![\"Drug](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/PFC6WXJK3JBS3DQTBMYGCITR3U.png\")
Oseguera Cervantes had been on the U.S. most-wanted list for many years. Drug Enforcement Administration <\/p>\nWhile terrified U.S. citizens hole up in tourist resorts as violence spreads across Mexico, President Donald Trump is sharing AI-generated videos of himself playing hockey. <\/p>\n
\u201cTrump, THE ENFORCER!\u201d read a post from White House media adviser Kari Lake, shared by Trump on Truth Social Monday morning, along with a computer-generated clip of the MAGA president facing off against the Canadian national team. <\/p>\n
American tourists have been forced to take shelter in many holiday hotspots following the killing of Mexican drug lord Nemesio Rub\u00e9n Oseguera Cervantes\u2014better known as El Mencho\u2014in an audacious raid on Sunday. <\/p>\n
Oseguera Cervantes had been on the U.S. most-wanted list for many years. Drug Enforcement Administration <\/p>\n
Footage and images circulating on social media show fires and roadblocks by armed groups at multiple locations across Mexico. U.S. and Canadian carriers\u2014including Delta, Alaskan Airlines, American Airlines, and Air Canada\u2014have canceled dozens of flights, with further reports of taxi services and Ubers being unavailable, and local businesses shuttering as the unrest spreads.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m stuck in Gudalajara Jalisco keep me in ur prayers please\u2026 I just want to go home!\u201d Susanna Castaneda, who lives in Baldwin Park, California, posted on Facebook on Monday morning, along with footage of several fires blazing in the city. <\/p>\n
![\"MEXICO](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ST6SYJKXCBDK5LRBZT3ER2REL4.jpg\")
El Mencho’s killing has left U.S. tourists stranded at popular hotspots like Puerto Vallarta. Wolfgang Kaehler\/LightRocket via Getty Images <\/p>\n
\u201cPray for me currently stuck in Mexico,\u201d Crystal Lizeth Hernandez, from San Antonio Texas, wrote. \u201cThis isn\u2019t a viral moment I just want to get to my kids,\u201d Karen Wilson, of Cape Girardeau, said.<\/p>\n
Mexico\u2019s Joint Interagency Task Force-Counter Cartel, launched last month with the support of American intelligence and law enforcement agencies, killed El Mencho in the western state of Jalisco, along with at least six suspected accomplices. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cDue to ongoing, widespread security operations and related road blockages and criminal activity in many areas of Mexico, U.S. citizens should shelter in place until further notice,\u201d the State Department posted on X late Sunday. <\/p>\n
\u201cRoadblocks have impacted airline operations, with some domestic and int\u2019l flights cancelled in both Guadalajara & Puerto Vallarta,\u201d the notice reads, referring to two of Jalisco\u2019s largest cities. \u201cSeek shelter and remain in residences or hotels.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"GUADALAJARA,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/G2623T5CSBB3PF7YB3CCGQTSQE.jpg\")
U.S. nationals have been told to shelter in place as the violence spreads. Getty Images\/Getty Images <\/p>\n
Assistant Secretary of State Mora Namdar added that \u201cthe Trump Administration has no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens,\u201d and urged tourists stranded in the country to \u201ckeep family and friends advised of your location and wellbeing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The department further lists Tamaulipas in the northeast of the country, Michoacan in the southwest, Guerrero in the south and Nuevo Leon in the northeast as other states where violence has erupted over the past several hours. <\/p>\n
![\"MEXICO](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/XD626BKUSBHVFI5W7NYPQRHGZI.jpg\")
The Mexican military is reported to have carried out the operation to capture El Mencho with the help of U.S. intelligence and law enforcement. Anadolu via Getty Images <\/p>\n
Some tourists appear to have encountered trouble<\/a> following State Department guidance at hotels in more seriously affected areas. \u201cI am platinum elite, over 1,000 lifetime Marriott nights,\u201d one person posted on Reddit under the heading: \u201cWestin Puerto Vallarta won\u2019t honor late check out with streets closed.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPV is on fire due to the cartel setting cars and buses on fire all over the city,\u201d they went on, adding they\u2019d been unable to hail a cab. \u201cI asked for a 4 p.m. checkout, which I\u2019m entitled to based on availability. They won\u2019t extend past 2 p.m. and said we would have to use the hospitality suite.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWorst Bonvoy property I have ever experienced,\u201d they added. \u201cI don\u2019t think anyone will be checking in today so there\u2019s no reason not to at least extend us to 4 p.m.\u201d The Daily Beast has contacted Marriott Hotels for comment. <\/p>\n White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Sunday that the Trump administration had \u201cprovided intelligence support to the Mexican government\u201d for the operation that resulted in the death of El Mencho. \u201cPresident Trump has been very clear\u2014the United States will ensure narcoterrorists sending deadly drugs to our homeland are forced to face the wrath of justice they have long deserved,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n The president spent much of the weekend raging on Truth Social against Friday\u2019s Supreme Court ruling on his flagship tariff policy. \u201cWe\u2019re winning too much, it\u2019s just not fair!\u201d he wrote late Sunday night. It was not immediately clear whether that post referred to the drug lord\u2019s slaying, or to others throughout the day in which the president had praised U.S. victories at this month\u2019s Winter Olympics.<\/p>\n He continued that streak Monday morning with his AI video clips, along with a screengrab of a post by former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, which read: \u201cYou can\u2019t take our country\u2014and you can\u2019t take our game.\u201d Trump has repeatedly threatened to annex Canada throughout his second stint in the White House. <\/p>\n The MAGA president designated El Mencho\u2019s organization, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, as a terrorist organization in one of his first executive orders after taking office for the second time. U.S. authorities had indicted the drug kingpin several times on narcotrafficking charges. The reward for information leading to his capture stood at $15 million at the time of his death.<\/p>\n Trump had previously refused to rule out the possibility of direct military intervention in Mexico as part of his crackdown on the global drug trade. \u201cWould I launch strikes in Mexico to stop drugs?\u201d he said to reporters in an Oval Office interview in November. \u201cOK with me, whatever we have to do to stop drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n His comments came amid ongoing airstrikes against supposed narcotrafficking vessels in the Caribbean, slammed by critics as flagrant violations of both domestic and international law. Concerns over similar action in Mexico heightened following January\u2019s lightning incursion into Venezuela to capture President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, who now faces narcoterrorism charges in a New York federal court. <\/p>\n Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum responded to that action by condemning the Trump administration\u2019s \u201cintervention in the internal matters of other countries.\u201d She added that \u201cit is necessary to reaffirm that in Mexico the people rule, and that we are a free and sovereign country\u2014cooperation, yes; subordination and intervention, no.\u201d<\/p>\n El Mencho had led the Jalisco New Generation Cartel since its founding in 2010 following the dissolution of the Mil\u00e9nio Cartel, a smaller narcotrafficking group also based in the west of the country. Mexico\u2019s military is understood to have executed the operation to secure his capture on the basis of a \u201cdetailed dossier\u201d provided by the U.S., Reuters reports<\/a>. <\/p>\n The Mexican Defense Ministry has since said that the narcotrafficker was apprehended by special forces in the town of Tapalpa, around 80 miles southwest of Guadalajara. He is understood to have been taken into custody, and to have died from his injuries while being flown to Mexico City. <\/p>\n The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and State Department for comment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While terrified U.S. citizens hole up in tourist resorts as violence spreads across Mexico, President Donald Trump is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[182,181,507,22701,685,22046,212745,26,4379,74,6808],"class_list":{"0":"post-487766","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-cartel","12":"tag-drug","13":"tag-drug-cartels","14":"tag-jalisco","15":"tag-mexico","16":"tag-military","17":"tag-technology","18":"tag-tourism"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487766","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=487766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"President](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/BL5F3JAXAZC65ERORZU6JQDYTA.jpg\")
Trump has not yet explicitly addressed the drug lord’s killing. Peter W. Stevenson\/The Washington Post via Getty Images <\/p>\n![\"White](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/PBLWNSKNJFCTLFMUOJUDTKU254.jpg\")
Leavitt confirmed U.S. involvement in the operation Sunday. Saul Loeb\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n![\"Nicolas](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Y4ASVBZPDFC7PHAIXHUD226P4Y.jpg\")
Fears grew in Mexico of direct U.S. military action following Trump\u2019s abduction of Maduro earlier this year. XNY\/Star Max\/GC Images <\/p>\n![\"Sheinbaum\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/CEFHVC7VK5A65PRDYPDPEGTPFI.jpg\")
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has insisted on \u201ccooperation,\u201d rather than \u201csubjugation.\u201d Alfredo Estrella\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n