By Ryan Morgan

An operation by Mexican security forces to capture a top cartel figure triggered a wave of violence that spread across Mexico on Feb. 22.

Mexican military and police forces carried out an interagency raid to capture Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, also known as “El Mencho,” whom authorities considered the leader of the Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG).

Oseguera Cervantes was instead struck by gunfire during the bust and died of his wounds.

It wasn’t long after the raid against Oseguera Cervantes that cartel members began torching gas stations and banking institutions and setting up barricades throughout Jalisco and other neighboring Mexican states.

As the chaos unfolded, the U.S. government began issuing “shelter in place” instructions for Americans in the country.

CJNG and ‘El Mencho’

Following news of Oseguera Cervantes’s death, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau referred to him as “one of the bloodiest and most ruthless drug kingpins.”

According to the U.S. State Department, Oseguera Cervantes played a key part in CJNG’s founding in 2009.

U.S. intelligence assessments indicated that CJNG has used a franchise model, which drew in smaller local cartels to affiliate with its brand and expand the cartel’s influence beyond its strongholds in the Mexican states of Jalisco, Nayarit, and Colima.

By December 2024, the State Department assessed that CJNG had the highest capacity to traffic cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine in Mexico.

The State Department said Oseguera Cervantes was responsible for the murders of numerous rival cartel members and Mexican law enforcement personnel, and it raised allegations that CJNG operatives have been involved in plotting the assassinations of Mexican government officials.

A poster shows the $10 million reward notice for the kingpin of the Cartel de Jalisco Nuevo Generacion, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, on March 11, 2020. Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times

Oseguera Cervantes has been the subject of multiple U.S. federal criminal indictments.

The U.S. government had offered a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to his arrest or conviction.

CJNG is among several Latin American cartel organizations the U.S. State Department has designated as foreign terrorist organizations in the past year.

As of September 2025, U.S. intelligence assessments estimated that CJNG had between 15,000 and 20,000 members.

A Deadly Raid

Mexican security officials said they managed to locate Oseguera Cervantes through a tip from someone connected to one of his romantic partners.

At a press conference on Feb. 23, Mexican Secretary of Defense Ricardo Trevilla Trejo said Mexican military intelligence authorities tracked Oseguera Cervantes’s romantic partner to a facility in the town of Tapalpa, in Jalisco.

U.S. and Mexican officials have said the United States also provided intelligence that supported the raid.

The Epoch Times reached out to the Pentagon for more details about this U.S. intelligence support and did not receive a response by publication time.

The Mexican defense secretary said an interagency force quickly devised the raid, which included a ground team, an airmobile force carried by six special operations helicopters, and additional air support by the Mexican Air Force.

As Mexican forces surrounded the facility in Tapalpa, cartel members opened fire. Mexican forces killed eight cartel gunmen in the opening skirmish.

After the initial exchange of gunfire, Oseguera Cervantes and some of his bodyguards attempted to flee into a nearby wooded area, but Mexican forces tracked them down.

National Guard and Army forces patrol during an operation in a neighborhood of Culiacan, Sinaloa state, Mexico, on Sept. 19, 2024. Eduardo Verdugo/AP Photo

Oseguera Cervantes and a pair of his bodyguards were struck during a second exchange of gunfire.

Trevilla Trejo said Mexican forces called in a helicopter to evacuate the wounded cartel leader and his bodyguards for medical attention, but they died en route.

By this point, the commotion had attracted the attention of other cartel members in the surrounding area.

The consequences were not contained to Tapalpa and the surrounding Jalisco community.

Cartel Roadblocks, Firebombings, Gunfire

Cartel members began fueling the chaos throughout Mexico in the hours following Oseguera Cervantes’s death.

Mexican authorities reported that cartel members began throwing up roadblocks along federal highways in Jalisco, Baja California, Michoacán, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Jalisco, Oaxaca, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Zacatecas, and the state of Mexico.

Cartel members also began setting vehicles, gas stations, and banks on fire.

By the afternoon of Feb. 22, the Mexican government’s security Cabinet stated on social media that as many as 20 branches of Banco del Bienestar had been damaged in the expanding violence.

Cartel members also began targeting Mexican government personnel directly.

At the Feb. 23 press briefing, Trevilla Trejo said a lieutenant of Oseguera Cervantes, identified as “El Tuli,” began offering a bounty of 20,000 pesos (about $1,100) for each Mexican security force member killed.

Mexican Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch said Mexican security forces subsequently tracked “El Tuli” to a small town near Guadalajara and killed him in an exchange of gunfire.

A burned vehicle used as a barricade by organized crime members, following a series of arrests by federal forces, lies in Guadalajara, Mexico, on Feb. 22, 2026. Michelle Freyria/Reuters

García Harfuch said 25 Mexican National Guard troops, a prison guard, and a member of the Mexican attorney general’s office had been killed in six different attacks following the raid on Oseguera Cervantes.

On Feb. 23, García Harfuch reported that another 30 cartel members had been killed.

García Harfuch said Mexican authorities have since broken up 85 different roadblocks and arrested 70 people in connection with the unrest. 

An Uneasy Calm

As she took questions from reporters at her press conference on Feb. 23, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said the chaos following the raid on Oseguera Cervantes had largely subsided.

Sheinbaum said she is continuing to coordinate with the governors of the various Mexican states.

“If anything were to happen, we would be there immediately,” Sheinbaum said.

By the afternoon of Feb. 23, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico had advised of ongoing security operations in the states of Jalisco, Colima, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Estado de Mexico, Michoacan, Nuevo Leon, Oaxaca, Puebla, Queretaro, San Luis Potosi, Veracruz, and Zacatecas.

Although the states of Quintana Roo, Sinaloa, and Tamaulipas experienced heightened security operations on Feb. 22, the U.S. Embassy stated that the situation has returned to normal in those areas.

The U.S. Embassy reported continuing flight disruptions in Puerto Vallarta but said flights from all other areas appeared to be proceeding as normal.

A burnt bus set up as a blockade by members of organized crime following a military operation in which Mexican officials said cartel boss Nemesio Oseguera, “El Mencho,” was killed on Feb. 22, 2026. Gabriel Trujillo/Reuters

The U.S. Embassy advised travelers with upcoming flights to contact their airlines because the situation could change rapidly.

The embassy also advised Americans currently in Mexico to contact their loved ones to help confirm their whereabouts.

In a brief Truth Social post on the morning of Feb. 23 addressing the unrest, U.S. President Donald Trump wrote, “Mexico must step up their effort on Cartels and Drugs!”

In recent months, Trump has talked of ordering U.S. military strikes on land-based cartel targets.

In the past year, Sheinbaum has repeatedly said she has declined offers of U.S. military support from Trump.

Jack Phillips, Aldgra Fredly, Naveen Athrappully, Reuters, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.