Gunfight in Jalisco

Yesterday, Mexican Army special forces engaged in a gunfight during an attempt to apprehend the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, “El Mencho.” During that gunfight, four cartel members died at the scene, and three, including El Mencho, died en route as they were being medevaced to Mexico City. Rocket launchers, armored vehicles and other weaponry was seized by the Army, who had three soldiers seriously injured and flown to Mexico City.

Members of the National Guard, which is a federal paramilitary police force, not an army reserve, were reportedly killed in the operation and in an operation in Zapopan, which is a western suburb of Guadalajara.

The operation occurred in Tapalpa, Jalisco, circled on the map below.

When word got out that El Mencho had been killed, cartel members burned vehicles in the roads of Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-largest city. The Puerto Vallarta airport was closed, and a Costco there was reportedly set on fire. Malls in Guadalajara were also reportedly closed. (There is a mall as nice as any in the US, and very large, on the edge of Guadalajara. There’s also a massive downtown market. I think both are closed.) Residents have been told to shelter in place, and some people we know in the area are staying inside.

President Claudia Sheinbaum has called for calm and has delegated updates to the Security Cabinet. This is the guy in charge of that:

His name is Omar Gabriel Harfuch. Mexicans call him “Batman”. He was Claudia’s Secretary of Citizen Security in Mexico City, and she appointed him as Secretary of Security and Civilian Protection for the country when she became President. He survived an assassination attempt in Mexico City in 2020, where he was wounded and two of his guards as well as a bystander were killed.

Harfuch’s Xitter feed is full of stories of apprehension of cartel members, and seizures of drugs. Under Claudia’s leadership, the Mexican government has increased the pressure on cartels. But, as yesterday showed, and as we’ll probably see in days to come, the cartels will fight back, and that means death.

Claudia was up north near Saltillo this weekend, doing what she always does — in this case, breaking ground on a new hospital, opening public housing and inspecting the construction of a new train. The peaceful way to end cartels in Mexico is to give people alternatives to the joining cartels. We’ll see if events overtake her efforts.