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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