MEXICO CITY — A top-secret special forces operation that killed the world’s most wanted drug trafficker Sunday was meant to highlight the Mexican government’s prowess in combating crime.
But retaliatory violence by angry cartel members who torched cars, killed dozens of soldiers and spread mayhem in 20 of Mexico’s 32 states instead sparked widespread fear about the vast reach of organized crime here — and the government’s ability to tame it.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum sought to quell fears Monday after mayhem erupted over the killing of a long-elusive cartel kingpin: Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho.”
“The country is at peace,” Sheinbaum told reporters at her daily news conference in Mexico City on Monday. “It’s calm.”
“Mexico has solid institutions,” said Mexican Defense Secretary Ricardo Trevilla Trejo. “What was demonstrated? The strength of the Mexican state.”
But many Mexicans remained unconvinced that the military operation would in fact weaken Oseguera’s cartel, and that the spate of brazen lawlessness was over.
“The Army killed El Mencho, their leader. His followers aren’t going to sit around with their arms crossed,” said José Armando Torres, 45, a businessman and father of two in Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco state.
A burned-out vehicle in Guadalajara.
(Alejandra Leyva / Associated Press)
On Sunday, cartel operatives roamed the streets with guns, hijacking cars, ordering passengers out and setting the vehicles ablaze, authorities said, part of a wave of retribution attacks.
“We woke up this morning with the city empty, no one in the streets, commercial centers and stores closed — the gas stations, the pharmacies, all closed,” Torres said. “We live with the deep anxiety that something bad is going to happen. And this current silence isn’t tranquility — it’s dread.”
That sense of alarm rippled well beyond Jalisco.
In the neighboring western state of Colima, one resident described how edgy residents rushed to supermarkets in a surge of panic buying to secure cooking oil, toilet paper and other staples. A rumor circulated that armed groups would begin abducting or killing people after 2 p.m.
Mexico’s government, one commentator said, was ill-prepared for the wave of attacks that followed Oseguera’s death — despite the fact that operations targeting cartel leaders often spark violence in the short and long term.
“Mexican authorities were prepared for the detention of El Mencho, but not ready to contain the violent reactions of his followers,” wrote columnist Viri Ríos in Mexico’s Milenio newspaper. “The death of El Mencho,” she added, “may simply create a vacuum to be filled by other violent criminals.”
Sunday’s attacks had a meaning beyond venting outrage about the killing of the cartel leader, said Mike Vigil, former international chief for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. “This was a message — both to the Mexican government and to rival cartels — that we are still strong, we are not debilitated,” Vigil said.
Schools were closed Monday in some states and some flights remained suspended in Puerto Vallarta. The U.S. State Department on Sunday warned Americans in Jalisco and four other states to shelter in place until further notice.
Omar García Harfuch, Mexico’s top security official, said 25 members of the National Guard had been killed in six retaliatory attacks by organized crime. He said 34 criminal suspects had been killed in the mayhem, along with a prison guard, an agent from the prosecutor’s office and one civilian.
A 1986 booking photo of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, the cartel boss known as “El Mencho.”
(DEA)
Authorities revealed new details of the operation targeting Oseguera, 59, a shadowy figure who founded and led of the notorious Jalisco New Generation cartel, which traffics fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine to the United States, as well as engaging in extortion, migrant-smuggling and other rackets.
In recent days, Trevilla told reporters, intelligence officers identified the mountain hideout where Oseguera had been living by tracking the movements of his “romantic partner.”
As troops approached Oseguera’s compound near the town of Tapalpa on Sunday, cartel operatives opened fire in what Trevilla described as “a very violent attack.”
During the ensuing gun battle between soldiers and cartel henchmen, Oseguera escaped. Troops established a perimeter around the compound, and later found the drug lord hiding in nearby woods.
He and two of his bodyguards were seriously injured. The three were transported by helicopter to the nearby city of Morelia, but died en route, Trevilla said.
He said an arsenal of guns, rocket launchers and grenades was found at Oseguera’s compound, two hours south of the city of Guadalajara, which this summer will host World Cup soccer games.
Trevilla said that in another part of Jalisco, soldiers killed another high-ranking cartel member accused of orchestrating violence by offering hit men more than $1,000 for every soldier killed.
Images of the ensuing violence — tanker trucks burning on highways and columns of gray smoke billowing over the popular tourist destination of Puerto Vallarta — drew worldwide attention.
Sheinbaum downplayed the violence, saying she expects schools to open and flights to resume by Tuesday. “We awoke today with no blockades,” Sheinbaum said. “All activity has practically been reestablished.”
The government has sent thousands of soldiers to Jalisco to reinforce security and is ready, officials say, to combat additional violence that may arise as top remaining leaders of the cartel jockey for power. “We’re prepared for this,” Harfuch said.
But questions remained over whether Mexico was prepared for the instability that may come. The country’s security forces are already struggling to contain violence that has erupted after the arrest of two leaders of the Sinaloa cartel.
Many here also wondered about the degree of U.S. involvement in the Oseguera operation.
Mexican officials said that while U.S. intelligence played a role in the operation, it was the Mexican military that identified Oseguera’s hideout and planned and executed the attack.
“In this case there was information provided by the United States,” Sheinbauam said. “But the entire operation from its planning [stage] was the responsibility of federal forces. “
Oseguera’s death is the most significant takedown of a Mexican capo since the 2016 capture of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, former head of the Sinaloa cartel. El Chapo was extradited to the United States and is serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison.
The operation comes as Sheinbaum faces intense pressure from the Trump administration to crack down on U.S.-bound drug trafficking. Last year, the White House formally designated the Jalisco cartel as a foreign terrorist group. Trump has threatened to increase tariffs on Mexico — and carry out unilateral U.S. military actions in the country — if it does not do more to combat cartels.
U.S. officials applauded Mexican authorities for Sunday’s operation. “This operation underscores a clear reality,” U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ron Johnson said in a statement. “Criminal organizations that poison our people and threaten our nations will be held accountable.” He said that under Trump and Sheinbaum, “bilateral cooperation has reached unprecedented levels.”
Under Oseguera’s leadership, the Jalisco cartel vastly expanded its reach in Mexico, especially after the downfall of El Chapo, which weakened the once-dominant Sinaloa cartel.
Jalisco operatives have aggressively invaded the turf of other gangs, incorporated smaller criminal bands into its ranks and put legions of police officers, judges, prosecutors and politicians on its payroll.
Linthicum reported from New York and McDonnell and special correspondent Sánchez Vidal from Mexico City. Staff writer Karen Mariana Cardenas Ceballos contributed from Los Angeles.
