The Government has issued a warning to travellers amid an outbreak of violence across several states in Mexico, after Mexican special forces killed a powerful drug cartel boss known as “El Mencho”.
Tourists and residents in the southwest state of Jalisco have been urged to stay indoors, while several airlines have cancelled flights.
Burning vehicles blocked roads in Guadalajara, the state capital, which is also scheduled to host matches during this summer’s World Cup.
On Sunday night the Foreign Office issued new advice for Jalisco, including in Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta, warning travellers should “exercise extreme caution, follow local authorities’ advice, including orders to stay indoors and avoid non‑essential travel in affected areas”.
It added: “Security incidents have also been reported in other parts of Mexico.
“As the situation develops, wherever you are in Mexico, you should stay alert and follow local security advice.”
Smoke billows amid a wave of violence in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico (Photo: @morelifediares via Instagram/Youtube/via Reuters)Airlines including Air Canada, United Airlines and Aeromexico have cancelled flights to Puerto Vallarta, a beachside resort town where stunned tourists filmed plumes of smoke rising into the sky from fires.
Flights from Guadalajara were also disrupted, with reports of travellers taking shelter behind chairs and flight desks as the violence unfolded.
The Mexican army killed the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, “El Mencho,” on Sunday, decapitating what had become Mexico’s most powerful drug cartel and thrusting swaths of the nation into chaos.
The US Embassy in Mexico said on X that the operation was carried out by Mexican special forces “within the framework of bilateral cooperation, with US authorities providing complementary intelligence.”
The drug lord was the Mexican government’s biggest prize yet to show the Trump administration in its efforts to crack down on the cartels, and his death was met with a forceful reaction from the cartel, known by its Spanish initials CJNG.
Mexican drug lord Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, also known as El Mencho, appears in a Spanish-language wanted poster (Photo: State Department/Handout via Reuters)Guadalajara was turned into a ghost town Sunday night as civilians hunkered down. School was cancelled Monday in several states.
Oseguera Cervantes was wounded in an operation to capture him Sunday in Tapalpa, Jalisco about a two-hour drive southwest of Guadalajara and he died while being flown to Mexico City, the Defence Department said in a statement.
The state is the base of the cartel known for trafficking huge quantities of fentanyl and other drugs to the United States.
A member of the cartel told the Reuters news agency warned of further bloodshed as groups move to take control of his cartel.
“The attacks were carried out in revenge for the leader’s death, at first against the government and out of discontent,” the person said.
“But later the internal killings are coming, by the groups moving in to take over.”
In Mexico’s Pacific coast, a five-hour drive from the military operation in the town of Tapalpa, beachgoers spoke of their shock at the situation.
Daniel Drolet, a regular Canadian tourist, told Reuters in a phone interview that he was concerned of a new era of violence taking root in the typically placid resort zone.
“I have never seen anything like this before,” he said.
Road blockades and vehicle burnings have been reported in several parts of Mexico (Photo by Carlos Zepeda/Getty Images)A trucking industry group said in a statement it was “profoundly worried” by the highway violence and recommended that truckers keep to safe areas or return to their operating yards until conditions improved.
Authorities have not reported any casualties beyond several cartel members and officials killed during the military operation.
Oseguera Cervantes, 59, had been significantly involved in drug trafficking activities since the 1990s.
He and Erik Valencia Salazar, also known as “El 85,” created the Jalisco New Generation Cartel around 2007.
Initially, they worked for the Sinaloa Cartel, but eventually split and for years the two cartels have battled for territory across Mexico.
Last year, people searching for missing relatives founds piles of shoes and other clothing, as well as bone fragments at what authorities later said was a Jalisco cartel recruitment and training site.
Previous cartel arrests and killings have led to outbreaks of violence.
In 2019, Ovidio Guzman, a son of Sinaloa Cartel kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, was detained but quickly released, setting off widespread gun battles. His arrest in 2023 set off more violence.
The 2024 arrest of Sinaloa Cartel boss Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada triggered a bloody power struggle in the criminal group that continues unabated more than a year later.
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Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum in a social media post acknowledged the violence, but applauded Mexican security forces
“In most of the national territory activities are happening with absolute normalcy,” she said.
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