Security forces have killed the leader of the Jalisco Nueva Generacion cartel. Violence then erupted in many parts of Mexico, raising concerns about the summer World Cup.
02/24/2026, 04:5302/24/2026, 04:53
On Sunday morning, Elena Goicoechea sat on the balcony of her vacation apartment in Puerto Vallarta, a well-known tourist resort in the Mexican state of Jalisco. She enjoyed her last coffee with a view of the sea before heading back to Mexico City in the evening.
“I was watching whales when I noticed a column of gray smoke in the background that reached far into the sky,” says the journalist in an interview with CH Media. At first she thought it was a fire, “but then another column of smoke rose, and another, and another.”
Vehicles and shops were burned down by members of the cartel.Image: keystone
In response to the killing of drug lord Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, alias “El Mencho”, fighters from the Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) cartel blocked streets with burning cars, trucks and buses in several Mexican cities and set fires in supermarkets, pharmacies and small shops.
Attacks near a World Cup stadium
In Puerto Vallarta, authorities called on people to seek safety. Airlines immediately canceled flights to and from Puerto Vallarta. “So we’re stuck here for now,” says Goicoechea. Driving back to the capital is not an option. Several streets were blocked by cartel members.
Elena Goicoechea is a journalist at the online magazine “Detona”.Image: zvg/chmedia
Chaos, fear and violence also reigned in Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco and the second largest city in the country as well as the venue for the World Cup in the summer. “My messenger services were abuzz with reports and photos of attacks in my city and in places throughout Jalisco and neighboring states,” says Guadalajara-based writer Antonio Ortuño. “Cars, trucks and shops are on fire, gunfire, blocked roads, panic and something like a mass exodus of travelers at the international airport.”
More than a dozen of the 32 states canceled school classes on Monday for safety reasons. Almost all states, including the capital Mexico City, convened their security cabinets for emergency meetings. Four months before the start of the Football World Cup, which will be held in Mexico, the USA and Canada in June and July, it is clear how fragile the security situation is in the country.
The most powerful cartel in Mexico
Football commentator Marcel Reif warned “Bild”:
“The World Cup cannot take place under these circumstances.”
Elena Goicoechea, who writes for the online magazine “Detona”, believes that canceling the World Cup games in Mexico, as some fans are demanding on social media, is excessive. “The campaign was deliberately carried out months before the World Cup,” she says. In fact, the situation became significantly calmer over the course of Monday.
When asked, the FDFA writes that Switzerland is following the situation closely. It urges extreme caution. However, the FDFA has not yet carried out any organized departures for Swiss nationals. Those wishing to leave the country should find out about departure options from airlines and tour operators. There are currently 6,500 Swiss citizens in Mexico.
With the killing of “El Mencho”, the Mexican government achieved another major success in the fight against organized crime after many years. Since 2011, “El Mencho” has led the most powerful and notorious cartel, “Jalisco Nueva Generación” (CJNG). His syndicate has become the most powerful organized crime group in Mexico since the arrest of Joaquin Guzmán, known as “El Chapo,” the head of the Sinaloa Cartel in 2016.
The US authorities were looking for “El Mencho”.Image: (US State Department via AP)
Known for his brutality
Working with US intelligence agencies, the armed forces tracked down the most wanted cartel boss in one of his hideouts in the mountains of Jalisco state and wanted to arrest him. However, the 59-year-old was seriously injured in the exchange of gunfire and, according to official information, died on the way to the hospital. “That’s why the cartels’ reaction was so aggressive this time,” says Goicoechea.
Image: Raidió Teilifís ÉireannGraphic: letMap material: © OSM
The CJNG is notorious for its brutality and ruthlessness and is also known for being able to paralyze entire cities or regions as a show of strength. It also operates in Mexico in a way that was previously unknown for organized crime in the North American country.
“They kill judges, police officers, politicians, and plant car bombs, just like Pablo Escobar did,” the legendary head of the Medellín cartel in Colombia in the 1980s, says Edgardo Buscaglia, an expert on organized crime in Mexico.
The CJNG also has war equipment that is hardly inferior to that of the state security forces. During Sunday’s operation, “various weapons were confiscated from Oseguera’s hideout, including rocket launchers capable of shooting down aircraft and destroying armored vehicles,” officials said. The majority of weapons seized in Mexico since 2017, around 74 percent, come from the USA.
The US had offered former police officer Oseguera a $15 million reward and classified the CJNG as a foreign terrorist organization. In addition to trafficking in the synthetic drug fentanyl and cocaine, the cartel also dominates in the smuggling of migrants, the theft of raw materials and the arms trade. (aargauerzeitung.ch)