- 14 hours ago
Mexico was thrown into chaos following a dramatic military raid that changed the country's criminal landscape forever. Join us as we break down the shocking raid on cartel leader El Mencho, the violent aftermath that paralyzed an entire nation, and what the future holds for Mexico's ongoing war against organized crime and drug trafficking.
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00:00Tonight, fear continues to brace many parts of Mexico following a weekend of violence.
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo.
00:07And today we're taking a deep dive into the recent events that have unfolded in Mexico
00:11after the killing of cartel leader Nemesio El Mencho Aseguera.
00:15Panic at the Guadalajara airport where hundreds of scared tourists,
00:19many of them American, scrambled for safety.
00:22The raid.
00:23The charming Jalisco town of Tepalpa, population under 20,000,
00:27became ground zero on Sunday, February 22, 2026.
00:32In Mexico, the army has confirmed the death of one of the country's most feared drug lords,
00:36known as El Mencho, caught and killed in a dawn raid.
00:40In the early hours of the morning,
00:41Mexican special forces descended on an isolated cabin in the mountainous region.
00:46Their target, drug dealer and leader of the Jalisco New Generation cartel,
00:51Nemesio Ruben El Mencho Aseguera Cervantes.
00:54Authorities had first discovered the notorious fugitive's location two days earlier,
00:59after following an associate who had brought Aseguera's girlfriend to the cabin.
01:03It was surveillance of a romantic partner that helped the Mexican armed forces track him down.
01:09The raid began after surveillance confirmed that Aseguera was indeed in the cabin,
01:14and his girlfriend had left.
01:15It was a fierce battle, with cartel members reportedly deploying rocket launchers
01:20against the special forces operators.
01:21El Mencho had tried to flee into the surrounding forests with his bodyguards,
01:26but was wounded and captured in the melee.
01:28He later died while en route to receive medical attention.
01:31It's a major victory on some level for the authorities here,
01:34for the military who killed him in a raid,
01:38injured him initially, and then he died en route to Mexico City.
01:42Seven other cartel members were killed in the raid,
01:44and two Mexican soldiers wounded.
01:46The two other cartel members were arrested,
01:48and a significant cache of weapons and armoured vehicles was recovered.
01:53The operation had been part of a renewed effort by the Mexican government
01:56to curb cartel activity and drug smuggling,
01:59due in part to increased pressure from the Trump administration.
02:02As a president, Donald Trump has really been on to the Mexican government,
02:05saying you've got to knock out these drug cartels.
02:08Mexico's been saying, no, we can do it our way.
02:11Don't you dare come on to our territory to do this.
02:13Just supply us with intelligence and we'll make it work.
02:16It was carried out by members of the Mexican Army, Air Force,
02:20National Guard and Attorney General's Office.
02:22While the U.S. provided support and intelligence,
02:25especially the Joint Interagency Task Force Counter Cartel, JITCCC,
02:30no U.S. personnel were reportedly actively involved in the operation.
02:34What we're hearing from the Mexican embassy in the United States
02:37is that there was U.S. involvement in terms of intelligence work
02:41and giving it that sort of slight sense of a joint operation in that regard.
02:47The fugitive.
02:48Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes was one of six children
02:51born to a poor family in the state of Michoacán.
02:54He dropped out of school as a teenager
02:56and found work as a guard in the marijuana fields.
02:59This is where Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, or El Mencho, comes onto the scene.
03:04El Mencho had been working in the narco trade since he was a teenager,
03:07crossing back and forth between Mexico and the U.S.
03:10In the early 1980s, he immigrated illegally to the United States,
03:14settling in California, where he was arrested multiple times
03:18on theft, drugs and weapons charges.
03:20After a 1992 heroin deal with undercover police officers,
03:25Oseguera pled guilty to federal drug charges
03:27and spent three years in a Texas prison.
03:29He was sent to prison for trafficking heroin in the U.S.
03:33He was then deported back to Mexico,
03:35where he served on a number of police forces in Jalisco,
03:38before reverting back to organized crime and joining the Milenio Cartel.
03:42He worked as an assassin and bodyguard for the cartel
03:45and married Rosalinda González Valencia,
03:48the sister of one of its leaders.
03:50In 2009 and 2010,
03:52many of the Milenio Cartel leaders were arrested or killed,
03:55leading to a notable power vacuum.
03:57The cartel fractured in two with one faction,
04:01Los Matas Zetas, led by Oseguera,
04:03eventually taking control.
04:05The group consolidated their power in western Mexico
04:07and rebranded as the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or CJNG.
04:13From an unknown group,
04:14he made it into the most powerful Mexican cartel
04:17that we see right now currently active.
04:20Under his watch,
04:21the CJNG became one of Mexico's most ruthless criminal organizations,
04:24responsible for drug smuggling,
04:27arms trafficking,
04:28torture,
04:29and financial crimes.
04:30The group had many clashes with Mexican military and law enforcement,
04:34and became known for sensational and shocking displays of violence and cruelty.
04:38El Mencho had been one of the most wanted men in North America,
04:41and there had been multiple prior attempts to capture him.
04:44El Mencho had a U.S. bounty on his head worth $15 million.
04:48At the time of the raid,
04:49rewards for information leading to his arrest from the U.S. and Mexican governments
04:53totaled over $32 million in value.
04:56The aftermath.
04:58The cartel was quick to respond after the raid,
05:01plunging Mexico into chaos.
05:02Jalisco Cartel,
05:04which El Mencho led and is the most powerful cartel in Mexico,
05:07is taking out retaliation in response to El Mencho's killing.
05:11Hijacked cars, buses, and cargo trucks were set on fire
05:15and used to create 250 roadblocks
05:18across 20 states in western and central Mexico.
05:21Jalisco alone reported 20 active blockades on Sunday the 22nd.
05:25The violence caused major disruptions to the national infrastructure,
05:29with widespread reports of looting and schools cancelled in many places
05:33in the days following the raid.
05:35Most flights were cancelled,
05:36and bus and rail services in Guadalajara were temporarily suspended.
05:40The governments of the U.S., U.K., New Zealand, Canada, and Australia
05:44issued shelter-in-place or stay-at-home orders.
05:47The U.S. State Department urging Americans who are in Mexico
05:51to shelter-in-place in areas where the violence erupted.
05:54A 24-7 hotline set up by the U.S. State Department
05:58was inundated with calls from frightened tourists
06:01trying to rebook their flights or receive assurances.
06:04Videos of dozens of arson attacks flooded social media
06:07while the smoke billowed over empty streets
06:10as people fled the war and looting.
06:12I think overall, though,
06:13the violence has been restricted to certain areas,
06:16and so it's not like every city in the country
06:18is seeing this kind of violence, if that makes sense.
06:21Civilians hid in their homes,
06:22and tourists hunkered down in hotels
06:24or wherever else they could stay safe,
06:26with a thousand people reportedly sheltering overnight
06:29in the Guadalajara Zoo.
06:31Disinformation on social media,
06:33with unconfirmed reports that the cartel would round up U.S. citizens
06:37or had taken over the airports,
06:39only added to the fear.
06:40These tactics are not unusual for the cartel,
06:43and have been used in the past
06:45to hinder Mexican law enforcement activity.
06:47And the narco blockades, as you described,
06:49that's fairly standard.
06:50When a leader of this magnitude is killed or captured,
06:53you do see a lot of violence in the area around his capture.
06:56One high-ranking cartel official,
06:59Hugo Cesar El Tuli Macias Sareña,
07:02had gone as far as offering a $20,000 Mexican dollar
07:05or $1,165 U.S. dollar reward
07:07for each soldier killed by cartel operatives.
07:11As of February 23rd,
07:13clashes between the cartel and law enforcement
07:15have led to the deaths of 25 National Guard members,
07:18one jail guard, one state prosecutor,
07:21and at least one civilian.
07:2334 cartel members, including El Tuli,
07:25were killed and 25 were arrested.
07:28On February 23rd,
07:29Mexican president, Claudia Scheinbaum,
07:32honored the fallen military and law enforcement personnel
07:35and moved to reassure people that the situation was under control.
07:38It's the Mexican government's priority
07:40to bring security back under control
07:43and stop, do their best to stop further violence
07:47in the aftermath of the killing.
07:49The future.
07:50It is unclear what will happen next.
07:52On Monday the 23rd,
07:54President Trump called on Mexico
07:55to step up its efforts in combating the drug cartels.
07:59However, with his son imprisoned in the U.S.,
08:01Aseguera Cervantes leaves no obvious heir,
08:04leading to a potentially protracted conflict
08:06between various factions vying for CJNG control.
08:10It is key that when one falls,
08:13there's generally people beneath him to replace him.
08:16We'll see what happens in this particular instance.
08:19This would only add to the bloodshed
08:21caused by the ongoing Sinaloa cartel civil war,
08:24ratcheting up the pressure on the Mexican government.
08:27The stadium in Guadalajara,
08:28set to host the World Cup matches,
08:30is roughly 60 miles from where El Mencho was killed.
08:33Late Monday, FIFA said it has full confidence
08:36in its host countries, including Mexico,
08:38and is monitoring the situation closely.
08:40Mexico's status as one of the 2026 FIFA World Cup hosts
08:44adds further attention to the situation,
08:47with FIFA reporting that they are in contact with authorities
08:49and closely monitoring the situation.
08:51In a statement Tuesday morning,
08:54Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum stated
08:56that there were all guarantees and no risk
08:59for World Cup attendance.
09:00Thousands of troops have already been deployed to Jalisco
09:03to help quell the violence.
09:05Certainly the Mexicans will deploy in force to,
09:08especially now,
09:09to reinforce the security aspect of Guadalajara.
09:12let's go to the destruction board.
09:13Let's go.
09:14Oh,
09:22ball
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