The killing marks a major operation against fentanyl trafficking at a moment when President Donald Trump has pressured Mexico to do more against drug cartels. But the cartel’s immediate violent reaction—blocking roads, burning vehicles, and killing security forces—has left portions of Mexico in crisis, with states canceling school and governments warning citizens to shelter in place.
Mexican soldiers killed Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, in a shootout Sunday in the town of Tapalpa. Mexican Defense Secretary Gen. Ricardo Trevilla said authorities had tracked one of his romantic partners to his hideout.
Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” and two bodyguards fled into a wooded area where they were seriously wounded in a firefight. They were taken into custody and died on the way to Mexico City, according to Trevilla.
In a separate location in Jalisco, soldiers killed another high-ranking cartel member who Trevilla said was coordinating violence and offering more than $1,000 for every soldier killed.
In response, cartel gunmen erected more than 250 roadblocks across 20 states and set fire to vehicles. Mexican authorities reported that 25 members of the Mexican National Guard were killed in six separate attacks, while some 30 criminal suspects were killed in Jalisco and 4 in the neighboring state of Michoacán. A prison guard and an agent from the state prosecutor’s office were also killed.
The White House confirmed that the United States provided intelligence support to the operation and applauded Mexico’s military for taking down one of the most wanted criminals in both countries.
El Mencho and the Jalisco Cartel
The Jalisco New Generation Cartel is known for trafficking fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine to the United States and staging brazen attacks against Mexican government officials. The organization began operating around 2009. In February 2025, the Trump administration designated it as a foreign terrorist organization. The cartel has been one of the most aggressive in attacks on the Mexican military, including on helicopters, and is a pioneer in launching explosives from drones and installing mines.
The U.S. State Department had offered a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to the arrest of El Mencho.
Trump’s Pressure on Mexico
President Trump has pressed Mexico to fight fentanyl smuggling, threatening to impose more tariffs or take unilateral military action if the country does not show results. Mexico hoped the death of Oseguera Cervantes would ease that Trump administration pressure to do more against the cartels.
Widespread Disruption and Panic
The violence prompted immediate disruptions across Mexico. Several Mexican states canceled school Monday. Local and foreign governments warned their citizens to stay inside. The U.S. Embassy said its personnel in eight cities and in the state of Michoacán would shelter in place and work remotely Monday.
More than 1,000 people were stuck overnight in Guadalajara’s zoo, where they slept in buses. Families were left stranded, unable to return home to nearby states like Zacatecas and Michoacán, according to Luis Soto Rendón, the zoo’s director.
“We decided to let people stay inside the zoo for their safety,” Soto said. “We have everyone from small children to senior citizens.”
In Puerto Vallarta, Steve Perkins, 57, was visiting with his wife and friends. The couple was scheduled to return to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, on Monday when their flight was canceled. Perkins said he and his wife were having coffee on the terrace of their hotel room in downtown when they heard rounds of explosions and gunshots.
“The entire downtown in the bay was just covered in thick black smoke, pretty scary,” Perkins said. “And then at one point, we heard screams. We heard a lot of screams … So then we started getting really worried.”
Perkins and his wife traded out their flip-flops for running shoes in case “we needed to make a run for it.”
“My wife called our kids to tell them goodbye if we were never gonna see them again,” Perkins said.
In Guadalajara, the state capital, some ventured out into the streets to work and buy supplies Monday, a marked change from Sunday, when the city was largely shut down as fearful residents stayed home.
José Luis Ramírez, a 54-year-old therapist, was in a long line of people waiting outside a pharmacy, one of the few businesses open Monday. Families were buying food, medicine, water, diapers and baby formula from pharmacists through a chained door. It was Ramírez’s first time leaving his house since the violence erupted.
“We have to not think scared, but be cool-headed, like they say, and take things as they come,” he said.
Irma Hernández, a 43-year-old hotel security guard in Guadalajara, normally takes public transportation to her job, but buses were not running. Her bosses organized a private car to pick her up. Her family, she said, was staying home, too scared to leave.
“I am worried because I don’t know how to get home if something happens,” she said.
At a blockade on the outskirts of Tapalpa, 25-year-old Joel Ramírez was waiting for soldiers to clear a blockade of tree limbs. He hauls things in his pickup for a living and had not been able to get home since Sunday’s violence erupted.
“Everything seems calmer, but we were almost there and got stuck,” he said. “We’re scared.”