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Mexican Forces Kill Nation’s Most-Wanted Cartel Boss
Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” was the head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and widely regarded as one of the country’s most violent criminal figures.
The Mexican government said it killed the nation’s most wanted cartel boss on Sunday, a major victory in its new offensive against the country’s criminal groups and a move that could help reduce pressure from President Trump, who has been threatening strikes in Mexico.
Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” was the longtime leader of one of Mexico’s most powerful cartels, Jalisco New Generation Cartel, and was widely regarded as one of the country’s most violent criminal figures. He presided over a criminal enterprise that expanded rapidly over the past decade, producing and selling drugs and extorting local businesses. He also built a reputation for brazen attacks on security forces and terrorizing communities across the country.
Mexican security forces led an operation Sunday to capture Mr. Oseguera in Tapalpa, a town of about 20,000, in the western coastal state of Jalisco, where his cartel was founded and based, the Mexican government said. At least seven cartel members were killed during the operation.
Mr. Oseguera and two other cartel operatives were seriously injured in the operation and died while in transport to Mexico City for medical attention, according to the Mexican government.
Mr. Oseguera’s killing set off a swift outbreak of violence across Mexico. In at least six states, including Jalisco, residents and the local authorities reported that burning vehicles were blocking streets, a common practice by drug cartels.
The state of Jalisco said it had suspended public transportation in some areas and warned hotels to instruct their guests to remain inside. The state of Nayarit canceled classes on Monday. The U.S. government warned its citizens to “shelter in place until further notice” in parts of five states: Jalisco, Tamaulipas, Michoacán, Guerrero and Nuevo León. Various airlines issues travel advisories or halted flights.
Some of the violence occurred in Guadalajara, Jalisco’s capital, a hub of 1.4 million people that is a host city for this year’s World Cup.
Panic broke out at Guadalajara International Airport on Sunday, with videos posted on social media showing airport staff and travelers fleeing the building. But the airport and Mexican federal government said that the airport was operating as normal and that there was no risk to fliers.
In the northern border city of Reynosa, located across from McAllen, Texas, main roads and entrances were blocked with burning vehicles, according to local media reports.
Vanda Felbab-Brown, an expert on nonstate armed groups at the Brookings Institution, said the significance of Mr. Oseguera’s killing rivaled that of the capture of the Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquín Guzmán Loera, known as “El Chapo,” in 2016, or of his former partner Ismael Zambada García, known as El Mayo, in 2024.
What Mr. Oseguera’s death could mean for Mexico’s criminal landscape and for trafficking networks abroad remains uncertain, as does whether the Jalisco New Generation Cartel can maintain the dominance it has long shared with the Sinaloa cartel.
“We are in a really interesting situation where Sinaloa’s internal unraveling continues and CJNG now may be heading into its own period of decline,” Ms. Felbab-Brown said, referring to Mr. Oseguera’s cartel. The shift, she said, could strengthen the Mayos’ faction within Sinaloa’s internal conflict or open space for an entirely different actor to rise.
She warned that the early bursts of violence echoed the fallout in Sinaloa in 2019, when Mexican forces captured Ovidio Guzmán López, a son of El Chapo. Within hours, heavily armed gunmen paralyzed Culiacán, unleashing gunfire in broad daylight and forcing the government to release him.
Whether the turmoil now spreads further, she said, will depend on whether leaders of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel have established a clear line of succession capable of holding the organization together or whether Mr. Oseguera’s death triggers fragmentation and a new wave of bloodshed.
The cartel grew into one of Mexico’s dominant trafficking organizations under Mr. Oseguera’s command, battling rivals across multiple states while moving synthetic drugs, including cocaine, methamphetamine and, in recent years, fentanyl into the United States.
His death is likely to improve the Mexican government’s relations with Washington. Mr. Trump has been pressuring Mexico to combat the cartels more forcefully and threatening military strikes against the groups if he is not satisfied with the results.
President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico has firmly and repeatedly rejected that proposal, saying any U.S. strikes would violate Mexico’s sovereignty. At the same time, her government has expanded its cooperation with American security agencies, including on intelligence.
The Mexican government said the United States had contributed intelligence that aided the operation against Mr. Oseguera. U.S. officials said no American troops were involved in the operation.
The U.S. Embassy in Mexico posted on social media that the operation “was planned and executed by Mexican Special Forces. The action was carried out within the framework of bilateral cooperation, with U.S. authorities providing complementary intelligence.”
As part of the operation, Mexican forces captured two other cartel members, as well as various weapons and armored vehicles, including what officials described as “rocket launchers capable of downing aircraft and destroying armored vehicles.”
Three members of the Mexican security forces were injured in the operation, the government said.
The U.S. State Department had offered up to $15 million for information leading to Mr. Oseguera’s arrest or conviction, reflecting his status as one of Washington’s most sought-after targets. Since 2017, he had been indicted multiple times in the United States on federal drug charges.
For years, he had managed to evade capture, cementing his reputation as one of the world’s most elusive cartel leaders.
Miriam Castillo, Cyntia Barrera Díaz and Maria Abi-Habib contributed reporting from Mexico City, and Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Washington.
Jack Nicas is The Times’s Mexico City bureau chief, leading coverage of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.
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