The killing of drug lord Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes may look like a decisive victory in the war on drugs. But in Washington and Mexico City, it is also being viewed as something more strategic: a visible response to mounting U.S. pressure that has reshaped Mexico’s approach to the cartels.

The operation, carried out by Mexican forces with U.S. intelligence support, underscores deepening coordination between the two governments as fentanyl trafficking remains a central political and security issue in the United States.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas., told Fox News Digital he had personally warned Mexican officials last year that Washington expected stronger action. “In August of last year, I went down to Mexico. I took a trip to El Salvador, Panama and Mexico, and I met with senior officials in the Mexican government. The message I conveyed to them was that they needed to get serious about fighting the cartels to stop the drug trafficking into America and to stop the human trafficking into America. I told them that if they didn’t get serious, President Trump was going to.”

“This was before the Maduro raid,” Cruz added, “But the raid was not a surprise — it was clear the president was going to do what was necessary to keep America safe. I will say that Mexico has pivoted sharply, and this is a real manifestation of that. Thousands of Americans are alive today because Trump was re-elected and Republicans were put in charge of Congress. If we had kept the Democrats’ open-border policies in place, there would be thousands more Americans dead from murder, other violent crime and drug overdoses.”

Melissa Ford Maldonado, director of Western Hemisphere at the America First Policy Institute, told Fox News Digital the strike reflects a broader shift in incentives driven by Washington.

“U.S. pressure has absolutely shaped Mexico’s actions. Pressure is the only thing that compels the Mexican state to act,” Ford Maldonado said. “The Trump administration has been explicit in linking trade leverage and even the possibility of unilateral action to Mexico’s performance against the cartels, which has completely changed the incentive structure in Mexico City. When Washington demands visible results, Mexico is under pressure to produce something visible.”

She said the killing itself fits that dynamic. “The killing of El Mencho is an attempt to do that,” she said. “El Mencho was one of the most wanted men in the hemisphere, and Jalisco New Generation cartel is among the most violent and militarized cartels in Mexico. His death gives the Mexican government something concrete to point to — a high-value target — and claim they’re delivering. But these are only tactical wins, designed to relieve immediate pressure from Washington.”

DEATH TOLL RISES AFTER MEXICAN DRUG CARTEL LEADER KILLED IN US-BACKED OPERATION

A worker sorts freshly printed copies of the newspaper PM bearing the headline “U.S. mapped ‘El Mencho’ and Mexico delivered the final blow, Caught between two fires,” following the killing of the drug lord on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)

Ford Maldonado cautioned that high-profile takedowns have historically failed to produce lasting stability.

“The problem is that tactical wins are not the same thing as strategic change. Tactical wins aren’t enough anymore. If they were, the long list of past arrests and extraditions would have solved this already. I believe Washington is looking for something deeper now: the disruption of the ecosystem that allows cartel power to thrive. Mexico has a problem with corruption, territorial control and political protection, and they must address the political and financial networks that keep the cartels in power.”

Smoke billows from burning vehicles amid a wave of violence following a military operation in which “El Mencho,” was killed, in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Feb. 22, 2026. (Screen grab obtained from a social media video. @morelifediares via Instagram/Youtube/via Reuters)

She also pointed to internal Mexican political dynamics that may complicate the narrative.

In June 2020, Omar García Harfuch, then Mexico City’s chief of police, survived an assassination attempt widely attributed to El Mencho. García Harfuch is now Mexico’s secretary of security and citizen protection and oversaw the operation that killed the cartel leader.

“Therefore, there may be other motives involved,” Ford Maldonado said. “Jalisco New Generation cartel has been in a long-standing and very bloody rivalry with the Sinaloa cartel, which some say is the traditional cartel partner of the Morena regime. So, if the Mexican government goes after the rivals of a cartel it’s long been accused of tolerating or working alongside, that alone doesn’t prove it has truly broken with cartel-state collusion.”

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A wave of violence took place after the death of “El Mencho,” in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico, Feb. 22, 2026. (Screen grab obtained from a social media video. @morelifediares via Instagram/Youtube/via Reuters )

For now, she said, the killing is significant but not definitive.

“Unfortunately, history has shown that killing a cartel leader rarely produces lasting stability. It disrupts command and control temporarily,” she said. “Whether this is a real turning point depends on what comes next, specifically, whether enforcement moves beyond high-profile cartel leaders and begins to confront the political and financial networks that sustain them. Until then, this is significant, but it’s not transformative.”

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