Mexico kills drug lord El Mencho, sparking chaos

Mexican officer stands guard near burning bus after killing of cartel boss

(Image credit: Ulises Ruiz / AFP via Getty Images)

What happened

Mexico’s military Sunday killed the country’s most-wanted drug kingpin, Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, during an operation to capture him. The killing sparked a wave of retaliatory violence and arson attacks in Jalisco and other states across Mexico.

Who said what

Oseguera, 59, was wounded during his capture and died while being airlifted by helicopter to Mexico City, Mexico’s Defense Department said. The “forceful reaction” from his cartel left “at least 14 dead, including seven National Guard troops,” The Associated Press said. Guadalajara, Jalisco’s capital and a World Cup host city, “was turned into a ghost town” last night as civilians “hunkered down” amid burning vehicles and shops.

President Claudia Sheinbaum “has criticized the ‘kingpin’ strategy of previous administrations that took out cartel leaders only to trigger explosions of violence as cartels fractured,” the AP said, but she has been “under tremendous pressure” from President Donald Trump to crack down on drug trafficking. Oseguera’s “power and control of the underworld rose after the U.S. pressured Mexico to crack down on the Sinaloa Cartel,” where he got his start before splitting off in 2009, The Wall Street Journal said. The “Sinaloans pioneered the manufacturing and smuggling of fentanyl,” and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel is now one of the top traffickers of that and other drugs to the U.S.

What next?

Oseguera’s death is a “major victory for the Mexican government and could help reduce pressure” from Trump, The New York Times said. But “criminal empires in Mexico have a track record of outlasting the authorities’ best efforts to weaken them,” and whether Oseguera’s cartel survives or splinters into a bloody power struggle may depend on whether its leaders “have established a clear line of succession.”

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.