On February 22nd, troops from the Mexican Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA), the government organization responsible for managing the army and Air Force and reporting directly to the country’s President, targeted Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes for arrest. The target, better known as El Mencho, the 59 year old drug lord and leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
Upon arriving at the scene in the town of Tapalpa in the western state of Jalisco the soldiers came under fire from CJNG gunmen resulting in a gunfight between the two groups. The soldiers killed 4 cartel gunmen during the course of the operation as well as the target himself, El Mencho. The cartel leader died along with one gunman as they were being transported via aircraft for medical attention.During the raid three soldiers were injured.
The raid itself set off a series of violent clashes across Jalisco as the cartel learned of the death of their leader. Cartel members set fire to buses and blocked roads and clashed with the police. There are some signs that the violence spread across multiple states although right now the situation is still somewhat localized to the Jalisco area.
US tourists are advised to shelter in place as the authorities attempt to regain control however right now things are still pretty rough. Video evidence has been circulated of multiple incidents showing the Mexican Guardia Nacional being ambushed by cartels in drive-by shootings and ambushes.
This operation was a joint effort between the US and Mexico with the U.S. providing intelligence assistance for the operation. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo has shown a reluctance to target decapitation style operations on the cartels saying she believed taking out the leaders of the various cartels would just cause the groups to fracture, causing more issues down the line as more groups rise from the ashes. It’s likely that recent pressure from the United States and President Donold Trump to address the issue of drugs flowing into the US. CJNG is cited as being one of the main sources of fentanyl coming into the U.S.
This is the first article since redesigning some of the website. Please let me know if you have any issues. For now old articles aren’t going to have images on the Home Screen until I go through and correct an error but it will take a while because I have to go through all of them one by one, the new articles however will be fine and you also won’t have to scroll through full articles just to read one you missed like it used to do. The Home Screen now correctly displays the most recent post with an excerpt, as well as the most recent 5-6 articles before that, shown on the sidebar. From there, at the bottom it shows related post.
I’ll also be implementing an archive where all my old post can be easily searched as well as a corrections screen to list any mistakes over time however those are still a work in progress. I’m also revamping my about me page and the contact page just to liven things up a bit.
Global Conflict Reporting 
Leave a comment