The curtain falls on El Mencho, but the drama is just beginning
The capture and death of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, El Mencho, was not the end. It was the first act of a tragedy that now totals 73 lives. Authorities against hitmen, civilians caught in the middle. The country held its breath.
“His security circle responded with a very violent attack,” explained Defense Secretary Ricardo Trevilla.
The military operation in Tapalpa, Jalisco, turned into a carnage. After locating the boss following one of his partners, the special forces cornered him in a wooded area. He and two escorts died during the transfer. The cartel’s response was immediate and brutal.
A country paralyzed by fear
Guadalajara, Mexico’s second largest city, stopped. Roads blocked, vehicles set on fire, 27 attacks against authorities. More than a thousand people spent the night trapped in the local zoo.
“We decided to allow these people to remain inside the zoo for their own safety,” said Luis Soto Rendón, director of the zoo. “We have children in arms to elderly adults.”
The empty streets spoke louder than the official statements. José Luis Ramírez, a 54-year-old therapist, stood in line outside a pharmacy with the door chained to buy supplies. It was his first outing since Sunday.
“We have to think not with fear, but with a cool head and take things as they come,” said Ramírez.
But the fear was tangible. Irma Hernández, a 43-year-old security guard, needed a private car to get to her job at a hotel. His family chose not to leave. “I’m worried because I don’t know how to get home if something happens,”she confessed.
The political pieces behind the operation
The White House confirmed that the United States provided intelligence support for the operation. A significant nod amid the Trump administration’s constant pressure for results against controlled substance trafficking.
“Under the leadership of President Trump and President Sheinbaum, bilateral cooperation has reached unprecedented levels,” said Ambassador Ron Johnson.
For Mexico, eliminating the world’s largest trafficker of fentanyl could ease that diplomatic pressure. But analysts warn: this could just be the prologue.
David Saucedo poses a chilling scenario: “That a scenario similar to the one experienced in Colombia in the 1990s” is generated, with frontal combat against the government using explosive devices and selective attacks.
Mike Vigil, former international head of the DEA, is clear: Mexico must now launch a “frontal but effective assault” against the CJNG structure, taking advantage of its moment of weakness.
Meanwhile, authorities are monitoring any internal restructuring of the cartel. They have deployed 2,500 additional military personnel in Jalisco, adding to the 7,000 already present. A command center remains active coordinating national security.
The official count is heartbreaking: 11 killed in the initial operation, 25 members of the National Guard, a prison guard, a judicial official… and 34 members of the criminal group killed.
President Claudia Sheinbaum called for calm, ensuring that the blockades had ceased. But between civilians trapped in zoos and families shopping for supplies behind chained doors, one question hangs in the thick air:
Are we facing the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning?
