Author: MxTrib Staff

The death toll from Mexico’s operation to capture Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) leader Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes — known as “El Mencho” — has climbed sharply, with 25 National Guard members killed in six separate attacks in the state of Jalisco alone.

Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch made the announcement Monday, visibly emotional, as the full scale of the violence following Sunday’s military operation came into view. Also killed were a prison guard, a state prosecutor’s agent, and an unidentified woman. About 30 cartel suspects were killed in Jalisco, and four more in the neighboring state of Michoacán. All told, authorities put the total death count at at least 73, including security forces, suspected cartel members, and civilians.

As we reported yesterday, El Mencho — age 59 — was wounded during a military raid Sunday morning in the mountain town of Tapalpa, Jalisco, about two hours southwest of Guadalajara. Defense Secretary Ricardo Trevilla said troops had tracked Oseguera Cervantes to the location after following one of his romantic partners. When special forces moved in, they immediately came under fire. Eight gunmen were killed at the site. The cartel leader and two bodyguards fled into a wooded area, where all three were wounded in a firefight. They were airlifted out, but Oseguera Cervantes died en route to Mexico City.

Trevilla also disclosed that in a separate location, soldiers killed another senior CJNG figure who had been coordinating the cartel’s violent response and reportedly offering more than $1,000 for every soldier killed.

The CJNG’s retaliation was swift and widespread. Cartel members set vehicles ablaze and threw up roadblocks across more than 20 states. Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-largest city, essentially shut down Sunday night. Smoke billowed over Puerto Vallarta, and travelers were seen running through the city’s international airport in a panic. More than 1,000 people were trapped overnight at the Guadalajara zoo, including families from neighboring states who could not safely return home.

By Monday morning, authorities said all 250-plus roadblocks had been cleared, and Guadalajara was beginning to return to normal. Schools were canceled in several states, however, and both the U.S. and Canadian embassies advised their citizens to shelter in place in affected areas.

President Claudia Sheinbaum publicly appealed for calm and praised the military’s efforts. The operation gave her government its biggest security win yet — and a tangible result to show the Trump administration, which has been pressing Mexico hard on drug trafficking and threatening additional tariffs if it doesn’t deliver results. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the U.S. provided intelligence support for the mission, calling El Mencho one of the top fentanyl traffickers targeting the United States.

U.S. Ambassador Ron Johnson said the operation demonstrated that bilateral security cooperation had reached its highest level yet under both presidents.

The CJNG is considered one of Mexico’s most powerful and aggressive criminal organizations, known for trafficking fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine to the United States. The group was founded around 2009 and designated a foreign terrorist organization by the Trump administration in February 2025. It has a well-documented history of attacking the military, including using drones to drop explosives and planting mines. In 2020, the cartel carried out a brazen assassination attempt — using grenades and high-powered rifles — on the then-chief of Mexico City’s police force, who is now the country’s federal security secretary.

With no clear successor identified within the CJNG, analysts caution that rival criminal groups may move quickly to fill the vacuum. For coverage of how this security situation could affect travelers to the Yucatán Peninsula and beyond, keep watching Mexico Tribune.

Quick facts

• El Mencho’s real name: Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, age 59
• Killed: Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in Tapalpa, Jalisco
• Total death toll: at least 73, including 25 National Guard members
• Roadblocks reported: more than 250 across 20 states, all cleared by Monday
• U.S. reward offered before his death: up to $15 million
• CJNG designated a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. in February 2025
• Countries issuing travel advisories: United States, Canada, India, among others
• Schools canceled Monday in multiple Mexican states

The Mexican military killed the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel on Sunday in a raid in western Mexico, setting off a wave of violence that prompted governments in Jalisco and several neighboring states — as well as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and other countries — to issue shelter-in-place orders and travel warnings.

Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” was wounded during a military operation in the town of Tapalpa, in Jalisco state, and died while being airlifted to Mexico City. He had been one of the world’s most-wanted drug traffickers, with a U.S. bounty of up to $15 million on his head.

The operation was carried out by the Mexican Army, National Guard, and Air Force, with intelligence support from U.S. agencies. Six other cartel members were killed, and two were arrested. Three soldiers were wounded. Authorities seized armored vehicles, rocket launchers, and other weapons.

The cartel’s response was swift. Gunmen torched buses, cars, and businesses, blocking highways across nearly a dozen states. Guadalajara, Jalisco’s capital and a city slated to host matches in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, emptied out as residents stayed indoors. Smoke was visible rising over Puerto Vallarta, the popular Pacific coast resort city. Delta, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, and Air Canada all canceled flights to Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara.

Jalisco Governor Pablo Lemus declared a Code Red and suspended public transportation. He urged residents to remain at home until further notice. The governor of neighboring Nayarit, Miguel Ángel Navarro, issued a similar warning. Governors of Michoacán, Colima, and Tamaulipas also reported blockades and arson but stopped short of shelter-in-place orders, instead asking residents to monitor official channels. By early afternoon Sunday, Guanajuato reported its blockades had been cleared.

The U.S. Embassy in Mexico told citizens via social media to shelter in place in Jalisco — including Puerto Vallarta, Chapala, and Guadalajara — as well as in parts of Tamaulipas, Michoacán, Guerrero, and Nuevo León. Canada told its citizens in Jalisco to “keep a low profile” and follow local authorities. The U.K. Embassy updated its Mexico travel guidance, warning against all but essential travel to parts of southern Jalisco and 11 municipalities in the north of the state. Australia and India also issued security alerts to their nationals in Mexico.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau welcomed the operation, calling Oseguera “one of the bloodiest and most ruthless drug kingpins” and saying the killing was “a great development for Mexico, the U.S., Latin America, and the world.”

President Claudia Sheinbaum praised Mexican security forces and called for calm. She has faced sustained pressure from the Trump administration to show results against drug trafficking since Trump took office last year. In February, the Trump administration formally designated the CJNG as a foreign terrorist organization.

The CJNG was co-founded by Oseguera around 2007 and grew into what the FBI and DEA consider Mexico’s most powerful trafficking organization, with a presence in all 50 U.S. states. The cartel is responsible for moving large quantities of cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl into the United States. It is known for particularly aggressive tactics, including attacks on military helicopters and the use of explosive-laden drones.

Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Mexico City noted that there is “no obvious successor” to Oseguera, a situation that could trigger internal power struggles within the cartel. The Yucatán Peninsula, while largely insulated from CJNG activity, has not been entirely immune to the broader expansion of organized crime in Mexico — as recent incidents in eastern Yucatán have illustrated.

As of Sunday evening, the situation in several states remained fluid.

What you need to know

• El Mencho, leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), was killed Feb. 22 in a Mexican Army operation in Tapalpa, Jalisco
• The U.S. had offered a $15 million bounty for information leading to his arrest
• Cartel reprisals triggered road blockades, arson, and unrest across nearly a dozen Mexican states
• The U.S. Embassy issued shelter-in-place orders for Americans in Jalisco, Tamaulipas, parts of Michoacán, Guerrero, and Nuevo León
• Canada, the U.K., Australia, and India also issued security alerts for their nationals
• Jalisco Governor Pablo Lemus declared a Code Red and suspended public transportation
• Multiple airlines, including Delta, American, Alaska, and Air Canada, canceled flights to Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta
• The CJNG was designated a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. in February 2026
• No obvious successor to Oseguera has been named, raising the possibility of further instability within the cartel

A false report that Elena Poniatowska — Mexico’s most celebrated living writer — had died spread rapidly across social media on Wednesday, alarming readers, journalists, and public figures across Latin America before being quickly and firmly denied.

The rumor originated on X, formerly Twitter, where a recently created account impersonating a publishing house posted a notice claiming the 93-year-old author had died. The post spread fast. Well-known writers and journalists shared condolences. Argentine author Martín Caparrós posted a farewell tribute, then had to delete it after learning the news was fake.

The Fundación Elena Poniatowska Amor A.C. (Elena Poniatowska Amor Foundation) moved quickly to set the record straight. “Good morning, everyone — false information is circulating about Elena; she is perfectly fine and in excellent health,” she said.

The false report even reached Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum during her morning news conference, known as La Mañanera del Pueblo (The People’s Morning Conference). “¡Ay, no! Vamos a averiguar bien,” she said — something like “Oh no! Let’s find out properly.” Minutes later, after her staff confirmed the truth with the foundation, Sheinbaum was direct: “No es cierto. No asusten. Nuestro cariño a Elenita.” Translation: “It’s not true. Don’t scare people. Our love to little Elena.”

The incident is part of a broader pattern of fake celebrity death announcements on social media. Italian prankster Tommaso Debenedetti has been linked to similar hoaxes in the past targeting prominent public figures. In recent months, false death reports have also circulated about other well-known personalities, including singer José Luis Perales and actor Damián Alcázar.

Who is Elena Poniatowska?

Poniatowska is a towering figure in Mexico — the kind of writer whose work helped shape how an entire nation understood itself. Born in Paris on May 19, 1932, she moved to Mexico at age 10 to escape World War II. Her father was of Polish nobility and her mother came from a prominent Mexican family that had fled the country during the Revolution.

She started writing for the newspaper Excélsior at 18 and never really stopped. Over seven decades, she produced novels, essays, oral histories, and biography — more than 40 books in all, translated into over 20 languages. She was one of the founders of the newspaper La Jornada, now one of Mexico’s most-read dailies.

Her most famous work, La noche de Tlatelolco (published in English as Massacre in Mexico), documents the 1968 massacre of student protesters by government forces — an event the Mexican government tried for years to suppress. The book is built almost entirely from testimonies, recorded and woven together by Poniatowska herself. It remains essential reading for anyone trying to understand modern Mexico.

In 2013, she became the fourth woman to win the Premio Cervantes (Cervantes Prize), the most prestigious award in Spanish-language literature. She was also the first woman to receive Mexico’s National Journalism Prize, back in 1979.

President Claudia Sheinbaum, who publicly defended Poniatowska on Wednesday, has long held the author in high regard. The two women are part of a left-leaning intellectual tradition that has shaped Mexican culture for generations.

Despite her age, Poniatowska remains active. She still writes. She still gives interviews. The foundation that bears her name — and that issued Wednesday’s denial — recently launched a fiction writing competition.

The fake account that sparked Wednesday’s panic was created less than a month before the incident. Experts who track disinformation say this is a common tactic: new accounts with credible-sounding names post alarming content designed to spread before anyone thinks to verify it. The speed of X’s retweet culture does the rest.

For those who want to follow Poniatowska’s actual work and news, La Jornada — the newspaper she helped found — remains a reliable source.

Quick Facts: Elena Poniatowska

• Born May 19, 1932, in Paris, France; moved to Mexico in 1942
• Began her journalism career in 1953 at the newspaper Excélsior
• Author of more than 40 books, including novels, oral histories, and biography
• Best known for La noche de Tlatelolco (1971), published in English as Massacre in Mexico
• First woman to receive Mexico’s National Journalism Prize (1979)
• Won the Premio Cervantes in 2013, the highest honor in Spanish-language literature
• Co-founder of the Mexican newspaper La Jornada
• Trilingual in Spanish, French, and English
• Still active as a writer and public intellectual at age 93