Troops killed after drug lord ‘El Mencho’ captured

Mexico’s Defense Secretary Ricardo Trevilla said some 2,500 troops were being deployed to boost security in the country’s west.

“Around 7,000 troops were stationed in Jalisco, so they are going to be reinforced” with more troops in the area of operation for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, he said. 

The cartel was led by Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera, who was announced dead on Sunday after he was injured in an army raid. His death sparked widespread violence by cartel members, who went on torching vehicles and businesses and blocking roads.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum urged people to stay calm, saying that authorities have cleared over 250 cartel roadblocks across 20 states. 

“Today there is more calm and there is a government, there are armed forces. There is a security Cabinet and there is a lot of coordination,” she said. 

“So, you can rest assured that peace, security, and normality are being maintained in the country,” the president said during her morning press conference.

Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho” Oseguera headed western Mexico’s Jalisco New Generation Cartel, was killed during a Mexican army raid on Sunday.

The US had offered a $15 million bounty (almost €12.7 billion) for his capture.

Oseguera was wounded during a raid in the town of Tapalpa in western Jalisco state and died while being flown to Mexico City, the Mexican army said in a statement.

It said four members of the cartel were killed in the raid and three more, including Oseguera, died of their wounds while being transferred to the Mexican capital.

The US Justice Department considers the cartel, which was founded in 2009, to be one of Mexico’s most violent drug trafficking organizations.

It is one of the main suppliers of cocaine to the United States and also produces fentanyl and methamphetamines.

Oseguera was convicted of conspiracy to distribute heroin by a California court in 1994 and served a prison sentence of nearly three years. After his release from prison, he returned to Mexico and continued to engage in cartel activity.

He has been indicted several times in a US court, including a 2022 indictment for conspiracy and distribution of controlled substances and use of firearms in connection with drug trafficking offenses.

Mexico’s Seurity Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch said six separate attacks in the western state of Jalisco left at least 25 members of the National ‌Guard ⁠dead.

Cartel violence erupted a day after the army announced the capture and death of ​Jalisco New Generation cartel boss Nemesio ​Oseguera, known as “El Mencho,” on ​Sunday.

Harfuch ‌said one agent from the state prosecutor’s office was also killed, as well as a woman that he did not identify.

Some 30 criminal suspects were killed in Jalisco and four others were killed in Michoacan, he added

We’re hearing updates from Mexico this morning as the country remains on high alert after the army announced the death of the country’s most-wanted drug lord. 

Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera, leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), was injured in a raid in the town of Tapalpa, in the western state of Jalisco, and died while being flown to Mexico City, the army said Sunday. 

The announcement triggered a wave of violence, which President Claudia Sheinbaum says is under control.