February 22, Mexico’s Air Force and National Guard Special Immediate Reaction Force (NGRF) tracked down the notorious Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG) leader Nemesio Ruben “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes. The infamous cartel kingpin — formerly the most wanted person in Mexico — faced accusations of not only alleged drug trafficking, but also the illegal possession of firearms and coordinating operations that caused CJNG’s rise to unchecked power. Authorities followed his girlfriend — allegedly Maria Julissa — to a safe house in a special operation mission where officials fatally shot El Mencho in an attempt to capture him. He succumbed to his injuries on the way to a hospital in Mexico City.
“Those [drug trafficking] systems move both ways. That means that for the cartels to be good at maintaining control of systems, they also need to be able to control violence in Mexico and to have physical power. They do this by using a lot of illegally possessed American arms. They use weapons that come primarily from the U.S. It’s also a system wherein weapons that are more easily and more readily available in the U.S. move south across the border. Thus, that availability] allows cartels to consolidate power, which allows them to more readily establish those trade networks, to move illegal drugs that come from places other than just Mexico, come from places like China and other places like that, and therefore move across the border,” Advanced Placement (AP) Comparative Government teacher Carolyn Galloway said.
Across the country of Mexico, retaliatory violence broke out amongst rival cartel groups and enraged CJNG members. Fighters blocked roads and torched cars and businesses, wreaking havoc across over 20 Mexican states. Members participated in 27 attacks against authorities, in which authorities killed 30 cartel operatives and arrested over 70 people as vengeance during the subsequent absence of leadership. Streets once bustling with lively citizens now appear deserted, with officials warning civilians to shelter inside their homes. American tourists became stranded due to suspended flights and airport bombings, prompting the U.S. also urging their citizens to shelter in place at hotels or cruise ships. With both an increased bounty for information leading to his arrest and a specialized agency that collaborates with other U.S. government organizations, President Donald Trump’s administration pressured Mexico to crack down on narcotrafficking, threatening to further intervene in their affairs.
Cartels smuggle in billions of dollars worth of narcotics, with fentanyl causing over 70% of overdose-related deaths in America. The fentanyl crisis caused Trump to initiate a militarized drug war. He placed a 15 million dollar bounty for information leading to El Mencho’s capture — an increase from the original 5 million and then later a 10 million dollar bounty. The Joint Interagency Task Force-Counter Cartel (JIATF-CC) — launched in January 2026 — seeks to identify and dismantle cross-border cartel drug trafficking, with the CJNG as a formidable cartel the agency aims to deconstruct. U.S. Brigadier General Maurizio Calabrese stated that, although cartels maintain different motivations from Al Qaeda and Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the task force applies their agency’s experience from investigating these groups when dealing with onerous cartels.
“I am truly devastated by the many losses that have occurred from the death of El Mencho. Burning down of vehicles and blocking roads have caused many disruptions in Mexico, which made things like flights getting canceled. I have some friends who were visiting family in Mexico over winter break, and I’m glad they were able to get home before everything happened. I hope that in the future, Mexico can feel like a safer place. I see videos of families being scared for their lives too, and it really makes you realize you take the simple things in life for granted,” magnet sophomore Somto Nwakogo said.
