizationhad offered a reward of 15 million dollars for information leading to the capture of Oseguera Cervantes.
In her account on
The president indicated that she is coordinating with the governments of all states, and urged the population to remain calm.
Since his six-year term began in October 2024, Sheinbaum—like his predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador—has criticized the strategy of frontal combat against criminal organizations promoted by previous governments, which eliminated the leaders of these criminal groups, but thereby unleashed waves of violence as the cartels fractured. However, in the last year, since Trump arrived at the White House for the second time, the president has been under enormous pressure to show results in the fight against drug trafficking.
When congratulating the Mexican authorities for the operation, the US Undersecretary of State, Christopher Landau, expressed in his
Burns and blockades
The death of “El Mencho” unleashed dozens of fires in businesses, vehicles and gas stations, as well as road blockades, in 20 states, including Jalisco, Michoacán, Nayarit, Tamaulipas, Colima, Guerrero, Chiapas, Puebla, Baja California, Hidalgo, Nuevo León, Oaxaca, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Veracruz, Aguascalientes, State of Mexico, Sinaloa, Guanajuato and Zacatecas, which forced federal and state forces to reinforce security in different points and transfer new contingents of the Army and the National Guard to Jalisco.
The government of Guanajuato reported at night that police and federal forces arrested 35 people in 74 violent events that occurred that day, all derived from the Jalisco operation.
Given the attacks and looting that occurred in 81 convenience stores and twenty bank branches, as well as 61 road blockades, the governor of Jalisco, Pablo Lemus, asked the inhabitants of the state not to leave their homes and ordered the suspension of public transportation, which was partially reestablished at the end of the afternoon, when some road blockades were lifted.
Lemus wrote in
“We are living in critical hours,” stated the governor of Jalisco in a video that he posted on his social network account, recognizing that incidents occurred in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara and different places in the state. “What we are experiencing today is exceptional,” he added, without offering details.
The attacks in Jalisco were concentrated in Guadalajara—which will be one of the Mexican headquarters of the soccer world cup —, Chapala and the tourist city of Puerto Vallarta, where several fires of businesses and vehicles were reported, as well as a fight between prisoners from that town’s jail.
Some videos circulating on social media showed columns of smoke rising over Puerto Vallarta and people running in panic at the Guadalajara airport. On Sunday afternoon, Air Canada announced that it was suspending flights to that tourist city due to the insecurity situation, and advised its customers not to go to the airport, which suspended its operations. Other international and local airlines took similar measures, and authorities recommended that tourists not leave hotels in Puerto Vallarta.
After the chaotic day, the few planes that arrived in Guadalajara at night announced to passengers that the airport was operating with limited staff due to the violent incidents. Passengers moved nervously, constantly checking the news and contacting their families.
Jacinta Murcia, a 64-year-old salesperson of nutritional products, was one of the people who walked nervously at night through the airport in the capital of Jalisco, where earlier travelers ran and hid behind chairs for fear of possible violent acts. Most flights to the city were suspended.
Murcia anxiously alternated between reading news stories on social media showing “El Mencho’s” face and sending messages to her children, who were tracking her location as she tried to get home to Guadalajara.
“My plan today leaving the airport is to see if there are taxis, but everything scares me. That there are blockades, that there is a curfew, that something could happen,” he commented.
A state official, who spoke with the AP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to testify, explained that during the day of violence an element of the National Guard died in Tapalpa and six other members of that force in the municipality of Zapopan; a prison guard in Puerto Vallarta, and a state prosecutor in Guadalajara. The government of Jalisco indicated in a statement that 13 people were detained in incidents of violence, and another 14 after participating in alleged looting of businesses.
Likewise, the governor of the western state of Michoacán, Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla, reported in a message on X that state and federal forces remain deployed to restore order and free the blocked roads. In that state, which is neighboring Jalisco, five different confrontations were reported in which four alleged criminals died, reported the state prosecutor, Carlos Torres. In addition, two people were arrested and three members of the National Guard were injured.
In the southern state of Guerrero, a member of the Guard and a civilian were injured in an attack on the façade of the prosecutor’s office facilities in the tourist port of Acapulco.
As a preventive measure against the worsening of violence, the authorities of Jalisco, Michoacán, Guanajuato, Baja California, Querétaro, Colima and Nayarit, among other states, announced the suspension of school activities on Monday.
Origins of the CJNG
The boss was originally from the municipality of Aguililla, Michoacán. In his youth he emigrated to the United States, and upon returning he joined the forces of drug trafficker Ignacio Coronel Villarreal, alias “Nacho Coronel.” After the death of that boss, Oseguera Cervantes and Erik Valencia Salazar, alias “El 85”, created the CJNG around 2009.
Initially, the group operated at the service of the Sinaloa Cartel, led by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in the United States. Three years later, the CJNG It became independent and now disputes places for drug trafficking with its former allies in various parts of the country.
The DEA has recognized that the CJNG has a presence in 21 of the 32 states of Mexico, surpassing the Sinaloa Cartel, which is estimated to operate in 19 states of the country. Some analysts consider that the CJNG’s presence extends to 25 states, with predominance in Jalisco, which is considered its bastion. The cartel’s operations have also spread to a hundred countries, including the United States, according to the US anti-narcotics agency.
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Associated Press journalist María Verza contributed to this report
