U.S. Gave Mexico Intelligence for Operation That Killed Drug Cartel Leader
The State Department also expanded the “shelter in place” declaration for Americans in Mexico.
Fox News reported that President Donald Trump’s administration handed Mexico intelligence support to help bring down Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation cartel, which started operating in 2009.
The United States provided intelligence support to the Mexican government in order to assist with an operation in Talpalpa, Jalisco, Mexico, in which Nemesio ‘El Mencho’ Oseguera Cervantes, an infamous drug lord and leader within the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, was eliminated.… https://t.co/iKxsAMmnLN
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) February 23, 2026
The cartel is a top supplier of fentanyl.
Mexican authorities injured Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” in his home as they attempted to capture him in Tapalpa, Jalisco. He later died as they tried to fly him to Mexico City.
The State Department had a $15 million bounty on Cervantes.
Ben wrote about the chaos that emerged in Mexico after Cervantes death.
The State Department expanded the “shelter in place” declaration for Americans in Mexico.
The original declaration included Jalisco state (Puerto Vallarta, Chapala, and Guadalajara), Tamaulipas state (Reynosa and other municipalities), and areas of Michoacan state, Guerrero state, and Nuevo Leon state
The department added Baja California state (Tijuana, Tecate, and Ensenada), Quintana Roo state (Cancun, Cozumel, Playa del Carmen, and Tulum), and Sinaloa, Oaxaca, Puebla, Queretaro, San Luis Potosi, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, and Zacatecas.
Mexican Defense Minister Ricardo Trevilla said the intelligence “came from a romantic partner of the crime boss.” It all started on February 20:
On Feb. 20, a close associate of El Mencho, who was known to the Mexican military, delivered one of the kingpin Oseguera Cervantes’ romantic partners to a property in Tapalpa. She met with her secretive boyfriend, stayed overnight and left the property on Feb. 21, Trevilla Trejo said.
El Mencho stayed behind, with his personal security detail.
Mexican Army and National Guard special forces planned the operation on Feb. 21, positioning troops in nearby states to catch him by surprise. Mexico readied Army and National Guard ground troops and Air Force troops piloting six helicopters.
Ground troops moved in Feb. 22, under cover of darkness. The intention, Trevilla Trejo said, was to “detain” El Mencho. From intelligence, the defense minister said the military knew the kingpin’s security detail was heavily armed – outfitted with long arms and rocket launchers – and troops planned for a siege.
As they approached, a firefight ensued between the armed guards and the Mexican military that left eight cartel members dead.
Cervantes fled to some cabins in a wooded area outside of Tapala. He didn’t make it before special forces discovered him in the brush with bodyguards.
Trejo said Cervantes and the bodyguards opened fire, forcing the special forces to fire back:
Then: Special forces wounded Oseguera Cervantes and his two bodyguards. One Mexican military officer was also wounded.
The four men were “gravely injured,” Trevilla Trejo said, “and needed to be evacuated.” Oseguera Cervantes, the two bodyguards and the unnamed military officer all died as they were being evacuated by helicopter to a medical facility in Jalisco, the defense minister said.
Mexican officials said the violence led to the deaths of 25 Mexican National Guard troops and over two dozen criminal suspects:
Mexico Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch said the troops in Jalisco were killed in six separate attacks following the killing of Oseguera Cervantes during a shootout inside his home as the Mexican military attempted to capture him. He also said some 30 criminal suspects were killed in Jalisco and four others were killed in Michoacan.
García Harfuch added that a prison guard, an agent from the state prosecutor’s office and a woman whom he did not identify were also killed.
Mexican authorities said they have cleared over “250 roadblocks across 20 states.”
[Featured image via YouTube]
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Comments
Sexually Transmitted Disloyalty.
Take that, “Monkeypox.”
next step will be to send in military to help the usa citizens get out of that country
a beautiful place destroyed by socialism
Seriously? Parts of Mexico, including areas around tourist destinations have been under state department travel advisors for the last year. I have a friend who has a vacation house in Mexico and he hasn’t been back since last summer because he believes the risk is too high right now.
When tourists willingly put themselves in danger, I have very little sympathy.
you migh be
t but a politically charged situation is well above the pay grade of
“little sympathy”
Not Puerta Vallarta. It is considered one of the safest and nicest parts. Just goes to show you how entrenched and infesting the cartel cucarachas are in that country.
The cartels which practically speaking control large portions if not quite rule Mexico are many things but socialist ain’t one of them. They operate on maximum capitalism providing a product(s) in high demand to willing buyers, they even have in-house financing options ….but their collections dept is unrelenting.
An illegal cartel is not capitalism just because they turn profits. They have infested the government. The best description could be late stage socialism (Venezuela as an example) or maybe crony capitalism at most generous.
In the USA all ‘cartels’ are supposed to be illegal precisely b/c they ain’t engaged in free market capitalism but instead in anti competitive practices like collision, price fixing, price discrimination among purchasers, mergers or acquisitions that create an effective monopoly. See Sherman and Clayton acts. It might be worthwhile to take another look at several sectors of the economy and review whether our corporations are engaged in any of the supposedly outlawed anti competitive practices. I suspect if the FTC/DoJ were willing to employ a similar vigorous approach to anti competitive practices as they used just 5 decades ago against AT&T they’d be plenty busy.
Every organization uses the means at hand to build a moat around itself if possible. Disney sends high powered lawyers while a drug cartel deploys high powered weapons to protect their economic interests. It wasn’t that long ago, still in living memory, when US corporations routinely employed violence in their company towns around mills and mines, issued script for the payroll to be spent in the company store.
that would be like saying mamdami is a capitalist b/c he uses the free market to “make his money”
capitalism has a positive moralism to it
when that is violated …it is anything but capitalism ..hence needs to be taken to court
President Claudia Sheinbaum is a nearly wholly-owned creature of the cartels. I’m more than a little surprised that she allowed the federal police/NG/army to go after El Mencho. Did he not support her sufficiently, did another cartel want him hit, or was he looking to have her replaced?
She probably did it to appease Trump and it will go right back to business as usual. What Mexico needs right now is a Nayib Bukele style “President” on steroids that will make it too painful for the cartels to operate. There are a whole lot of snakes that need their heads cut off and that extends into the government itself.
The cartels aren’t a monolith. They have violent rivalries. To say she is owned by the cartels collectively wouldn’t really be feasible. We just don’t know exactly which big one she is in bed with.
I have heard it is Sinaloa
Why would they publish how they gained access? Seems to me that the girl friend and her handler will not have a rather short shelf life. It would be a mercy to be quick, but I fear it will not.
The girlfriend and her entire family are probably not long for this world.
I assumed the girlfriend got an Obamaphone, a debit card, a work permit, and a FEMA trailer in Florida for her troubles.
btw
maybe they didnt die
CA is single biggest market for cartel(s). It is literally sanctuary state for them. This particular boss got his start in SF. Police are scared of them, will only arrest handful at lowest level to make it look like they are doing their job.
Mencho (cartel boss) got his start in SF. Has anchor baby born in CA. CA sanctuary state for cartels. Newscum did that.