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Mexican security forces say they killed Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, the brutal leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, and the cartel’s response ripped through resort towns like Puerto Vallarta as revenge. Vacationers awoke to burning roadblocks, explosions, and gunfire as authorities scrambled to regain control and U.S. diplomats warned Americans to shelter in place.
Scenes from the streets were chilling: buses and cars torched, highways paralyzed, and tourists trapped in hotels while smoke filled the skyline. Flights and cruise calls were disrupted as airlines and operators scrambled to keep passengers safe and get people home. The chaotic footage and eyewitness accounts should make any patriot furious that our citizens were exposed to that level of lawlessness while on holiday.
Make no mistake — this is not just a Mexican problem, it’s a failure of law and order that stretches across borders. The CJNG has been one of the most dangerous cartels for years, and its violent retaliation after El Mencho’s death shows why designations and lip service aren’t enough. If governments on both sides of the border won’t get serious about dismantling these networks and the corrupt systems that protect them, Americans will keep paying with fear and bodies.
The State Department’s shelter-in-place alerts and the harrowing reports from families stranded in resorts expose the hollow reality of current policy — warnings after the fact do not prevent carnage. While Mexican forces executed a takedown, the predictable cartel backlash revealed how thin the veneer of “safety” can be in tourist hotspots when criminal enterprises feel cornered. Our response should be to harden deterrence, not wring palms and chalk it up to geopolitics.
This violence will have a real economic cost: canceled flights, rerouted cruises, shuttered businesses, and a long shadow over communities that rely on American travelers. Officials must stop pretending that clumsy travel advisories and reactive evacuations are an adequate substitute for robust, coordinated action to protect citizens and commerce. The time for lectures is over; the time for results is now.
Washington must stop offering moralizing speeches and start delivering measurable pressure — targeted sanctions, expedited bilateral law‑enforcement cooperation, and real consequences for officials who enable cartel safe havens. Congress and the administration owe it to every hardworking American who dreams of a safe vacation to treat cartel violence like the transnational security threat it is and act like patriots, not bystanders.
