Mexico has been thrown into a state of chaos and palpable tension as soldiers kill Mexico’s most wanted drug kingpin and cartel leader, Nemesio Oseguera, popularly known as El Mencho, on Sunday, February 22.

Following the development, there was no immediate confirmation from the government of El Mencho’s death, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, who had a $15 million bounty on his head.

Oseguera is renowned as the biggest drug suspect to be taken down since the capture of the founders of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquin Guzman ‘El Chapo’ and Ismael Zambada.

New Telegraph reports that both of them are serving jail time in the United States.

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Oseguera, whose nickname was “El Mencho,” was reported killed according to Mexican newspapers El Universal and Reforma, and by the Televisa network.

Also, as a form of reprisal for the killing, members of his cartel armed with guns, he set cars and trucks on fire in the western state of Jalisco, blocking several roads in response to a security operation taking place in the region.

This technique is used to thwart police trying to move in on a high-value target.

The violence spread to the neighbouring state of Michoacan, where Oseguera’s cartel also has a presence.
His cartel was formed in 2009 and became one of Mexico’s most violent drug trafficking organisations, according to the US Justice Department.

US officials formally proscribed it as a terrorist organisation and accuse the cartel of sending cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl from Mexico across the border into the United States.