Flames engulfed streets, filling the air with dark, heavy smoke as gas stations, storefronts, buses and cars burned across México following the death of a notorious Mexican warlord. 

On Feb. 22, 2026, the Mexican army killed Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho.” He was known for trafficking fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine to the U.S. and launching attacks against Mexican government officials.

The CJNG reacted violently to his death, setting cars on fire and blocking roadways in at least 20 states. People locked themselves inside their homes and schools were cancelled for a day. 

Tim Cole, a DePaul communications professor, was one of many tourists caught in the crossfire of retaliatory violence and stranded in Puerto Vallarta with his group.

“The fires and explosions just did not stop, and they were super close by coming from all directions,” Cole said. “It was very dramatic and we had no idea what was going to happen.”

Cole, who spends a weekend in resort town Puerto Vallarta every year with family and friends, experienced limited communication and lack of access to reliable information during the riots. A local waitress warned him and other tourists about the severity of the situation and advised them to stay inside.

“There was no police presence or first responders at all in the area. So things were just burning until they burned down completely,” he said.

The U.S. State Department urged American tourists to “shelter in place” due to “ongoing security operations and related road blockages and criminal activity” in Tamaulipas, Michoacán, Guerrero, Nuevo León and Jalisco, specifically including Puerto Vallarta.

Cole said although he was able to get behind closed doors, he was still on edge.

“There were rumors that they were going to target American tourists. I didn’t feel safe. We were safe, but it didn’t feel safe,” he said. “You would hear people in buildings nearby screaming and we weren’t sure what their situation was.”

As the chaos unfolded, the staff at his accommodation remained calm and reassuring, though Cole found it difficult not to notice the strain behind their composure.

“I felt so awful for them, watching the tears roll down their faces because they were concerned about their families and couldn’t get home,” Cole said. “The roads were all closed, and at least in our area, the cartel was in complete control for all day.”

More than 70 people, including 25 Mexican National Guard members and suspected cartel henchmen were killed during the operation and in the unrest that followed, according to security officials.

El Mencho carried a $15 million U.S. bounty, and the Trump administration designated CJNG as a foreign terrorist organization in February 2025. President Donald Trump has offered to send troops into México to fight drug trafficking on multiple occasions. 

Though President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo has rejected the proposals, she confirmed the U.S. provided the Mexican government with intelligence to assist in the operation and said that “coordination was going very well.”

Yoalli Rodríguez, a DePaul professor of Latin American and Latino Studies, said Sheinbaum Pardo cracked down on narco-trafficking even before pressure from Trump, reflecting a shift in policy from previous Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador. 

“This was a surprise for a lot of people because people thought that she was going to continue that line,” Rodríguez said. “Especially because from the past, we know that every time they have killed or have taken a narco-trafficker, it just becomes more violent.”

The violence surrounding El Menchos’ death is far from unprecedented. In 2019, an operation to capture Ovidio Guzmán López, son of the notorious Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, failed. While authorities initially took Guzmán López into custody, the unrest that followed prompted López Obrador to order his release. 

In 2023, Guzmán López was arrested again in México and extradited to Chicago, where he later pleaded guilty to drug trafficking, money laundering and firearms charges tied to his role in the Sinaloa cartel and is facing a possible life sentence. 

The Sinaloa cartel had ties to up to 80% of narcotics in Chicago under the family’s reign, as reported by NBC5. In the organization’s decline, El Mencho became the head of the Chicago illegal drug trade.

Rodríguez said that, although it is common for narco-leaders to get taken down, the situation reflects the power that cartels have over the country. They also noted El Mencho’s killing is significant because CJNG is an active cartel, as opposed to the Sinaloa cartel, which was “already on the way out.”

“It’s not like, because he was killed now, it’s gonna disappear, the cartel. The cartel is more like, ‘Now what’s gonna happen?’” Rodríguez said. “But what it did show after the narco-blockages and everything that happened is that this cartel is really powerful.”

Cole said he had no idea “how vast” the scope of CJNG was or when life in Puerto Vallarta would regain some sense of normalcy.

Amid the uncertainty, he said support from his DePaul colleagues went “above and beyond” his expectations, as they worked to find creative solutions to help him.

Alexandra Murphy, the dean of the College of Communications, said she used DePaul’s network of resources as soon as she found out he would have to stay in Puerto Vallarta through the lockdown. 

“When you have someone who’s part of your community, you make sure that you try to do what you can to help,” Murphy said. “I think that was more the kind of instinct and seeing if there are ways in which, through our network, we can try to work something out, to be able to help somebody out.”

Murphy said she immediately started reaching out to executive leadership, faculty, alum and other contacts to coordinate potential ways to bring Cole home or find a safe place for him to stay until the shelter in place advisory was lifted. She also made sure Cole’s classes were covered.

Other professors provided support from back in Chicago, offering to pet sit and even take Cole’s dog to a pre-scheduled veterinary appointment.

“I have never been more proud to be a part of the DePaul community. I’ve never been more proud of the level of support I got from my colleagues,” Cole said.

Cole has been teaching his classes remotely, and he and his group have made arrangements to return to Chicago this weekend as airlines resume flights out of Puerto Vallarta.

While he said the situation was scary, Cole plans to continue visiting the coastal town, and urges other people to do the same.

“It’s an absolutely beautiful place and the people, who depend on tourism for their livelihood, are amazing,” Cole said. “Everyone is amazingly friendly and it’s a really nice community that I want to continue supporting and giving back to.”

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