Mexican authorities killed the leader of one of the country’s biggest cartels, answering US calls for tougher action against organised crime and setting off a wave of retaliatory violence.
Nemesio Oseguera, known as “El Mencho”, the head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, died on Sunday in an operation by Mexican security forces in co-ordination with US authorities in Tapalpa, Jalisco state, Mexico’s defence ministry said.
Oseguera, 59, turned the CJNG into one of Mexico’s two most powerful crime groups, alongside the Sinaloa Cartel, expanding its reach across most of the country and taking a lead role in trafficking drugs including fentanyl to the US.
Cartel members responded by unleashing a wave of violence, including roadblocks, car burnings and attacks on businesses across Jalisco state following news of Oseguera’s death.
