On Sunday (February 22, 2026), the Mexican military killed the nation’s most infamous cartel chief, who was additionally among the many most needed fugitives in the USA. In retaliation, cartel members unleashed a surge of violence all through the nation.
The killing of Jalisco New Technology Cartel chief Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes throughout an try to seize him in Jalisco state was the highest-profile blow towards cartels for the reason that recapture of former Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán a decade in the past.
Right here’s what to know concerning the as soon as highly effective drug cartel chief.
Who’s El Mencho?
Oseguera Cervantes, higher often called “El Mencho,” was 59-years previous and initially from the Western State of Michoacan. His ties to organised crime went again a minimum of three a long time.
In 1994, he was tried for trafficking heroin within the U.S. and despatched to jail for 3 years. Upon returning to Mexico, he shortly rose by way of Mexico’s drug trafficking underworld.
In 2009, he established the Jalisco New Technology Cartel, which quickly emerged as Mexico’s most quickly increasing legal organisation. The cartel engaged in trafficking cocaine, methamphetamines, fentanyl, and migrants into the USA whereas additionally adopting progressive violent ways, reminiscent of using drones and improvised explosive units.
It gained notoriety for its audacious assaults on Mexican safety forces, together with the downing of a navy helicopter in Jalisco in 2015 and an bold, although unsuccessful, assassination try on Mexico Metropolis Police Chief Omar García Harfuch, who at the moment serves as Mexico’s federal safety secretary.
It recruited aggressively, experimenting with new methods to succeed in potential members on-line.
What is going on in Mexico?
Following Oseguera Cervantes’ dying, gunmen unleashed violence throughout the nation. Automobiles burned out by cartel members blocked roads in practically a dozen Mexican states and left smoke billowing into the air. Folks locked themselves of their properties in Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-largest metropolis and Jalisco’s capital, and college was cancelled Monday in a number of states as safety forces have been positioned on alert everywhere in the nation. Furthermore, Guatemala bolstered safety on its border with Mexico.
The killing might give the federal government a leg up in its dealings with the U.S. Trump administration, which has been threatening tariffs or unilateral navy motion if Mexico doesn’t present ends in the combat towards the cartels.
However the long-term impact on Mexico’s safety panorama stays unclear.
The U.S. combat towards cartels
The intelligence collaboration between the U.S. and Mexico on Sunday’s (February 22) operation helped result in the killing of the notorious Mexican drug cartel chief.
Oseguera Cervantes was going through a number of indictments in the USA and the U.S. State Division had provided a $15 million reward for data resulting in his arrest. The Trump administration designated his cartel and others overseas terrorist organizations a 12 months in the past.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, who was U.S. ambassador to Mexico through the first Trump administration, applauded the operation by way of X, writing, “The great guys are stronger than the unhealthy guys. Congratulations to the forces of legislation and order within the nice Mexican nation.”
Mike Vigil, former chief of worldwide operations for the DEA, mentioned Mexico had despatched a robust message to Donald Trump’s administration that they’re preventing aggressively and successfully” towards probably the most highly effective cartels. He added that “nearly all of the knowledge got here from the Mexican armed forces and all credit score goes to Mexico.”
Jalisco New Technology Cartel
The Jalisco cartel has a presence in a minimum of 21 of Mexico’s 32 states and is lively in nearly all the United States, in accordance with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. It is usually a worldwide organisation, and the lack of its chief could possibly be felt nicely past Mexico.
“El Mencho managed every little thing, he was like a rustic’s dictator,” Mr. Vigil mentioned.
His absence might gradual the cartel’s fast development and enlargement and depart it initially weakened towards the Sinaloa cartel on a number of fronts the place they or their proxies are preventing. The Sinaloa is locked in its personal inner energy wrestle, nevertheless, between the sons of “El Chapo” and the faction loyal to Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, who’s in U.S. custody.
Safety analyst David Saucedo mentioned that if kinfolk of Oseguera Cervantes take management of the cartel, the violence seen Sunday might proceed. If others take energy, they could possibly be extra keen to show the web page and proceed operations.
The best concern can be that the cartel turns to indiscriminate violence. They may resolve to “launch narcoterrorism assaults … and generate a state of affairs just like what Colombia lived within the Nineties,” a full-on assault towards the federal government “automobile bombs, assassinations and assaults on plane,” he added.
(With AP inputs)
Revealed – February 23, 2026 11:17 am IST