On Sunday, Feb. 22, Mexican cartel leader Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, who was known as “El Mencho,” died due to gunshot wounds while being flown to a hospital via helicopter. He was en route to Mexico City following a Mexican military capture operation carried out in Tapalpa, Jalisco when he was shot.
The Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), was founded and led by Oseguera Cervantes, and is currently one of the country’s most powerful and dangerous cartels. They reacted violently in the wake of their leader’s death, setting hijacked civilian vehicles on fire to block roads and highways, lighting convenience stores and different businesses ablaze, and initiating shootouts throughout Guadalajara and its surrounding cities.
This prompted Jalisco’s government to issue a state-wide “code red,” advising schools, businesses, and public transport to temporarily shut down and urging people to not go outside unless absolutely necessary.
Guadalajara was the epicentre of the cartel’s violent response. Fear broke out early on Sunday with videos of panicked people running away from apparent danger at the airport, and footage of vehicles being set on fire all over the state. Jalisco’s governor Pablo Lemus Navarro confirmed 266 vehicles had been charred across the state, within the city and in different points of the connecting highways.
Flights were canceled and diverted from Guadalajara’s International Airport leaving passengers stranded on the terminal, and due to the city-wide cancellation of public transport over 1,000 visitors of the Guadalajara’s Zoo were left with no alternative than to stay the night.
Another city that was affected by the cartel’s violence was Puerto Vallarta, a beloved vacation destination of Mexicans and Canadians alike. According to Global Affairs Canada, more than 4,000 Canadians were in Jalisco at the time of the cartel’s violent activity on Sunday, with some Canadian airlines such as WestJet cancelling 37 flights heading and originating from Puerto Vallarta International Airport after it temporarily shut down, affecting Canadian travellers. On Tuesday, Feb. 24, Lemus removed the state’s “code red” status and called for the reactivation of the economy, while assuring 24 hour patrolling would be in effect with public security in mind. WestJet and Flair Airlines implemented recovery flights from Puerto Vallarta to Vancouver to assist Canadians stranded by the events that unfolded over Sunday and Monday.
Guadalajara will be one of the host cities of the FIFA 2026 World Cup, and public concern has emerged due to violent cartel activity, questioning if the city is safe enough to host the event. SafeAbroad’s risk assessment mentions that visitors are unlikely to be targeted by cartel violence, but their presence still remains a concern not just for tourists, but for residents as well.
Cartels have a long history in Mexico, and dismantling one of these criminal groups is a complex undertaking — one that Eduardo Guerrero Gutiérrez from Lantia Intelligence assures cannot be accomplished by merely taking out a kingpin, such as Oseguera Cervantes.
U.S. President Donald Trump has pressured Mexico into taking action to get rid of the cartels, even placing a 15 million U.S. dollar bounty on Oseguera Cervantes’ head, despite the U.S. remaining one of CJNG’s largest drug buyers. Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum shared that Oseguera Cervantes’ capture operation was planned and executed by Mexico’s armed forces, but that the U.S. had provided critical intel central to the operation’s planning.
While the death of CJNG’s leader is a major blow for the cartel, it is yet to be seen what the long term effects of this operation will have on the criminal organization, Jalisco, and Mexico as a whole.
