Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s brave fight against narcoterrorism

When Mexican forces killed Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes — known as “El Mencho,” the longtime head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel — the retaliation by one of the most violent criminal organizations in the Western Hemisphere was immediate and brutal.

Gunfire erupted in crowded streets. Highways were blocked with burning vehicles. Armed convoys menaced neighborhoods. Entire cities shut down as cartel gunmen sought to reassert their reach. In the first 24 hours alone, dozens of Mexican National Guard members were killed in coordinated counterattacks — a stark reminder that this cartel operates not as a street gang, but as a heavily armed insurgent enterprise.

Mexico’s operation against Jalisco New Generation is part of a truly courageous and successful campaign by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum since taking office: direct action against cartel leadership combined with expanded cooperation with the U.S.

To be clear, this was not a unilateral strike carried out in isolation. Targeting cartel leadership was undertaken in close partnership with U.S. authorities, relying on shared intelligence, coordinated targeting, and operational synchronization. The campaign underscores a maturing bilateral security relationship to counter a common threat.

Her administration has also accelerated extraditions of senior cartel figures to U.S. courts — a consequential step that disrupts command structures and removes high-level operators from Mexican territory. These extraditions are politically sensitive, diplomatically complex, and life-threatening to Sheinbaum personally. She has proceeded anyway.

Last month, after Mexican authorities helped arrest a major trafficker on the U.S. most wanted list, FBI Director Kash Patel traveled to Mexico, underscoring an increasingly operational partnership.........

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