![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/skynews-guadalajara-mexico_7172225.jpg\")
<\/p>\nMexican drug lord “El Mencho” has been killed in a military operation. <\/p>\n
The leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, whose real name is Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, died on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Oseguera Cervantes was wounded in an operation to capture him in Tapalpa, Jalisco, around two hours’ drive southwest of Guadalajara, on Sunday, the Defence Department said in a statement.<\/p>\n
He died while being flown to Mexico City, the statement added.<\/p>\n
The state is the base of the cartel known for trafficking large quantities of fentanyl and other drugs to the US.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Image:
\n A charred vehicle in Guadalajara, Jalisco state. Pic: AP<\/p>\n
During the operation, troops came under fire and killed four people.<\/p>\n
Three others, including Oseguera Cervantes, were wounded and later died, the statement said.<\/p>\n
Two more people were arrested, and armoured vehicles, rocket launchers and other firearms were seized.<\/p>\n
Three members of the armed forces were also wounded.<\/p>\n
The US Embassy in Mexico said on X that Mexican special forces carried out the operation “within the framework of bilateral cooperation, with U.S. authorities providing complementary intelligence”.<\/p>\n
Roads blocked and cars set on fire<\/p>\n
The killing of Oseguera Cervantes set off several hours of roadblocks, with vehicles torched in Jalisco and other states.<\/p>\n
Such tactics are commonly used by the cartels to block military operations.<\/p>\n
Videos posted on social media showed plumes of smoke billowing over Puerto Vallarta, a major city in Jalisco, and people running through the airport of the state’s capital in panic.<\/p>\n
In Guadalajara, the state capital, flaming vehicles blocked roads. Mexico’s second-largest city is set to host matches at the World Cup this summer.<\/p>\n
The US State Department warned US citizens in Jalisco, Tamaulipas, Michoacan, Guerrero and Nuevo Leon states to remain in safe places while security operations are carried out.<\/p>\n
Read more from Sky News: Jalisco governor Pablo Lemus told residents to stay at home and suspended public transportation. School in the state was also cancelled for Monday.<\/p>\n On Sunday, United Airlines said it had cancelled flight operations to Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara.<\/p>\n American Airlines told Reuters in a separate statement it has cancelled flights to and from PVR and GDL for the remainder of Sunday.<\/p>\n Air Canada said it was suspending flights to Puerto Vallarta “due to an ongoing security situation”.<\/p>\n Reaction to operation<\/p>\n Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum recognised the efforts of security forces and called for calm in a post on X.<\/p>\n US Deputy Secretary \u200cof State Christopher \u200bLandau called the drug lord’s killing \u2060a “great development \u2060for Mexico, the \u200cUS, Latin America, and \u200cthe world”.<\/p>\n Posting on X, Mr Landau added: “I’m watching the scenes of violence from \u2060Mexico with \u200bgreat sadness and \u200bconcern.”<\/p>\n The US State Department had offered a reward of up to $15m for information leading to the arrest of El Mencho.<\/p>\n Image: Oseguera Cervantes has been heavily involved in drug trafficking since the 1990s.<\/p>\n He was convicted of conspiracy to distribute heroin in the US District Court for the Northern District of California in 1994 and spent almost three years in prison.<\/p>\n Following his release from custody, Oseguera Cervantes returned to Mexico and continued drug trafficking operations.<\/p>\n Since 2017, he has been indicted several times in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.<\/p>\n One of Mexico’s most powerful criminal organisations <\/p>\n The Jalisco New Generation Cartel is one of the most powerful and fastest-growing criminal organisations in Mexico.<\/p>\n In February, the Trump administration designated it as a foreign terrorist organisation.<\/p>\n The cartel carried out a daring assassination attempt in 2020 with grenades and high-powered rifles against the then-head of the capital’s police force, who is now head of federal security, in the heart of Mexico City.<\/p>\n The DEA considers it to be as powerful as the Sinaloa cartel, one of Mexico’s most notorious criminal groups.<\/p>\n The cartel has a presence in all 50 US states and is believed to be one of the leading suppliers of cocaine to the US market.<\/p>\n Like the Sinaloa cartel, it earns billions of dollars from the production of methamphetamines and fentanyl.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mexican drug lord “El Mencho” has been killed in a military operation. The leader of the Jalisco New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-484701","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-united-states-of-america","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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