Killing of Mexican drug cartel boss ‘El Mencho’ triggers wave of violence
Schools close and flights suspended after military raid kills Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes
Whole areas of western Mexico have been all but shut down after a surge in cartel violence sparked by a military raid that killed one of the world’s most wanted drug traffickers, known as “El Mencho”.
Schools were closed in several Mexican states, and foreign governments warned their citizens to stay inside after the drug lord, whose real name is Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, was declared dead on Sunday.
The 59-year-old cartel leader was killed during a shootout after the Mexican military attempted to capture him in a raid supported by intelligence from Washington. The US has been pushing its southern neighbour to take more aggressive action against groups trafficking fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/23/el-mencho-mexican-drug-cartel-boss-killing-violenceOpen linkView original on lemmy.world
37 replies
Instability in a neighbour is the perfect excuse for a fascist expansionist "intervention". Ugh. Not that I like the cartels or anything. Mexico is stuck between a rock and hard place here.
The people are stuck, the politicians are doing great!
Only the powerful ones
https://globalnews.ca/news/11508352/mexico-mayor-carlos-alberto-manzo-rodriguez-killed-day-dead/
oh yeah, if you dare to fight back you will be killed regardless of your class
politicians, candidates, journalists, marine officials...
What inevitably happens when you kill a drug boss. Like it or not drug king pins reduce violence and taking them out just leads to their underlings fighting it out for a while until a new one consolidates their rule and you're back to square one.
Cops and governments love to target them though so they can say they bagged the next pablo Escobar while they ignore the main problem of why people are killing people over drugs: prohibition and poverty.
Why didn’t we do this to the sacklers?
They're white and rich.
Nice to see the CIA is still doing its job of preventing South American countries from becoming too stable or democratic.
And this wild conspiracy speculation is based on....?
To quote Wikipedia:
Yes, yes, om sure the CIA is fucking evil and they've overthrown many governments and commit sabotage on a regular basis
None of that means that the CIA had anything to do with this violence.
Having lived through multiple of these violent events in Mexico, this is not a revolution in progress. Mark my words, the worst is behind us, and within a few days this will be utterly go e.
I can tell you this has more to do with the Narcos being fucking violent organizations that are reacting with revenge for their leader.
Could the US be any more incompetent? Zero planning for repercussions, just kill kill kill.
You're viewing the backlash as a bug rather than a feature. Vance will be back on TV in a week, arguing the US needs to intervene directly.
Fair. Did not immediately think of other ways the US could abuse its power.
I was thinking it would be much sooner than that
This was the plan all along
Vance is a clown, he's got no juice, it's the project 2025 people calling the shots.
This was the Mexican army, not US
“The US has been pushing its southern neighbour to take more aggressive action”
Acting on US intelligence.
Coerced by Trump…
I mean, what's your alternative competent plan for dealing with the cartels?
Make peoples lived better, so most don't want to escape them.
But how does that benefit the shareholders?
They get to continue living. Pretty cushy don't ya think.
That was literally the implication. They can change their ways and become a benefit to society. Or eliminated to at least cease being a burden.
Do you think the Mexican government isn't already trying to do that? They clearly don't have the resources to pull it off.
I wasn't speaking specifically of the Mexican government more as a general thing. Unfortunately, this is largely out of Mexican government control. The fascist oligarchs in the United States have made the lives of people there so miserable that they need drugs to get by. There's not much the Mexican government can do about that. As long as that problem exists, the symptoms of cartel leaders rising up to fill that need will always happen.
Oh, in that case I agree completely - the root cause is demand in the US.
Yep. I 100% feel for the Mexican government ON THAT POINT. For every kingpin they kill 1-2 will pop up. More vicious and violent than the last. And there's literally nothing they can do. Because its a response to an external issue they can't address.
The cartels aren't going to allow that
The cartels can't. And yes they won't. This was more that the people complaining about them and drove the attack on them. (Fascists/trump) They are the only ones that could do anything to hurt the cartels. IE make peoples lives better so they don't seek drugs to escape them. But they don't care about making lives better or helping anyone but themselves. And anyone appeasing them only hurts themselves.
I got ya! I misunderstood!
No worries, it was a sort of vague statement after all.
Tha'ts more of a goal than a plan.
Legalize all drugs and dismantle the CIA
We should do this regardless
Cut off demand, you'll never kill every single drug dealer... its insane to think you can do it that way
Hugs not Drugs! /s