Mexico Kills El Mencho; CJNG Unleashes Chaos
Mexican forces killed Jalisco New Generation Cartel chief Nemesio 'El Mencho' Oseguera Cervantes on February 22, triggering a nationwide wave of retaliatory violence across at least six states, with more than 250 road blockades and 10,000 troops deployed.
The Raid That Ended a Drug Lord's Reign
Mexican security forces killed Nemesio "El Mencho" Oseguera Cervantes, the feared leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), in a military raid on a remote compound in Tapalpa, Jalisco, on February 22. The operation ended decades of impunity for one of the world's most-wanted criminal figures, whose cartel had grown into Mexico's most powerful and most violent organized crime network.
Acting on intelligence from a new US-Mexico joint task force, Mexican special forces and National Guard units surrounded a secluded mountain property before dawn. When soldiers advanced, El Mencho's bodyguards opened fire, triggering a sustained gun battle in rugged terrain. The cartel leader attempted to flee into the surrounding forest before being critically wounded. He and two bodyguards died aboard a military helicopter en route to a hospital in Guadalajara.
US Intelligence Was Central
The White House confirmed the United States "provided intelligence" for the operation. A Joint Interagency Task Force—Counter Cartel, involving the FBI, ICE, and military intelligence units based at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, had been operating quietly since late 2025. Its mandate: mapping cartel networks on both sides of the border. According to sources briefed on the operation, information from this task force guided Mexican forces directly to El Mencho's location.
The raid marks a deepening of cooperation between Washington and Mexico City under President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has quietly expanded intelligence-sharing agreements with the US even as the Trump administration has threatened unilateral military action against cartels. The US State Department had offered a $15 million reward for information leading to El Mencho's capture.
Retaliation Across the Country
Within hours of the news breaking, CJNG gunmen unleashed a wave of retaliatory violence. By Sunday evening, Mexican authorities had counted 252 road blockades nationwide, with burning buses, trucks, and vehicles choking highways across at least six states — Jalisco, Michoacán, Guerrero, Guanajuato, Nayarit, and Tamaulipas. Armed groups attacked banks, petrol stations, and businesses. Schools shut across multiple states and the US Embassy issued a shelter-in-place warning for American citizens.
The government deployed 10,000 soldiers across 20 of Mexico's 32 states to restore order. More than 70 people died in the operation and its violent aftermath, including members of the National Guard killed in clashes in Jalisco.
A Power Vacuum — and Uncertain Consequences
Analysts are drawing comparisons to the 2016 recapture of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán — a milestone that ultimately did little to disrupt drug flows as the Sinaloa Cartel adapted and survived. Founded around 2009, the CJNG under El Mencho had expanded into over 28 Mexican states and dozens of countries, becoming the dominant supplier of fentanyl and methamphetamine entering the United States.
Security experts warn that the CJNG's lack of a clear successor could now spark a violent internal power struggle, potentially drawing in rival cartels. Whether El Mencho's death marks a lasting blow to organized crime — or simply triggers a bloody reshaping of Mexico's criminal landscape — is the urgent question now facing both governments.
