The killing of “El Mencho” has sparked a wave of unrest in Mexico and led to travel warnings and security alerts in the U.S., but who was he and who killed him?
Declared Chicago’s Public Enemy Number One, “El Mencho,” or Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, was the boss of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
His death has left security forces on alert throughout the country as gunmen unleashed violence across several popular tourist locations. Cars burned out by cartel members blocked roads in 20 Mexican states. People locked themselves in their homes in Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-largest city and Jalisco’s capital, and school was canceled Monday in several states.
The U.S. issued a security alert urging U.S. citizens in Puerto Vallarta and other popular tourist destinations in Mexico to “shelter in place,” with flights canceled and ride shares suspended.
Here’s what to know:
Who was ‘El Mencho’?
Oseguera Cervantes, better known as “El Mencho,” was 59 years old and originally from the western state of Michoacan. His ties to organized crime went back at least three decades.
In 1994, he was tried for trafficking heroin in the U.S. and sent to prison for three years. Upon returning to Mexico, he quickly rose through Mexico’s drug trafficking underworld.
Around 2009, he founded the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which became Mexico’s fastest-growing criminal organization, moving cocaine, methamphetamines, fentanyl and migrants to the United States, and using violence with the use of drones and improvised explosive devices.
The cartel earned a reputation for brazen attacks on Mexican security forces, including downing a military helicopter in Jalisco in 2015 and attempting a spectacular, but unsuccessful, assassination of Mexico City Police Chief Omar García Harfuch, who is now Mexico’s federal security secretary.
It recruited aggressively, experimenting with new ways to reach potential members online, and generated revenue through fuel theft, extortion and timeshare fraud, among other activities.
Since 2017, Oseguera Cervantes has been indicted several times in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
Oseguera Cervantes had also been under indictment in Chicago on charges that he oversees a criminal drug organization responsible for murders, mayhem and many millions of dollars in illicit profits. Last year, a bounty on his head reached $15 million.
In February 2025, the Trump administration designated the cartel as a foreign terrorist organization.
Who killed ‘El Mencho’?
Oseguera Cervantes was killed during an attempt to capture him Sunday in Tapalpa, Jalisco, about a two-hour drive southwest of Guadalajara.
Mexico’s Defense Department said in a statement that the army launched an operation in the southern part of Jalisco state to capture Oseguera Cervantes, involving the Mexican Air Force and special forces.
The cartel counterattacked, and in the ensuing confrontation, federal forces killed four members of the criminal group, and wounded three others, including its leader, who died later during transfer by air to Mexico City, according to the statement.
Three soldiers were injured and two people were detained in the action. Rocket launchers capable of shooting down aircraft and destroying armored vehicles were seized at the scene.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said via X that the U.S. government provided intelligence support for the operation. “‘El Mencho’ was a top target for the Mexican and United States government as one of the top traffickers of fentanyl into our homeland,” she wrote. She commended Mexico’s military for its work.
What happened after his death?
The killing has led to unrest and violence in several Mexican states.
On Sunday, Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco state and Mexico’s second-largest city, was almost completely shut down as fearful residents stayed home.
President Claudia Sheinbaum urged calm and authorities announced late Sunday they had cleared most of the more than 250 cartel roadblocks across 20 states.
Mexico hoped the death of the world’s biggest fentanyl traffickers would ease Trump administration pressure to do more against the cartels, but many remained hunkered down and on edge as they waited to see the powerful cartel’s reaction.
Sheinbaum has criticized the “kingpin” strategy of previous administrations that took out cartel leaders, only to trigger explosions of violence as cartels fractured. While she has remained popular in Mexico, security is a persistent concern.
David Mora, Mexico analyst for International Crisis Group, said the capture and outburst of violence marks a point of inflection in Sheinbaum’s push to crack down on cartels and relieve U.S. pressures.
But the long-term effect on Mexico’s security landscape remains unclear.
It’s not clear who will succeed Oseguera Cervantes, or if any one person can.
The Jalisco cartel has a presence in at least 21 of Mexico’s 32 states and is active in almost all of the United States, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. But it is also a global organization and the loss of its leader could be felt well beyond Mexico.
“El Mencho controlled everything, he was like a country’s dictator,” Vigil said.
His absence could slow the cartel’s rapid growth and expansion and leave it initially weakened against the Sinaloa cartel on several fronts where they or their proxies are fighting. The Sinaloa is locked in its own internal power struggle, however, between the sons of “El Chapo” and the faction loyal to Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, who is in U.S. custody.
Mike Vigil, former chief of international operations for the DEA, said Mexico should seize the moment to launch “an effective frontal assault based on intelligence.”
“This is a big opportunity for Mexico and the United States if they work together,” he said.
Security analyst David Saucedo said that if relatives of Oseguera Cervantes take control of the cartel, the violence seen Sunday could continue. If others take power, they could be more willing to turn the page and continue operations.
The greatest fear would be that the cartel turns to indiscriminate violence. They could decide to “launch narcoterrorism attacks … and generate a scenario similar to what Colombia lived in the 1990s,” a full-on attack against the government “car bombs, assassinations and attacks on aircraft.”
What does it mean for the U.S.?
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, who was U.S. ambassador to Mexico during the first Trump administration, applauded the operation via X, writing: “The good guys are stronger than the bad guys. Congratulations to the forces of law and order in the great Mexican nation.”
Vigil said Mexico had sent “a strong message to Donald Trump’s administration that they are fighting aggressively and effectively” against the most powerful cartels. He added that “the majority of the information came from the Mexican armed forces and all credit goes to Mexico.”
Still, the situation has led to security alerts and travel warnings across the U.S.
Videos circulating on social media showed tourists in Puerto Vallarta walking on the beach with smoke rising in the distance.
“Due to ongoing security operations & related road blockages & criminal activity, U.S. citizens in a number of locations in Mexico are urged to shelter in place, as U.S. government staff in several locations are doing and will continue to do on Feb 23,” the U.S. Dept. of State Consular Affairs posted on X late Sunday. “While no airports have been closed, roadblocks have impacted airline operations- most domestic & int’l flights are cancelled in Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta. All ride shares are suspended in Puerto Vallarta.”
The security message went on to say that Americans in Mexico should “seek shelter, minimize unnecessary movements,” and advised them to keep family and friends on their well-being.
The full list of locations included in the U.S.’ security alert can be found below:
Jalisco state (including Puerto Vallarta, Chapala, and Guadalajara) Baja California state (including Tijuana, Tecate, and Ensenada) Quintana Roo State (including Cancun, Cozumel, Playa del Carmen, and Tulum) Nayarit State (including the Nuevo Nayarit/Nuevo Vallarta area near Puerta Vallarta) Sinola (including Mazatlan) Areas of Colima, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Estado de Mexico, Michoacan, Nuevo Leon, Oaxaca, Puebla, Queretaro, San Luis Potosi, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, and Zacatecas StatesAccording to its website, American Airlines issued a travel alert for parts of Mexico, with fare waivers for flights between through Feb. 24. according to its website. VivaAerobus also issued a message on its website, saying road blockages were impacting access to airports.
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