MEXICO CITY, Feb 23 (Reuters) - A tip about drug lord Nemesio Oseguera’s romantic liaisons led Mexican authorities to the cartel leader’s hideout in a small town of Jalisco state where he was killed, Mexican authorities said on Monday in the first account of the ambush that spawned violence across much of Mexico.
At least 62 people died in the early Sunday raid on Oseguera, known as “El Mencho,” and in ensuing violence - including 25 members of the National Guard military police and 34 suspected gang members - as cartel loyalists set cars ablaze in 85 roadblocks in more than a dozen states, authorities said.
President Claudia Sheinbaum early on Monday said the situation was normalizing and roadblocks were under control.
Still, Mexico beefed up security in Jalisco, the stronghold of Oseguera’s infamous Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), with the deployment of 2,000 troops, and Mexicans as well as tourists in the state’s famed coastal towns fretted over the quick spread of violence to far corners of Mexico.
Oseguera’s death is a blow to the CJNG, a highly diversified criminal enterprise, and a victory for Mexico’s government after pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to crack down on the cartels. Yet the victory could lead to further violence in a country already grappling with years of killings and disappearances at the hands of organized crime.
