Mexican security forces killed Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, the country’s most wanted cartel leader, on Sunday in a high-stakes operation that set off a spiral of violence and chaos.
Oseguera was the leader and co-founder of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, a powerful criminal organization that has rapidly expanded its influence in recent years and become one of the major traffickers of methamphetamine and fentanyl into the United States.
The attack comes at a critical time for Mexico, as President Claudia Sheinbaum faces increasing pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to crack down on drug trafficking.
It also comes just months before four group stage matches of the 2026 FIFA World Cup are scheduled to be held in Guadalajara, a Mexican city rocked by violence following the arrest of a drug lord.
After years of tracking Oseguera, the Mexican military received concrete information on February 20 about the feared cartel leader’s whereabouts.
Mexican Defense Secretary Ricardo Torrevira Trejo said their investigation into Oseguera’s network led them to a key figure who was a “trusted man” of one of Oseguera’s mistresses and could help him gain access to his hideout.
The next day, the lover left Oseguera’s cabin on the outskirts of Tapalpa, but the drug lord remained in his hideout with his security guard.
Special rapid response forces from the Mexican Air Force and National Guard then swooped in, put together a plan, and launched the assault within 24 hours.
To avoid arousing suspicion, Trevilla said the mission was carried out primarily by ground forces, with limited air support from helicopters.
Several units of the Mexican military were stationed in central Tapalpa on Sunday morning, according to a CNN analysis of social media videos.
Scheinbaum said the U.S. shared information to support the operation but did not provide ground forces.
Mexican troops established a perimeter around the compound and closed in, only to be fired upon by Oseguera’s lieutenants.
CNN used witness video taken during the operation to pinpoint El Mencho’s possible location in a wooded area guarding several small gated properties just over three miles southwest of Tapalpa. The location is a vacation rental known as Cabañas La Loma, near the Tapalpa Country Club, down a long, remote driveway.
Cabañas La Loma was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2015 and again in 2017 for “material support to the drug trafficking activities of the (Jalisco Cartel).”
Witness footage, first located by online researcher Haripon and verified by CNN, shows dozens of uniformed people and armored vehicles climbing up a hill toward the scene.
Another video taken further down the driveway shows the sound of automatic gunfire, while a third video taken at the same time shows thick black smoke billowing from the scene.
Torrevira said eight cartel members were killed and two soldiers were injured in the shootout.
Oseguera and several deputies then fled to a nearby forested area, leaving behind a group “with a large number of weapons” to continue fighting.
While some Mexican troops remained to engage the group in the hut, a special forces team split off in pursuit of Oseguera, who they found hiding in the undergrowth of the forest.
After another gunfight, the special forces team captured the cartel leader and two of his bodyguards. All three were seriously injured and it was determined that they needed to be evacuated if they were to survive, Trevira said.
The three cartel members, along with a wounded soldier, were loaded onto a helicopter and taken to a hospital in the nearby city of Guadalajara.
But all three died during the flight, and authorities decided to change the route, fearing a violent response in Guadalajara, where the cartel has a large presence. The helicopters were then diverted to Morelia International Airport, where Air Force fighter jets were waiting to take them to Mexico City.
News of Oseguera’s death sparked violent retaliatory violence by cartel forces, plunging large swathes of Mexico into chaos.
The gangs set up heavy blockades in the streets and engaged in gun battles with the military.
Airlines suspended flights to the area, and the United States urged people to shelter in place during the chaos.
During the chaos, 25 National Guard military police members were killed.
On Monday, Mr. Sheinbaum appealed for peace and sought to reassure the public.
“The most important thing right now is to guarantee peace and security to the entire population of all of Mexico, and that is what is being done now,” she said. “People can be confident that peace, security and normalcy are maintained in this country.”
This operation came at a critical time for Mexico. With President Trump threatening cross-border intervention, Sheinbaum likely wanted to emphasize his commitment to cracking down on drug cartels.
But it’s also a calculated risk, given the World Cup’s proximity to cartel violence sparked by the death of a drug lord. Guadalajara is scheduled to host matches this summer, which is expected to be an economic boon for Jalisco, but there is no doubt that coach Sheinbaum will be careful not to scare away tourists.
The opportunity to capture Oseguerra, who the United States classifies as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist and has a $15 million bounty on his head, may have been too good to pass up.
“The Mexican state seems to have calculated the numbers to be in its favor. There could not have been a better time to arrest him,” Armando Vargas, security program coordinator at Mexico Evalua think tank, told CNN.
Vargas said he was aware that retaliatory violence was likely and determined that the government was capable of “containing chaos, maintaining governance and recovering in the short term.”
Vargas added that it now seems unlikely that the Jalisco cartel will break up and fall into internal conflict. He said that while “much of their leadership remains free and they operate through a kind of franchise system in which local bosses have autonomy in decision-making,” he said, “despite the potential violence, we do not foresee a short-term breakup of the cartels that would lead to excessive violence.”
In fact, Mr. Oseguera had already had to cede some organizational control over the group because he was on the run from the authorities, said Gustavo López Montiel, a political science professor at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education University.
López Montiel added that the choice to remove Oseguera while some of his lieutenants remained shows that “this capture is obviously important, but it is also symbolic.”
David Mora, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, said the drug lord’s death could weaken the Jalisco cartel and open up “the possibility of further violence within the group,” while also giving other cartels an opportunity to penetrate into the Jalisco cartel’s territory.
Still, as Mora pointed out, whatever the implications for the Jalisco cartel, Mexico will be hoping one man in particular, Donald Trump, will see Oseguera’s death as a meaningful development.
