A large-scale security operation is underway in Tapalpa, Jalisco, amid intense clashes between Mexican soldiers and cartel gunmen, as violence spread across western Mexico following the killing of CJNG leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho.”
Cartel members blocked major highways in and out of Guadalajara, Mexico’s third-largest city, while vehicles were set ablaze and stores looted at multiple points across Jalisco and neighboring Michoacán and Guanajuato, all considered strongholds of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
Smoke was seen rising over major vacation spot Puerto Vallarta as armed groups established roadblocks and checkpoints.
Reports say that harsh violence is spreading to other Mexican states.
