Staff Reports
Mexico’s security forces confirmed on February 22, 2026 that Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, the murderous head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, was fatally wounded during a military operation in Tapalpa, Jalisco — a long-awaited takedown of one of the most dangerous narco-terror bosses in the hemisphere. This is the kind of hard result Americans have been demanding for years, and it underscores why decisive action — not excuses — is required to break the cartels’ stranglehold.
The immediate aftermath was brutal and predictable: cartel gunmen launched a wave of retaliatory attacks that set fire to vehicles, blocked highways and shut down airports and cities across large swathes of the country. Scenes of arson and chaos are not sensationalism; they are the tactical playbook of criminal cartels that answer only to violence when their leaders fall.
American citizens and tourists were put on formal shelter-in-place alerts across multiple Mexican states as the violence unfolded, with the U.S. Embassy warning people to avoid travel, stay indoors and follow local authorities’ instructions. Those warnings should be a wake-up call to every policymaker who has pretended border and cartel threats are someone else’s problem.
Reports of casualties and arrests are still coming in, with early tallies showing dozens dead and many more wounded as security forces and cartel fighters clashed in pitched battles. The human cost of cartel power isn’t an abstract statistic — it’s families, travelers and service members paying with their lives, and every loss proves the failure of soft approaches that coddle criminals.
It is also clear that U.S. intelligence support played a role in tracking El Mencho, and President Trump’s persistent pressure on Mexico to confront narco-violence set the stage for a tougher response from Mexico’s security forces. If the White House is willing to back operations that disrupt cartel command structures and protect Americans, patriots should applaud increased cooperation and demand even bolder use of our tools.
To the coastal vacationers, small-business owners and everyday travelers suddenly stuck in harm’s way: this moment exposes the consequences of decades of failed policies that have allowed cartels to metastasize. Liberal commentators who spend their time lecturing about borders and enforcement owe the public an honest reassessment instead of smears — and Congress should stop the theater and fund real solutions now.
We should support Mexico’s brave operators who risk their lives to take down kingpins, but America cannot outsource its security or its resolve. Protecting the homeland means securing the border, cutting cartel finances, and using intelligence and force where necessary to stop the fentanyl and murder that flow across our frontier; anything less is betrayal of the American people.
