Mexico is reeling from a devastating barrage of retaliatory violence after the February 22, 2026, killing of the infamous "El Mencho," Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes. In a grim press conference Monday, Mexico’s security secretary, Omar García Harfuch, confirmed that 25 members of the National Guard were slain in six simultaneous, highly coordinated ambushes throughout the state of Jalisco. The killings of federal troops are among the deadliest 24-hour periods for the Mexican military in recent history and marked a cruel new chapter in the country’s war against the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
The Ambush: A Coordinated Retaliation
The violence broke out shortly after a military raid in Tapalpa where El Mencho was wounded before dying during an airlift to Mexico City. CJNG factions employed high-caliber firearms and rocket launchers in a number of "counter-offensives" in an attempt to paralyze the state. The 25 National Guard troops were said to have been targeted when trying to clear “narcobloqueos” (roadblocks) and respond to attacks on government buildings.
Besides the military casualties, the government said 30 criminal suspects were killed in Jalisco itself, along with a prison guard, a state prosecutor’s agent, and an unnamed woman. The amount of firepower employed against federal forces, from armored “monster” trucks to drone-dropped explosives, has highlighted the CJNG’s evolution into a sophisticated paramilitary insurgency.
Mexico Under Siege: Schools Closed and "Code Red"
The retaliatory strike did not extend to just Jalisco alone. More than 250 roadblocks were reported in 20 Mexican states and some vehicles caught fire on major highways leading to Guanajuato, Michoacán, and Colima. In a city of eight million and the host city of the World Cup, Guadalajara, the government imposed a “Code Red” emergency. Public transport was suspended; the city became virtually a ghost town as residents huddled in place.
The mayhem rolled over international borders and tourist hot spots. In Puerto Vallarta, tourists shot plumes of black smoke rising above the bay as gunmen engaged with police forces near the airport. Major airlines including Delta, Air Canada, and United canceled dozens of flights, leaving thousands of people in the region stranded. The U.S. Embassy has issued a nationwide "shelter-in-place" order for its staff, indicating that the situation is "extremely volatile" on the horizon as a likely internal succession war will unfold within CJNG.
Political Fallout and the Trump-Sheinbaum Response
The death of El Mencho is a monumental win for President Claudia Sheinbaum, and accomplished with huge intelligence support from the Trump administration. But because Mexican troops put too many bodies on this killing field, there will be many government pressures. President Trump took to social media to laud the "victory," at the same time that he urged Mexico to "step up" its efforts to contain the ensuing carnage.
With the Mexican military sending another 2,500 troops to Jalisco to reinforce the 7,000 already based there, security experts say that the 25 fallen soldiers are only the start. The "Billionaire Kingpin" may be in the past, a power vacuum that should elicit a "Hydra effect," in which separated CJNG cells fight over influence with increasingly grisly and public displays of brutality.
