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The Mexican army killed the country\u2019s most powerful cartel leader and one of the United States\u2019 most wanted fugitives on Sunday, notching a major victory while cartel members responded with a wave violence across the country.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0killing of Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader\u00a0Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes during an attempt to capture him in Jalisco state was the highest-profile blow against cartels since the\u00a0recapture of former Sinaloa cartel boss Joaqu\u00edn \u201cEl Chapo\u201d Guzm\u00e1n\u00a0a decade ago.<\/p>\n
Following Oseguera Cervantes\u2019 death, gunmen\u00a0unleashed violence\u00a0across the country.\u00a0Cars burned out by cartel members blocked roads\u00a0in 20 Mexican states and left smoke billowing into the air. People locked themselves in their homes in Guadalajara, Mexico\u2019s second-largest city and Jalisco\u2019s capital, and school was canceled Monday in several states as security forces were placed on alert all over the country. Even Guatemala reinforced security on its border with Mexico.<\/p>\n
The killing could give the government a leg up in its dealings with the U.S. Trump administration, which has been\u00a0threatening tariffs\u00a0or\u00a0unilateral military action\u00a0if Mexico does not show results in the fight against the cartels.<\/p>\n
But the long-term effect on Mexico\u2019s security landscape remains unclear.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what to know:<\/p>\n
Oseguera Cervantes, better known as \u201cEl Mencho,\u201d was 59 years old and originally from the western state of Michoacan. His ties to organized crime went back at least three decades.<\/p>\n
In 1994, he was tried for trafficking heroin in the U.S. and sent to prison for three years. Upon returning to Mexico, he quickly rose through Mexico\u2019s drug trafficking underworld.<\/p>\n
Around 2009, he founded the\u00a0Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which became Mexico\u2019s fastest-growing criminal organization, moving cocaine, methamphetamines, fentanyl and migrants to the United States, and using violence with the use of drones and improvised explosive devices.<\/p>\n
The cartel earned a reputation for brazen attacks on Mexican security forces, including\u00a0downing a military helicopter\u00a0in Jalisco in 2015 and attempting a\u00a0spectacular, but unsuccessful, assassination\u00a0of Mexico City Police Chief Omar Garc\u00eda Harfuch, who is now Mexico\u2019s federal security secretary.<\/p>\n
It recruited aggressively, experimenting with\u00a0new ways to reach potential members online, and generated revenue through fuel theft, extortion and timeshare fraud, among other activities.<\/p>\n
Oseguera Cervantes was killed during an attempt to capture him, as his followers attempted to fight off Mexican troops.<\/p>\n
Mexico\u2019s Defense Department said in a statement that the army launched an operation in the southern part of Jalisco state to capture Oseguera Cervantes, involving the Mexican Air Force and special forces.<\/p>\n
The cartel counterattacked, and in the ensuing confrontation, federal forces killed four members of the criminal group, and wounded three others, including its leader, who died later during transfer by air to Mexico City, according to the statement.<\/p>\n
Three soldiers were injured and two people were detained in the action. Rocket launchers capable of shooting down aircraft and destroying armored vehicles were seized at the scene.<\/p>\n
Oseguera Cervantes\u2019 will help Mexico\u2019s government show results to the U.S., which is pressuring its neighbor to pursue drug cartels more aggressively. Both countries said intelligence cooperation helped lead to Sunday\u2019s operation.<\/p>\n
Oseguera Cervantes was facing multiple indictments in the United States and the U.S. State Department had offered a\u00a0$15 million reward\u00a0for information leading to his arrest. The Trump administration designated his cartel and others foreign terrorist organizations a year ago.<\/p>\n
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, who was U.S. ambassador to Mexico during the first Trump administration, applauded the operation via X, writing: \u201cThe good guys are stronger than the bad guys. Congratulations to the forces of law and order in the great Mexican nation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mike Vigil, former chief of international operations for the DEA, said Mexico had sent a \u201ca strong message to Donald Trump\u2019s administration that they are fighting aggressively and effectively\u201d against the most powerful cartels. He added that \u201cthe majority of the information came from the Mexican armed forces and all credit goes to Mexico.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not clear who will succeed Oseguera Cervantes, or if any one person can.<\/p>\n
The Jalisco cartel has a presence in at least 21 of Mexico\u2019s 32 states and is active in almost all of the United States, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. But it is also a global organization and the loss of its leader could be felt well beyond Mexico.<\/p>\n
\u201cEl Mencho controlled everything, he was like a country\u2019s dictator,\u201d Vigil said.<\/p>\n
His absence could slow the cartel\u2019s rapid growth and expansion and leave it initially weakened against the Sinaloa cartel on several fronts where they or their proxies are fighting. The Sinaloa is locked in its own\u00a0internal power struggle, however, between the sons of \u201cEl Chapo\u201d and the faction loyal to Ismael \u201cEl Mayo\u201d Zambada, who is in U.S. custody.<\/p>\n
Vigil said Mexico should seize the moment to launch \u201can effective frontal assault based on intelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a big opportunity for Mexico and the United States if they work together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Security analyst David Saucedo said that if relatives of Oseguera Cervantes take control of the cartel, the violence seen Sunday could continue. If others take power, they could be more willing to turn the page and continue operations.<\/p>\n
The greatest fear would be that the cartel turns to indiscriminate violence. They could decide to \u201claunch narcoterrorism attacks \u2026 and generate a scenario similar to what Colombia lived in the 1990s,\u201d a full-on attack against the government \u201ccar bombs, assassinations and attacks on aircraft.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
#Mexicos #latest #cartel #violence #prompts #fears #narcoterrorism #replay #1990s #Colombia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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