Soldiers keep up clash with cartel gunmen a day after Mexico's military
killed top drug lord
[February 24, 2026]
By MEGAN JANETSKY and MARÍA VERZA
TAPALPA, Mexico (AP) — A day after the Mexican army killed the country's
most powerful drug lord, the picturesque town where it happened was a
study in contrasts.
Children whose classes had been suspended by the outbreak of violence
played in cobblestone streets and tourist shops were open on Tapalpa's
main plaza Monday. But gunshots also rang out, and just outside the town
a dead man lay on the road next to a Jeep sprayed with bullets.
Meanwhile, heavily armed Mexican security forces kept up their battle
with cartel gunmen following the killing that sparked a surge in
violence and put the country on edge. Cartel fighters continued to block
roads as smoke rose on the outskirts of the town in the state of
Jalisco.
More than 70 people died in the attempt to capture Nemesio Oseguera
Cervantes and the aftermath, authorities said Monday. Known 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.
Fast-growing cartel
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.
The capo died after a shootout with the Mexican military on Sunday.
Mexican Defense Secretary Gen. Ricardo Trevilla said Monday that
authorities had tracked 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.
Mexican authorities reported that 25 members of the Mexican National
Guard were killed in six separate attacks, while some 30 criminal
suspects were killed in Jalisco, and four others in the neighboring
state of Michoacan. Also killed were a prison guard and an agent from
the state prosecutor’s office.
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.
Violence surges in Jalisco
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.
As the threat of more violence loomed, several Mexican states canceled
school Monday, while local and foreign governments warned their citizens
to stay inside.
Steve Perkins, 57, had been visiting Puerto Vallarta with his wife and
friends. The couple was scheduled to return to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma,
on Monday when their flight was canceled.
Perkins said he and his wife were having coffee on the terrace of their
hotel room in downtown when they heard rounds of explosions and
gunshots, and saw smoke billowing over the city around 8:30 a.m.
“The entire downtown in the bay was just covered in thick black smoke,
pretty scary,” Perkins said. “And then at one point, we heard screams.
We heard a lot of screams … So then we started getting really worried.”
Perkins and his wife traded out their flip-flops for running shoes in
case “we needed to make a run for it.”
“My wife called our kids to tell them goodbye if we were never gonna see
them again," Perkins said.
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Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum gives her the daily, morning
news conference at the National Palace in Mexico City, Monday, Feb.
23, 2026, the day after the Mexican army killed Jalisco New
Generation Cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as "El
Mencho." (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)
The U.S. Embassy said via X that its personnel in eight cities and
in the state of Michoacan would shelter in place and work remotely
Monday. It warned U.S. citizens in many parts of Mexico to do the
same.
Many fear what comes next
In Guadalajara, the state capital, some ventured out into the
streets to work and buy supplies, a notable change from Sunday, when
Mexico's second-largest city was almost completely shut down as
fearful residents stayed home.
More than 1,000 people were stuck overnight in Guadalajara’s zoo,
where they slept in buses. Families were left stranded, unable to
return home to nearby states like Zacatecas and Michoacan, said Luis
Soto Rendón, the zoo’s director.
“We decided to let people stay inside the zoo for their safety,”
Soto said. “We have everyone from small children to senior
citizens.”
José Luis Ramírez, a 54-year-old therapist, was in a long line of
people waiting outside a pharmacy, one of the few businesses that
were open Monday in Guadalajara. Families were buying food,
medicine, water, diapers and baby formula, from pharmacists through
a chained door.
It was Ramírez’s first time leaving the house since the violence
erupted.
“We have to not think scared, but be cool-headed, like they say, and
take things as they come,” he said.
Those who had to work carefully made their way across the city.
Irma Hernández, a 43-year-old hotel security guard in Guadalajara,
normally takes public transportation to her job, but buses were not
running, and she had no way to cross the city. Her bosses organized
a private car to pick her up. Her family, she said, was staying at
home, too scared to leave.
“I am worried because I don't know how to get home if something
happens,” she said.
Trump has pressed Mexico to fight fentanyl
U.S. President Donald Trump has demanded Mexico do more to fight the
smuggling of fentanyl, threatening to impose more tariffs or take
unilateral military action if the country does not show results.
The U.S. State Department had offered a reward of up to $15 million
for information leading to the arrest of El Mencho. The Jalisco New
Generation Cartel began operating around 2009.
In February 2025, the Trump administration designated the cartel as
a foreign terrorist organization. It has been one of the most
aggressive cartels in its attacks on the military — including on
helicopters — and is a pioneer in launching explosives from drones
and installing mines.
At a blockade Monday on the outskirts of Tapalpa, 25-year-old Joel
Ramírez and two friends were waiting for soldiers to clear a
blockade of tree limbs. He hauls things in his pickup for a living
and had not been able to get home since Sunday's violence.
“Everything seems calmer, but we were almost there and got stuck,”
he said. “We're scared.”
___
Verza reported from Mexico City. Associated Press writers Fabiola
Sánchez in Mexico City and Juan Lozano in Houston also contributed
to this report.
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