Killing of Mexican drug cartel boss ‘El Mencho’ triggers wave of violence (www.theguardian.com)
from MicroWave@lemmy.world to world@lemmy.world on 23 Feb 2026 16:09
https://lemmy.world/post/43491794

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.

#world

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Lemmyoutofhere@lemmy.ca on 23 Feb 2026 16:30 next collapse

Could the US be any more incompetent? Zero planning for repercussions, just kill kill kill.

Lasherz12@lemmy.world on 23 Feb 2026 16:41 next collapse

This was the Mexican army, not US

Lemmyoutofhere@lemmy.ca on 23 Feb 2026 16:43 next collapse

“The US has been pushing its southern neighbour to take more aggressive action”

Carmakazi@piefed.social on 23 Feb 2026 16:48 next collapse

Acting on US intelligence.

YurkshireLad@lemmy.ca on 23 Feb 2026 18:32 collapse

Coerced by Trump…

UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world on 23 Feb 2026 16:48 next collapse

Zero planning for repercussions

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.

LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 23 Feb 2026 17:12 next collapse

I was thinking it would be much sooner than that

Lemmyoutofhere@lemmy.ca on 23 Feb 2026 17:27 next collapse

Fair. Did not immediately think of other ways the US could abuse its power.

KneeTitts@lemmy.world on 23 Feb 2026 17:47 collapse

Vance will be back on TV in a week, arguing the US needs to intervene directly.

This was the plan all along

hector@lemmy.today on 23 Feb 2026 19:56 collapse

Vance is a clown, he’s got no juice, it’s the project 2025 people calling the shots.

masterspace@lemmy.ca on 23 Feb 2026 16:54 collapse

I mean, what’s your alternative competent plan for dealing with the cartels?

Eldritch@piefed.world on 23 Feb 2026 17:00 next collapse

Make peoples lived better, so most don’t want to escape them.

meco03211@lemmy.world on 23 Feb 2026 17:05 next collapse

But how does that benefit the shareholders?

Eldritch@piefed.world on 23 Feb 2026 17:07 collapse

They get to continue living. Pretty cushy don’t ya think.

green_red_black@slrpnk.net on 23 Feb 2026 18:07 collapse

Unless your idea of Cushy is the national razor that sound dumb.

Eldritch@piefed.world on 23 Feb 2026 18:26 collapse

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.

cygnus@lemmy.ca on 23 Feb 2026 17:42 next collapse

Do you think the Mexican government isn’t already trying to do that? They clearly don’t have the resources to pull it off.

Eldritch@piefed.world on 23 Feb 2026 17:53 collapse

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.

cygnus@lemmy.ca on 23 Feb 2026 18:33 collapse

Oh, in that case I agree completely - the root cause is demand in the US.

Eldritch@piefed.world on 23 Feb 2026 18:48 next collapse

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.

alonsohmtz@feddit.uk on 23 Feb 2026 20:10 collapse

the root cause is demand in the US.

The root cause is the War on Drugs.

Montagge@lemmy.zip on 23 Feb 2026 18:45 next collapse

The cartels aren’t going to allow that

Eldritch@piefed.world on 23 Feb 2026 18:54 collapse

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.

Montagge@lemmy.zip on 23 Feb 2026 18:58 collapse

I got ya! I misunderstood!

Eldritch@piefed.world on 23 Feb 2026 19:00 collapse

No worries, it was a sort of vague statement after all.

masterspace@lemmy.ca on 24 Feb 2026 07:43 collapse

Tha’ts more of a goal than a plan.

mufasio@lemmy.ml on 23 Feb 2026 17:10 next collapse

Legalize all drugs and dismantle the CIA

alonsohmtz@feddit.uk on 23 Feb 2026 20:11 next collapse

That would solve the issue, so we won’t do it.

masterspace@lemmy.ca on 24 Feb 2026 07:41 collapse

We should do this regardless

KneeTitts@lemmy.world on 23 Feb 2026 17:48 next collapse

I mean, what’s your alternative competent plan for dealing with the cartels?

Cut off demand, you’ll never kill every single drug dealer… its insane to think you can do it that way

hector@lemmy.today on 23 Feb 2026 19:56 collapse

Hugs not Drugs! /s

troyunrau@lemmy.ca on 23 Feb 2026 17:14 next collapse

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.

sakuraba@lemmy.ml on 23 Feb 2026 19:20 next collapse

The people are stuck, the politicians are doing great!

itslilith@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 24 Feb 2026 15:25 collapse

Only the powerful ones

globalnews.ca/…/mexico-mayor-carlos-alberto-manzo…

sakuraba@lemmy.ml on 24 Feb 2026 19:41 collapse

oh yeah, if you dare to fight back you will be killed regardless of your class

politicians, candidates, journalists, marine officials…

alonsohmtz@feddit.uk on 23 Feb 2026 20:08 collapse

Mexico is stuck between a rock and hard place here.

What? You don’t think Mexico can stop the cartels on their own?

Not_mikey@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 24 Feb 2026 03:12 next collapse

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.

Formfiller@lemmy.world on 24 Feb 2026 04:46 next collapse

Why didn’t we do this to the sacklers?

harrys_balzac@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 24 Feb 2026 16:43 collapse

They’re white and rich.

rizzothesmall@sh.itjust.works on 24 Feb 2026 17:12 collapse

Nice to see the CIA is still doing its job of preventing South American countries from becoming too stable or democratic.

phoenixz@lemmy.ca on 24 Feb 2026 18:13 collapse

And this wild conspiracy speculation is based on…?

To quote Wikipedia: <Citation required>

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.