…read this, from an unbylined article at CBS News.
Here are a few key excerpts:
Violent clashes erupted in parts of western Mexico on Sunday amid a military operation that led to the death of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader, triggering widespread security concerns throughout the region.
Mexican security forces killed Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, also known as “El Mencho,” during an operation in the western state of Jalisco, Mexico’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement on X. It said he was wounded during the raid in the town of Tapalpa and died while being flown to Mexico City.
The state of Jalisco is the base of the cartel known for trafficking huge quantities of fentanyl and other drugs to the United States.
The U.S. State Department released a security alert advising American citizens in several Mexican states, including Jalisco, Tamaulipas, Michoacan, Guerrero and Nuevo Leon, to shelter in place until further notice. The Department of State Consular Affairs, in a message telling U.S. citizens to continue sheltering in place, said on social media that taxi and rideshare service had been suspended in Puerto Vallarta.
News reports indicate that there have been bombings, busses blown up and many other acts of violence throughout much of Mexico, as the result of this successful elimination of a major – arguably THE major – purveyor of drugs in that horribly compromised country.
Will the death of “el mencho” encourage Mexican President Claudia Scheinbaum to double down and go after other cartel big shots? Or will the cartel’s reaction, and the ease with which it is able to commit the acts of violent mayhem cited above, scare her into looking the other way….which Mexico has done for years and years, thus causing the cartels to generate this level of power and control?
Let’s hope it is door #1…though, given Mexico’s sorry history regarding drug traffic, I’m not confident.
