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Trump got the cartel war he wanted — but Mexico can’t win it alone

The killing of cartel boss Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera by Mexican special forces a week ago is the biggest blow to organized crime in Mexico in years.

The danger is that Washington takes the wrong lesson: That Mexico can handle the cartels on its own, if only it musters the political will.

It can’t. Not without serious American help.

President Claudia Sheinbaum had already broken from her predecessor’s passive approach, which had allowed the cartels to become far too powerful.

She ramped up fentanyl seizures and handed cartel members to the United States.

But going after the kingpin of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Mexico’s most dangerous criminal organization, was a different order of magnitude.

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President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to order unilateral strikes on Mexican cartels were likely a deciding factor; the Mexican government had recently come to believe a US incursion was likely.

Whatever mix of conviction and calculation drove Sheinbaum’s decision, the costs are falling squarely on Mexico.

Within hours, CJNG demonstrated its reach, burning trucks and buildings across 20 states and killing 25 National Guard members.

The longer-term costs — a succession war inside the cartel, rival groups grabbing territory, months of........

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