Soldiers, Cartels Continue Mexico Clash02/24 06:12

   

   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.

   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 Rendn, 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."

   Jos Luis Ramrez, 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 Ramrez'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 Hernndez, 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 Ramrez 
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."