Burnt vehicles block road outside Jalisco capital after Mexican cartel leader’s killing

Описание: (24 Feb 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Guadalajara, Mexico - 23 February 2026
1. Various of charred vehicles, traffic driving past
2. Various of burning vehicle ++SPLIT SCREEN++
3. Traffic driving by charred vehicles
4. Various of charred vehicle ++SPLIT SCREEN++
5. Zoom out from truck on fire to charred vehicle
6. Various of charred vehicles, vehicles driving past
STORYLINE:
Rows of burnt-out trucks, buses and cars blocked roads outside the capital of Mexico’s Jalisco state on Monday, a day after the Mexican army killed the country's most powerful drug lord.

More than 70 people died in the attempt to capture Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes and the aftermath, authorities said Monday.

Known as as “El Mencho,” he was the notorious leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of the most powerful criminal organizations in Mexico.

The body count taken by security officials included security forces, suspected cartel members and others.

Officials did not offer details, and the circumstances of most of the deaths were unclear.

Oseguera Cervantes was the boss of one of the fastest-growing criminal networks in Mexico, known for trafficking fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine to the United States and staging brazen attacks against Mexican government officials.

The organization responded to his death with widespread violence, including erecting more than 250 roadblocks across 20 states and setting fire to vehicles.

Oseguera Cervantes died after a shootout with the Mexican military.

Mexican Defense Secretary Ricardo Trevilla said Monday that authorities had followed one of his romantic partners to his hideout in Tapalpa.

The cartel leader and two bodyguards fled into a wooded area where they were seriously wounded in a firefight. They were taken into custody and died on the way to Mexico City, Trevilla said.

In a different location in Jalisco, soldiers killed another high-ranking cartel member who Trevilla said was coordinating violence and offering more than $1,000 for every soldier killed.

The dead included 25 members of the Mexican National Guard who were killed in six separate attacks, Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch said.

Harfuch said some 30 criminal suspects were killed in Jalisco, and four others were killed in the neighboring state of Michoacan.

Also killed were a prison guard and an agent from the state prosecutor’s office.

As the threat of more violence loomed, several Mexican states canceled school Monday, while local and foreign governments warned their citizens to stay inside.

The White House confirmed that the U.S. provided intelligence support to the operation to capture the cartel leader and applauded Mexico's army for taking down a man who was one of the most wanted criminals in both countries.

Mexico hoped the death of the world's biggest fentanyl traffickers would ease Trump administration pressure to do more against the cartels, but many people were anxious as they waited to see the powerful cartel's reaction.

AP video shot by: Alexis Triboulard

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