The capture and then death of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho”, head of the Mexican criminal cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), today the most wanted criminal in the world, plunged Mexico into chaos. The boss, who had a bounty of 15 million dollars from the US government, was eliminated on Sunday during a vast military operation in the state of Jalisco also coordinated with Washington. During the operation, a shootout broke out which caused the death of four members of the criminal group on site and the serious wounding of three others, who died during air transport to Mexico City. Among the latter there was also ‘El Mencho’.
The killing of the boss unleashed a wave of chaos. Guadalajara, Mexico’s third-largest city and capital of Jalisco state, has been hit by the cartel’s retaliation, with violence spreading to cities and beach towns across Mexico, where gunmen have set fire to shops and banks and blocked highways.
Several American airlines, including United and Delta, have canceled flights to Puerto Vallarta airport in Mexico. The explosion of violence caused at least 26 deaths and schools in a dozen states remained closed today.
“The arrest and then death of Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as El Mencho, is certainly an important turning point in many respects with regards to the current security situation in Mexico and more generally of the drug trafficking and arms trafficking networks between Mexico and the United States, in the North American area and more generally in a global context,” he explains Massimo De Giuseppe, professor of contemporary history at IULM and author of “Mexico. Biography of a nation from independence to today” (il Mulino).
“Unlike other historical cartels”, adds De Giuseppe, “this cartel had extended its power in many states of Mexico with real franchising. Now we need to understand what will happen with the exit of the historic boss. According to Mexican analysts, the elimination of such a powerful boss is certainly positive, but we need to see how much the top group has been destabilized and whether new leaders are already ready to take over the reins of the cartel.”
The Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaumin office since the end of 2024, seems to have chosen a hard line against criminal cartels, also in coordination with the United States, but it is still early to talk about a decisive turning point in the fight against crime. “Mexico”, recalls De Giuseppe, “is a complex federation, a huge country, with territories that are difficult to control and with networks of local powers with a very long history. Now Sheinbaum’s contrast strategy seems to be accompanied by social intervention policies that have been lacking in the past. If this becomes an accompanied organic process, there could be an effective turning point for Mexico. Compared to a few years ago, when the victims of violence were more than 36 thousand in a year, in 2025 there was a 40 percent drop in deaths”.
“Sheinbaum”, concludes De Giuseppe, “is moving pragmatically in managing its relations with Trump’s United States. The clash is not good for either Mexico or the United States and so Mexico can carve out a certain freedom of movement on a diplomatic level, also to be able to manage relations with other countries in the region, such as Cuba for example”.
