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Here’s what to know about ‘El Mencho’ and the cartel he created

By
MND Staff
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el Mencho
A youthful El Mencho as an undocumented U.S. resident, as seen in a San Francisco PD mugshot from 1989. (San Francisco Police Department)

Mexico’s most-wanted criminal and head of the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) was killed Sunday morning following a violent military operation aimed at his capture.

Nemesio Rubén “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, 59, reportedly died en route to Mexico City following his arrest and injury in Tapalpa, an otherwise quaint town located some 130 kilometers from the capital city of Guadalajara in the Jalisco highlands.

Part of the Defense Ministry’s technical rap sheet on Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes (“El Mencho”) from his arrest Sunday morning. The CJNG head died from his wounds on the way to the hospital. (Cuartoscuro.com)

The wave of blockades and attacks recorded on Sunday is interpreted, in the context of the day’s news, as the operational response of the CJNG to the fall of its leader. 

But why did El Mencho’s death generate such a large-scale retaliation? Here’s what you need to know. 

Who was ‘El Mencho’?

El Mencho engineered a seismic shift in the landscape of organized crime in Mexico. Under his leadership, the CJNG began to employ three strategies: accelerated national expansion, large-scale diversification of criminal businesses (drugs, human traffic, robbery, extorsion and more) and brazen violence that openly defied the Mexican government.

Born on July 17, 1966, in a poor and rural community associated with drug production in the state of Michoacán, El Mencho became involved in the drug business in his adolescence. 

In the 1980s, he illegally migrated to California — one of the world’s leading illicit drug markets — where he was twice arrested and deported for drug-related crimes. After spending three years in prison and following his release on parole, he stayed in Mexico and reportedly worked as a police officer in Jalisco. 

Soon after, he joined the now-extinct Milenio Cartel as a hitman, where he oversaw the organization’s security and operational violence until the fall of his bosses in the early 2000s.

After he split from the Milenio Cartel, he joined forces with his brother-in-law Abigael González Valencia — leader of a criminal organization known as Los Cuinis — to form a new drug organization. 

With González’s initial financial aid, El Mencho began to build what would become one of the most powerful and ruthless criminal organizations in Mexico. 

But despite his organization’s size, El Mencho was always characterized for keeping a very low personal profile. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) only possessed three pictures of him from when he was an illegal immigrant in the U.S. 

However, his modus operandi made him well-known for extreme violence, including massacres, attacks on federal forces, the downing of a military helicopter and coordinated blockades across several states.

Mexican authorities and the DEA regarded him as one of the world’s most wanted criminals, offering a reward of up to US $15 million for information leading to his capture.

The rise of the CJNG

Security experts agree that in barely a decade, the CJNG managed to surpass all other criminal organizations in terms of scale and control. 

“There has never been a more powerful organization than CJNG, and [El Mencho] was its top leader,” security analyst Eduardo Guerrero Gutiérrez said in an interview with N+. “In a decade, it managed to surpass, by a wide margin, all other criminal organizations in terms of presence, territorial control, and penetration into the spheres of power and business,” he said. 

el mencho wanted poster

As this 2024 Spanish-language reward poster indicates, El Mencho was a wanted man on both sides of the border. (U.S. DEA)

Experts agree that the CJNG managed to exploit the vacuums left by previous cartels to build its criminal network in Mexico and abroad. From its stronghold in Jalisco, the CJNG expanded its influence to multiple states across the country, especially along the Pacific coast, displacing traditional cartels through local alliances and the strategic use of violence. 

Due to its vast nationwide presence, the CJNG was identified by the Mexican government as the key factor in the rise in violence in different areas of the country. 

One of the strategies contributing to the cartel’s rise was its control of transportation corridors. For instance, it built a strong presence in border cities like Tijuana, key to accessing the U.S. market. It controls maritime routes in the Pacific, and operates a trafficking network spanning almost 10,000 kilometers of coastline from South America to North America.

Moreover, it created connections to networks in the U.S. and Canada, and operates global routes to Europe, Asia and Oceania through operations at strategic ports and air terminals for drug trafficking.

Due to the international reach of the CJNG, its violent tactics and its ease of flooding the U.S. market with lethal substances, U.S. President Donald Trump designated the drug cartel as a foreign terrorist organization last year.   

What will happen next?

The death of El Mencho has created a power vacuum in an organization that had never experienced an internal succession process. Since its foundation, the cartel has had one consistent and powerful leader: El Mencho.

Experts note that the most likely outcome doesn’t necessarily include the disappearance of the CJNG. Rather, they anticipate more violence in key areas, changes in command and an even more fragmented and volatile criminal landscape within Mexico.

With reports from Animal Político and El País

Revised figures boost Mexico’s 2025 GDP growth to 0.8%

By
MND Staff
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INEGI, Mexico's official statistics agency, revisits its monthly and quarterly economic data to solidify the findings, and for the fourth quarter of 2025, the adjustment indicated that Mexico's 2025 GDP was a tick better than originally thought.
INEGI, Mexico's official statistics agency, revisits its monthly and quarterly economic data to solidify the findings, and for the fourth quarter of 2025, the adjustment indicated that Mexico's 2025 GDP was a tick better than originally thought. (Moisés Pablo/Cuartoscuro)

Mexico’s economy grew slightly above estimates in the fourth quarter, registering its largest quarterly expansion in more than a year and boosting annual growth from the previously reported 0.7% to 0.8% in 2025. 

The national statistics agency INEGI reported that Mexico’s gross domestic product (GDP) advanced 0.9% in Q4 2025, due to a favorable revision of primary activities. This marked a considerable improvement from a revised 0.1% growth in the third quarter.

INEGI’s preliminary data and economists polled by Reuters had forecast 0.8% fourth-quarter growth, but seasonally adjusted data found that primary activities — which include agriculture, fishing and livestock — fell by only 1.4%, a smaller decline than the 2.7% initially calculated.

Conversely, INEGI found that secondary activities (manufacturing) and tertiary activities (which include services) each increased by 0.9%, unchanged from the preliminary estimate.

On an annual basis (that is, compared to the fourth quarter of 2024), the economy expanded by 1.8% during the most recent October-December period, also better than the 1.6% initially projected. 

In nominal terms, the economy reached a value of 36.3 trillion pesos (US $2.1 trillion) during Q4 2025. INEGI reported that this was 4.6% higher than the amount recorded in Q4 2024.

The positive data reflected a degree of resilience in the Mexican economy in the face of a trade war with the U.S. that caused uncertainty in supply chains and impacted export demand due to tariffs, all of which combined to produce economic headwinds in the third quarter.

In a separate statement, INEGI indicated that GDP expanded in December, with all three sectors experiencing growth. Economic activity grew 0.4% month-on-month — up from the preliminary estimate of 0.2%.

Reuters reported that analysts remain cautious about Mexico’s economy in 2026, “expecting a slow track amid high uncertainty” related to the upcoming review of the trade deal with the U.S. and Canada.

In contrast, the International Monetary Fund forecast 1.5% growth for Mexico in 2026.

With reports from Reuters and El Economista 

How Mexico found El Mencho, according to the Army

By
MND Staff
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According to Defense Minister Ricardo Trevilla Trejo, an operational force made up of "three components" was organized on Saturday to be able to capture "El Mencho" on Sunday.
According to Defense Minister Ricardo Trevilla Trejo, an operational force made up of "three components" was organized on Saturday to be able to capture "El Mencho" on Sunday. (Moisés Pablo/Cuartoscuro)

Defense Minister Ricardo Trevilla Trejo said on Monday that authorities determined the location of the now-deceased leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) after a man delivered one of his “romantic partners” to him.

CJNG leader Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes was shot by Mexican military personnel during a federal operation in Tapalpa, Jalisco, on Sunday morning. He subsequently died and his body was transferred to Mexico City.

The bodies of Oseguera and his two bodyguards were flown to Mexico City, where authorities believed the risk of retaliation by members of the CJNG was lower than in Guadalajara.
The bodies of Oseguera and his two bodyguards were flown to Mexico City on Sunday afternoon, where authorities believed the risk of retaliation by members of the CJNG was lower than in Guadalajara. (Graciela López/Cuartoscuro)

At President Claudia Sheinbaum’s Monday morning press conference, Trevilla said that on Feb. 20 — last Friday — military intelligence work enabled the location of a “trusted man of one of the romantic partners of ‘El Mencho.'”

That man, he said, transported Oseguera’s lover to a property in Tapalpa, a municipality around 130 kilometers southwest of Guadalajara.

Trevilla said that the woman — apparently not Oseguera’s wife — met with “El Mencho” at the property.

The next day — last Saturday — the woman left the property “and information was obtained that ‘El Mencho’ remained at that place,” the defense minister said without explaining exactly how authorities got the information.

Oseguera stayed at the property “with a circle of security,” Trevilla said.

He said that an operation targeting “El Mencho” was planned on Saturday.

“It is doctrinal, it is an axiom of military operations carried out by armed forces around the world that whoever executes the operation is the one who must plan it,” Trevilla said.

“In this case, it was Special Forces personnel and personnel from the National Guard’s Immediate Response Special Force who planned the operation,” he said.

The operation 

Trevilla said that an operational force made up of “three components” was organized on Saturday.

He said that forces on the ground in Jalisco were supported by military helicopters and Mexican Air Force planes.

The aircraft, however, initially remained on alert in neighboring states in order to maintain the secrecy and surprise of the operation, Trevilla said.

He said that on Saturday night, authorities once again confirmed the presence of Oseguera in Tapalpa and ground forces moved into the municipality to carry out the operation aimed at detaining him.

Trevilla said that the military was aware that “El Mencho” and the other CJNG members with him were armed and therefore the plan was to “apply the Federal Firearms Law” and “detain them in flagrante.”

He told reporters that Oseguera’s security team opened fire against military personnel and then “‘El Mencho’ comes out.”

“The attack the organized criminal personnel carried out was really very violent,” he said, adding that the Special Forces Military personnel returned fire.

The wounding and death of ‘El Mencho’

Trevilla said that the operation occurred at a “complex of cabins” on the outskirts of Tapalpa.

After initially shooting at the military personnel, “El Mencho” and his “close circle” escaped into a “wooded area,” he said.

Special Forces chased them and located them, Trevilla said.

He said that the CJNG members opened fire again and the military personnel once again shot back.

At that point, “El Mencho” and two of his bodyguards were wounded, Trevilla said, adding that two other “criminals” were detained.

“Once the situation was brought under control,” military medics approached Oseguera and his two wounded bodyguards and determined it was “necessary to evacuate them,” he said, explaining that they were in “very serious” condition.

The defense minister said that the assistance of a helicopter was sought in order to transfer the wounded CJNG members to a hospital in Jalisco.

He noted that all three died on the way to the hospital, and therefore, it was decided that the helicopter would go to the Morelia International Airport in Michoacán. In Morelia, the three bodies were put onto an Air Force plane and taken to Mexico City, Trevilla said.

“That was decided because it wasn’t advisable to arrive in Guadalajara due to the risk … that this criminal group would carry out more violent actions there, in the capital of Jalisco,” he said.

The Defense Ministry said on Sunday that Oseguera and two other wounded CJNG members died en route to Mexico City. It didn’t mention that their bodies were taken to Morelia prior to their transfer to Mexico City.

Trevilla said that a total of “eight criminals” died at the scene in Tapalpa. He acknowledged that the Defense Ministry reported on Sunday that four people were killed at the scene “because that was the preliminary information we had.”

Three military personnel were wounded, all of whom were transferred to Mexico City for medical treatment, according to the Defense Ministry.

CJNG shot a military helicopter, forcing it to make an emergency landing 

Trevilla said that CJNG members managed to shoot a military helicopter during the operation in Tapalpa.

Consequently, the helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing at a nearby military facility in the municipality of Sayula, he said.

“Fortunately, no military personnel were injured,” Trevilla said.

The military seized a range of weapons in Tapalpa, including “two rocket launchers,” the defense minister said. He noted that one of the rocket launchers was of the same kind that the CJNG used to down an army helicopter in 2015.

Defense minister acknowledges Mexico received intelligence from US 

Trevilla said that “with central military intelligence and complementary information from the institutions of the Security Cabinet and also U.S. institutions, the Ministry of National Defense tracked El Mencho’s network of contacts until the conditions were right to plan an operation to arrest him.”

However, he said that “everything related to the romantic partner, to his collaborators, to his close circle” is “our military intelligence.”

“There was, I insist, a lot of additional information,” Trevila said, describing intelligence provided by the United States as “very important.”

“All of that, once integrated and thoroughly analyzed, gave us the exact location” of Oseguera, he said.

Citing information from a U.S. defense official, Reuters reported on Sunday that “a new U.S.-military-led task force specializing in intelligence collection on drug cartels played a role in the Mexican military raid on Sunday that killed the Mexican drug lord known as ‘El Mencho.'”

“The Joint Interagency Task Force-Counter Cartel, which involves multiple U.S. government agencies, was formally launched last month with the goal of mapping out networks of drug cartel members on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border,” Reuters wrote, citing U.S. officials.

Mexico News Daily 

Opinion: Isn’t this what we asked for?

By
María Meléndez
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A firefighter extinguishes a burning car after violence following the death of El Mencho
Yesterday's violence as been roundly condemned, but isn't it the obvious outcome of something the country has been begging for? María Meléndez asks whether we are really prepared to deal with the cartel crackdown. (Juan José Serafín Estrada/Cuartoscuro)
The most honest question right now — and the one I want to begin this editorial with — is: how are you?

As a Mexican, I am ashamed that this is the state of things. I am ashamed that images circulating on social media look like scenes from an act of terrorism. They are painful.

a narco-blockade in Acapulco
Violence across Mexico exploded in the wake of the killing of Nemesio “El Mencho” Rubén Oseguera Cervantes. (Carlos Alberto Carbajal/Cuartoscuro)

Yesterday, in an MND staff group chat, I told my colleagues that my view of what’s happening is a fundamentally positive one. Many see the events of this weekend as evidence of the government’s lack of preparedness to fight the cartels, but today I want to explain why my view is different. If you — like me — feel pain, helplessness, insecurity or hopelessness about what you saw yesterday, I hope this can bring a little comfort.

CJNG and El Mencho: Some facts 

Back in 2022, we reported that the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) had a presence in 28 of Mexico’s 32 states. In six states, they are the dominant force: Jalisco, Nayarit, Colima, Guerrero, México state and Veracruz. These were the states where most of yesterday’s blockades were concentrated.

Beyond drug trafficking — production and distribution of synthetic drugs to the United States, Europe and other markets — the CJNG’s revenues come from extorting farmers, shaking down businesses, fuel theft and trafficking, control of ports such as Lázaro Cárdenas and kidnapping.

Operating in 28 states, in addition to an extensive international network, demands manpower. According to DEA estimates, the Sinaloa Cartel and CJNG together total more than 45,000 members and collaborators, spread across more than 100 countries. More precisely, the Complexity Science Hub estimates the CJNG employs between 28,000 and 33,000 members — roughly 30,000 people deeply integrated into their local communities. Have you seen the holiday toy drives, where the CJNG gives gifts to the children of entire communities? That integration is part of their power.

Their weaponry

Purported Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) members show off gear in a video from 2020.
Purported Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) members show off gear in a video from 2020. (Screenshot)

A couple of weeks ago, I discussed Carlos Pérez Ricart’s book “The Violence Came from the North”, which explains how the weapons used by Mexican criminal organizations are mostly legally purchased in the United States and illegally smuggled across the border.

How the CJNG is armed also speaks to their economic heft. The ability to finance heavy weaponry, armored vehicles, networks and sustained campaigns of violence is an indirect indicator of their economic muscle, even if there are no reliable public financial figures on their total income.

Why capturing El Mencho mattered

El Mencho, the founder and leader of the CJNG, matters in the fight against organized crime because he changed the way cartels operate in Mexico. He changed the scale of violence, ruthlessly and horrifically expanding his power across swathes of the country for almost 16 years. If he controlled six states and had a presence in 22 others through terror, it is clear that capturing him became a priority for Mexican authorities.

Was the Mexican state prepared for this capture?

In short: no. At the same time, though, when could it ever be fully ready for an event of this magnitude?

Never. Precisely because after the “Culiacanazo,” we know the cartels will take the streets as their battlefield and cause civilian casualties if necessary.

But if you want to confront the cartels, you have to take action. And the Mexican government has.

What am I talking about?

The events of this weekend go beyond the death of El Mencho.

  • On Friday, Feb. 20, operations took place in Veracruz, resulting in 14 arrests, including the local Veracruz leader.
  • Yesterday, on Feb. 22, in Acapulco, Guerrero, authorities arrested a local cartel boss.
  • In Jalisco, in addition to Mencho, they captured “La Leona,” an alleged CJNG recruiter also wanted in connection with a mass grave and “death camp” discovered in Jalisco last year.
  • In Quintana Roo, on Monday, Feb. 23, authorities reported that 248 CJNG members have been arrested over the past year.

The killing of El Mencho is the most important blow in a much larger operation that can be read as an attempt to dismantle the strongest and most violent criminal organization in Mexico. It is not the only part of that operation.

What happens next?

Once the head of a criminal group is captured, internal struggles for power typically lead — at least initially — to an escalation in violence. What we saw yesterday, I think, was a clear example of this phenomenon.

Sheinbaum and two Mexican generals observe a military band on Army Day in Puebla
Mexican authorities have moved quickly to quell the unrest. (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)

In the coming days, I believe we will continue to hear about violent acts in Jalisco and other areas controlled by the CJNG.

I believe the capture of their leaders indicates the Mexican state understands the potential for this balkanization and has moved preemptively. Still, it bears remembering that the CJNG has roughly 30,000 members. Pacifying the country will never be easy. The Mexican State will never be fully prepared to confront all cartels.

But hasn’t much of the time been spent complaining about government collusion with the narco?

Bilateral cooperation

I have seen criticism and conspiracy theories that American forces actually made the capture, and I have seen praise for that cooperation. I have also seen denigrating comments toward President Sheinbaum, claiming her actions are solely because President Trump has been conditioning incentives, taxes and even the deployment of American troops to the country.

Be that as it may, isn’t this the outcome we’ve all been waiting for? For the leaders of these organizations be captured and for the impunity with which they operate to come to an end?

Closing thoughts

Taking down these criminal organizations is truly a tightrope act. Any blow will carry deadly consequences. The timing will never be perfect and there will always be critics.

Not acting is effectively letting them continue with impunity. The images we saw yesterday are hard to digest and yes, there may have been better ways to capture Mencho without disrupting security in Jalisco to such an extent, but I cannot think of an easy, clean way to carry out an operation of this magnitude against the most violent cartel in Mexico’s history.

What do you think?

Maria Meléndez writes for Mexico News Daily in Mexico City.

Hundreds of flights to and from Mexico canceled following death of cartel leader ‘El Mencho’

By
MND Staff
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flight status on 23FEB26
Many individual airlines have diverted or canceled flights to and from the troubled areas in Jalisco, Colima and Nayarit during and following Sunday's violence. (@Aeropuerto_GDL/X)

Many airlines halted operations and issued travel waivers after Sunday’s violent events following a military operation that led to the death of Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, Mexico’s most wanted cartel leader. 

At least 237 flights have reportedly been canceled to and from the airports of Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco; Manzanillo, Colima; and Tepic, Nayarit. These cities saw security operations, road blockades and violent clashes following the death of El Mencho, leading airlines to prioritize the safety of passengers and crew.

Although the Federal Civil Aviation Agency (AFAC) stated that “airports continue to operate normally,” several airlines have chosen to cancel flights.

With a heavy military presence at the terminal, the Puerto Vallarta airport has suspended all international operations and most domestic ones at the airlines’ discretion. 

Aeroméxico announced the suspension of scheduled flights to Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta, Manzanillo and Tepic, and the activation of its protection policy for affected passengers. 

Meanwhile, Viva offered its passengers the option to change their travel dates free of charge or request a full refund.

Air Canada and United Airlines had previously announced the temporary suspension of their flights to and from Puerto Vallarta.

Southwest and Alaska Airlines canceled flights to and from Puerto Vallarta, while Delta Air Lines offered waivers for passengers traveling to Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta. 

Several U.S. and Canadian carriers later confirmed broader cancellations affecting routes to Puerto Vallarta, Guadalajara and Manzanillo, with some aircraft forced to turn back mid-flight due to safety concerns.

WestJet stated that it diverted seven flights that were initially scheduled to go to Puerto Vallarta and that it canceled an additional 37 flights to and from Puerto Vallarta, Guadalajara and Manzanillo.

Airlines have implemented flight cancellation and modification policies for passengers with scheduled departures and for travelers currently stranded. Southwest also plans to send more aircraft to Mexico to repatriate its passengers and crews once the situation returns to normal.

On Sunday night, real-time flight tracking platforms such as Flightradar and FlightAware showed empty or sparsely populated skies over the Mexican Pacific coast.

By 9 p.m., 90 flights had been canceled to Guadalajara in the last 24 hours; four to Tepic; 137 to Puerto Vallarta; and six to Manzanillo, according to FlightAware.

If you have a scheduled flight for today, Monday, check the status on your airline’s website or app before heading to the airport. 

If your flight has a layover in Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta, Manzanillo, Tepic or Mazatlán, keep in mind that this is a developing story and changes can happen on short notice.  

With reports from Excelsior, La Jornada and CR Hoy

An unprecedented 24-hour period for MND: A perspective from our CEO

By
Travis Bembenek
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Mexico City's Northern Bus Terminal at midday yesterday, shortly after passengers were told that no buses would be leaving the station on Sunday.
Mexico City's Northern Bus Terminal at midday yesterday, shortly after passengers were told that no buses would be leaving the station on Sunday. (Travis Bembenek)

The team at MND has been working extremely hard — from around Mexico — to keep you updated and informed on what has been happening nationwide since the killing of cartel leader “El Mencho” yesterday morning.

We will continue to do so today and going forward, and as always, we will do so in a fact-based, fact-checked and bias-free manner.

Given that it was a truly unprecedented day for MND, I wanted to share some insight into how the day unfolded in our newsroom with those interested.

Just a few days ago, I was celebrating with our team our first-ever back-to-back “100k days.”

For two days in a row, we had over 100,000 people visiting our website and YouTube channel. As we celebrated the milestone and reflected on our momentum, I wondered out loud, could we break 2 million viewers this month? Then yesterday happened.

The day began in a normal way, with my wife and me going for a walk on Reforma Avenue in Mexico City (if you have never done that on a Sunday morning, when it is closed for traffic, I highly recommend it). We were in the city for business meetings and for the wedding of a friend the night before. As we strolled under the blooming jacarandas, we both agreed that it was one of the best weddings we had ever been to, and in fact, a truly epic day all around.

Returning to our hotel, we ordered an Uber to take us to the Northern Bus Terminal so we could catch our bus back to San Miguel de Allende. While en route to the station, we heard that the authorities had just shut down all bus services to Guerrero, Michoacán and Jalisco.  “Hmmm,” we thought. As we pulled up to the station a few minutes later, there were stranded people standing around everywhere. We got out of the Uber and ran inside, only for the station’s employees to tell us that bus services to Guanajuato — and actually, everywhere — had been canceled a moment earlier. A certain sense of panic and fear filled the room.

We quickly jumped into another Uber and headed back to our hotel, hoping they would let us have our room back and stay another night or two. By now, our MND team chat was blowing up. Our Jalisco-based and Jalisco-born team members were passing on constant information and insight and began writing summaries of what was going on.

We then pulled together a group of 17 team members to get to work on a Sunday morning when none of them are normally working. Writers, editors, fact checkers, social media, marketing, technical and back office team members all dove into the details and the opportunity for MND to bring clear news and information about what was really going on.

In an effort to get the word out, we agreed to make all of our news stories related to the emergency free for all readers. Providing safety and reliable information during this time was, and continues to be, of utmost importance. We pulled the El Jalapeño article published earlier that day — it was not a day for satire or humor — and we all worked like never before.

Very quickly, we published our first article of the day and it became extremely popular — so much so that it completely crashed our site.

To give you some perspective, at one point, we had a surge of over 6,000 people trying to access our site IN ONE SECOND and had sustained bursts of traffic of over 100 site visits per second. We were able to very quickly get the site back up and running by shutting off some of the regular guardrails of our paywall service and our traffic was off the charts. We were getting over 150,000 people per hour reading our homepage.

We also quickly published our first YouTube video on the day’s events, which too went viral. Our most popular day ever on our YouTube channel was, until yesterday, around 20,000 video views in one day. Our first video published yesterday alone had over 500,000 views!

It’s a new day for Mexico. (Travis Bembenek)

I am extremely proud of the 17 team members who made it all happen yesterday: on a Sunday, working from home, on a moment’s notice.

You can never really plan for something like what happened, and the MND team delivered. The traffic numbers are still coming in, but we reached our 2M visitors in one month goal, in just one day!

Today is a new day. It will most certainly be our second-highest traffic day ever. Our team is tired, but inspired. We have a new sense of energy and purpose. We were tested and we delivered. Yesterday made us all better.

You can count on us more than ever to bring you the news and information that you need to know about Mexico. Fact-based, fact-checked and apolitical.

Thank you for supporting our work. Onward.

Travis Bembenek is the CEO of Mexico News Daily and has been living, working or playing in Mexico for nearly 30 years.

8 Mexicans killed in US attacks on 2 ‘drug boats’ off Pacific coast

By
MND Staff
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an aerial shot of a U.S. military attack on a boat in the Eastern Pacific
The victims were said to be from Bahía de Banderas, Nayarit. (@southcom/X)

Eight Mexicans were reportedly among those killed in three separate strikes on boats in international waters by the U.S. military last week.

Seven of the victims were said to be from a fishing village in the western state of Nayarit, killed in two separate strikes in the Pacific Ocean.

Family members of the victims said they were notified of the deaths by personnel from the Foreign Affairs Ministry, but federal authorities had not confirmed the information publicly as of Sunday.

In a brief statement issued on Feb. 17, the U.S. Southern Command said a joint task force had conducted “three lethal kinetic strikes” on three vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations.

“Intelligence confirmed the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes and were engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” it said, adding that 11 “terrorists” were killed by the action, “four on the first vessel in the Eastern Pacific, four on the second vessel in the Eastern Pacific and three on the third vessel in the Caribbean.”

Local media in Nayarit reported that eight of the victims were from the municipality of Bahía de Banderas, seven of them from the village of Cruz de Huanacaxtle. A large number of U.S. citizens reside in Cruz de Huanacaxtle. 

Although some publications called out the U.S. military for killing “innocent fishermen” and slammed the Mexican government for not publicly criticizing the attacks, other media implied that the victims were indeed involved with drug trafficking.

The newspaper La Jornada reported that “locals said the young boatmen were carrying gasoline ‘and supplying you-know-who,’ while the newspaper Reforma cited local sources claiming that the vessels in which the victims were traveling “are linked to alleged criminal operators in Nayarit.”

A family member of one of the victims lamented that his relative had “promised this was his last trip, and it really was going to be.”

Reforma reported that the two boats belonged to Roberto Castellanos Meza, alias “Beto Bonques,” and Audias Flores Silva, “El Jardinero,” along with an alleged associate identified as Raúl Morín, “La Fresa.”

The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control identified the “Bonques Brothers” as members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) in a November 2024 press release.

“El Jardinero” is seen as a potential successor to CJNG boss Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, killed by the Mexican Army on Sunday.

Mexican authorities partially dismantled a CJNG cell operating in Bahía de Banderas last year, while on Feb. 19, the U.S. Treasury announced it had sanctioned a timeshare fraud ring led by the CJNG in the same area. 

Cruz de Huanacaxtle is located about 27 kilometers (17 miles) northwest of Puerto Vallarta, scene of some of Sunday’s worst violence.

With reports from La Jornada, Infobae, Sin Embargo, Reforma and The Guardian

MND Local: What’s the current situation in Guadalajara?

By
Dawn Stoner
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Police patrolling on a Guadalajara street with a burned-out sedan in the background.
Authorities patrol the streets amidst a burnt-out vehicle in Guadalajara on Sunday. (Fernando Carranza/Cuartoscuro)

The Guadalajara metropolitan area is inching back toward normal daily life Monday morning, with the violence diminished, the government promising public transportation will be restored throughout the day at a gradual rate and more flights heading out of Guadalajara International Airport than on Sunday, which saw dozens of cancelled flights.

However, the state remains on code red security status, schools are closed until further notice, many businesses are closed and the flow of people throughout the ZMG is still greatly diminished as many people are staying home from work and continuing to shelter in place.

People standing in line out the door at a small corner store in Guadalajara, Mexico
With many major grocery chains and the central Mercado de Abastos remaining closed Monday morning, residents of the Seattle neighborhood wait inline to enter a small “tiendita,” or neighborhood corner store, one of the few places open. (Dawn Stoner)

Sunday: Chaos and stranded residents

Following the capture of Jalisco New Generation Cartel boss Nemesio “El Mencho” Osguera Cervantes on early Sunday morning by federal forces — which resulted in Osguera’s death in police custody — his cartel’s response in Guadalajara on Sunday was immediate and violent, including gun battles in the streets and numerous fiery blockades of major roads.

On Sunday, Tapatios I know told me they had found themselves stranded at their sports clubs following morning workouts, at schools attending events with their children, stuck in the Guadalajara airport or outside the city with no clarity on when or how they could safely reach home. Dozens of flights were cancelled and multiple international airlines cancelled or diverted incoming flights to the airport.

According to local media outlets, just over 1,000 Mexican tourists visiting the Guadalajara Zoo Sunday morning were forced to sleep in the long-distance buses in which they arrived in, within the zoo’s premises, which were locked once the city went into code red.

Mexican tourists stranded at the Guadalajara Zoo on Sunday receiving blankets from Zoo personnel so they could sleep in their tour buses after the city went on lockdown. (Internet)

Around midday Sunday, from the rooftop terrace of my house Zapopan’s Seattle neighborhood, I could hear sporadic gunfire and small explosions. A friend who lives north of us, and adjacent to a National Guard outpost in Las Cañadas, shared that she and her husband heard sustained automatic weapons fire and explosions for around 20 minutes as government forces battled cartel members.

According to Mexican newspaper La Jornada, the shootout resulted in the deaths of six National Guard servicemen.

My friend shared a video she had received from a friend of hers who lives near the German school (Colegio Alemán de Guadalajara). This woman’s family had taken refuge in a closet as gunfire raged outside. Her home took three stray bullets.

When I reviewed the video, the most striking thing was the audio; it sounded like a war zone.

By late afternoon, there was an eerie calm across the city on Sunday. No one ventured out of the house, and with no traffic or public buses, the streets were deserted. Only chirping birds and the occasional helicopter overhead punctured the silence. It carried through the night.

The situation on Monday

Five riders at the glass-walled exit to a light rail station in Zapopan in the Guadalajara metropolitan area.
A handful of passengers leave a light rail station in Zapopan Center. At least four lines of the system are running, and all buses are running, says the Jalisco State Transportation Ministry, but some commenters on social media reported their buses not showing at stops on Monday morning. (Dawn Stoner)

On Monday morning, I got up to walk the dog around 7:30 a.m. as I always do. Strolling my block, there were a few signs of life percolating. A handful of neighbors were out walking their dogs as well, a lone jogger passed me by and little old ladies were on their way into church.

But with schools closed and mass transit still unavailable, the neighborhood remains abnormally quiet. Though the city has issued a press release saying public transit around the metro area is resuming service, I have not seen any buses passing through Zapopan Center, normally a buzzing hive of traffic on Monday mornings. Shops and cafes in my section of Zapopan are still closed, and trash collection hasn’t happened. Although the atmosphere remains calm, the city is far from resuming its normal patterns of life.

By mid-morning, however, I saw more pedestrians and bikers active along Av. Aurelio Ortega, the main artery through my neighborhood. A police cruiser and several bike cops are on patrol. They wave to each other and exchange smiles.

Virtually all of the businesses in this area east of Zapopan’s historic center remain shuttered, save a single mom-and-pop grocer, which has a line of about a dozen people waiting to get inside. I see my neighbors departing the store with household staples such as eggs, bread and jugs of water. Normally ubiquitous sidewalk vendors, however, are absent.

Two nearby pharmacy chains — Farmacia Guadalajara and Farmacia Similares — are open, with customers buying necessities.

Further up the street in Zapopan Centro, all the normally busy sidewalk cafes are closed, with patio chairs still stacked up. The newly opened Starbucks posts a sign indicating that it will remain closed on Monday due to the “adverse situation,” noting that it regrets the inconvenience.

A burned-out black car with white scoring in various parts of it from being set on fire. It sits in front of the glass doors of a massive facade of a Liverpool department store entrance in Guadalajara, Mexico
A burned-out car sits in front of a closed Liverpool department store in Guadalajara on Sunday. (Fernando Carranza/Cuartoscuro)

Nonetheless, a handful of people are gathered at bus stops, hoping for a lift. A cluster of cops gathers outside of a bus shelter, alert to anything unusual.

Things seem more normal on the light rail network, as multiple trains passed through the Zapopan Center station during my tour, with a handful of passengers disembarking.

The level of activity in Zapopan today resembles a major holiday, minus the festive celebrations and brunchgoers.

Here’s what we know:

Public Transport

While as of this morning, the Jalisco Public Transportation Ministry was promising to have public transportation back to regular service, it acknowledged that the process will be gradual throughout the day.

Authorities confirmed four lines of the city’s light rail system are back in operation this morning, and all stations of the Macro Calzada public bus system are operating normally, however, some users online reported buses not arriving at stops.

The Guadalajara metro system has reportedly reopened partially.

Guadalalara International Airport

According to reporting from local media, the flow of people and traffic at Guadalajara International Airport and the surrounding area is operating within normal parameters, without any reported incidents on Monday morning.

However, the Pacific Airport Group (GAP), which runs the Guadalajara airport, reported that on Sunday, 56 flights were cancelled and 35 were delayed due to security concerns, and that those cancelled flights appear to be having a ripple effect on Monday’s travel, with the Mexican news outlet TV Azteca reporting on a long list of scheduled flights from the airport on Monday morning that were either delayed or cancelled.

Roadways

As of 11 a.m. Jalisco time, the Jalisco state government’s account on Twitter reported that authorities were working on removing more blockades still in place on the highways around Guadalajara. Details of the locations were not given.

Gas stations throughout the region will remain closed today.

According to the Jalisco Transportation Ministry, taxi service throughout the city has resumed throughout the metro zone as of Monday morning. Taxi service is running again at Guadalajara International Airport, although passengers have reported long waits.

Shopping

While big U.S. chains like Costco, Walmart, and Sams are closed, several Mexican-owned grocers like Soriana and Fresko were operating on Monday, in addition to some mom-and- pop stores throughout the city.

The giant Mercado de Abastos is closed, and Amazon has reportedly put deliveries on hold to the metro area.

MND Writer Dawn Stoner is reporting from Guadalajara.
MND Writer Charlotte Smith also contributed to this article.

Did the Puerto Vallarta Costco burn down?

By
MND Staff
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Image of a burning Costco in Puerto Vallarta
Images of a burning Costco in Puerto Vallarta went viral across the globe. What's the truth behind the image?

After images on social media showed the Puerto Vallarta branch of Costco in flames, Mexico News Daily takes a look at what really happened during the outburst of unrest following the death of Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes in the early hours of Sunday, Feb. 22.

What happened to the Costco in Puerto Vallarta?

Early on Sunday morning, X user “Mr ashen” posted a video of the Costco parking lot on fire, showing thick black smoke as several parked vehicles outside the store were set ablaze.

This video was later shared by Elon Musk, propelling it to tens of millions of viewers across the world. The video became one of the defining images of Sunday’s violence, drawing comment and ire from social media users across the world.

However, beyond the headlines, video from later in the day appears to show the store itself completely unharmed by fire.

Footage from Sunday afternoon shows the Costco unharmed, despite being surrounded by burnt-out cars. (Gianni Marzolla/Facebook)

Neither Costco México nor the Puerto Vallarta authorities have released a statement on the condition of the store.

Where were Oxxo stores set on fire?

While the full extent of the arson attacks carried out on Sunday is yet to be known, dozens of Oxxo stores were burned down in the following states:

  • Tulum, Quintana Roo: Two Oxxo stores set on fire (one fully burned, one attempted arson).
  • Tijuana, Baja California: Two Oxxo stores burned (Altamira and Colonia Oaxaca/Rampa Degollado). Local authorities ordered the temporary closure of all Oxxos in the city after these attacks.​
  • Los Reyes La Paz, Estado de México: One Oxxo branch burned and a second suffered attempted arson after attackers threw Molotov cocktails at two stores on Avenida Texcoco in colonia Magdalena de los Reyes.
A burnt Oxxo in Temixco, Morelos
Police at a burnt-out Oxxo in Temixtco, Morelos. Dozens of branches of the ever-present convenience store were torched on Sunday. (Margarito Pérez Retano/Cuartoscuro)

Mexico News Daily

Security Minister: 25 National Guardsmen dead in ‘El Mencho’ operation

By
MND Staff
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Speaking at President Claudia Sheinbaum's morning press conference, Security Minister Omar García Harfuch said that federal authorities were targeted in 27 separate attacks on Sunday, of which six led to deaths.
Speaking at President Claudia Sheinbaum's morning press conference, Security Minister Omar García Harfuch said that federal authorities were targeted in 27 separate attacks on Sunday, of which six led to deaths. (Moisés Pablo/Cuartoscuro)

Federal Security Minister Omar García Harfuch reported Monday that 25 National Guard officers, a state police officer, a security guard and a woman — reportedly pregnant — were killed in attacks in Jalisco following a federal operation in which Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) leader Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes was shot, detained and later died.

He also said that 34 criminals were killed in incidents following the Sunday morning military operation targeting Oseguera in Tapalpa, a municipality in Jalisco located around 130 kilometers southwest of the state capital of Guadalajara.

The operation triggered a violent response from CJNG members, who set up more than 250 narco-blockades across 20 Mexican states and carried out arson attacks on a large number of businesses.

Speaking at President Claudia Sheinbaum’s morning press conference, García Harfuch said that 27 “cowardly attacks against authorities” were carried out after the operation to detain “El Mencho.”

In six of those attacks in Jalisco, 25 National Guard personnel, a guard and a state police officer “unfortunately” lost their lives, he said.

“… At the hands of these cowardly criminals, a woman [also] lost her life,” García Harfuch said.

That woman was reportedly three months pregnant. She was killed in the crossfire of a clash between the National Guard and CJNG members in Zapopan, located in the Guadalajara metropolitan area.

García Harfuch said that 30 “organized crime people” were killed in clashes with authorities in Jalisco. He also said that four criminals were killed in confrontations with authorities in Michoacán, which borders Jalisco to the south. The security minister said that 15 security force members were wounded in those clashes.

“We make a respectful call to the population to remain calm, to trust your institutions and to rest assured that the government of Mexico is working to its full capacity to restore peace and protect people,” García Harfuch said.

“We recognize the bravery of the personnel of the Mexican Army, the National Guard and the Air Force, and of course we recognize the general and Minister Ricardo Trevilla for his leadership at the Ministry of National Defense,” he said.

García Harfuch: No narco-blockades as of Monday morning 

García Harfuch acknowledged that the CJNG reacted violently to the arrest and subsequent death of Oseguera, who was Mexico’s most wanted drug lord.

a narco-blockade in Acapulco
A burned truck blocked a highway in Acapulco, Guerrero, on Sunday. (Carlos Alberto Carbajal/Cuartoscuro)

He noted that in states across the country, highways were blocked, vehicles were set on fire and gas stations, banks and other businesses were targeted in arson attacks.

The federal government’s security cabinet reported on Sunday that around 20 branches of the state-owned Banco del Bienestar (Bank of Well-Being) in Jalisco were damaged.

García Harfuch said that “the majority” of the blockades set up by the CJNG were removed on Sunday, while the remainder were cleared early Monday.

Mexico is currently “without blockades,” the security minister said.

He said that a total of 85 narco-blockades were set up on federal highways in 11 states: Baja California, México state, Michoacán, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Jalisco, Oaxaca, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas, Veracruz and Zacatecas.

He said that Jalisco saw the highest number of federal highway blockades with 18.

“In other entities, isolated events [of violence] and blockades occurred,” García Harfuch said, adding that authorities responded “immediately.”

There were major disruptions to bus travel in Mexico on Sunday, while a significant number of flights to and from the airports in Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta and Tepic were canceled.

70 arrests across 7 states 

García Harfuch said that authorities arrested 70 people across seven states for allegedly committing crimes motivated by the operation against Oseguera.

The news outlet Infobae reported that more than 50 people were arrested in Jalisco, Baja California and Guanajuato.

During the operation in Tapalpa, military personnel came under attack, the Defense Ministry said Sunday.

It said that the military personnel returned fire and four CJNG members were killed at the scene and three others, including Oseguera, were seriously wounded and died while being transferred by air to Mexico City. Defense Minister Trevilla said Monday that the number of “criminals” killed at the scene was in fact eight.

The Defense Ministry said that three military personnel were wounded, all of whom were transferred to Mexico City for medical treatment.

It also said that United States authorities contributed information used to carry out the operation in Jalisco.

CJNG weakened by operation against ‘El Mencho,’ says García Harfuch 

García Harfuch said that the operation in Tapalpa on Sunday “made it possible to weaken a criminal organization of international reach.”

He described the CJNG as the “main” generator of violence in Mexico, noting that its members commit crimes such as homicide, people trafficking, extortion, kidnapping and “armed attacks against authorities.”

In a social media post on Monday morning, the federal security cabinet wrote that “the strength of a criminal group will never be above the strength of the Mexican state.”

“We make a respectful call to remain calm and trust your institutions,” it added.

Mexico News Daily 

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