Did A Civil War In Mexico Just Begin?

February 23, 2026

Selling illegal drugs to the United States is one of the central pillars of the Mexican economy. I understand that it isn’t a pleasant thing to think about, but it is true. The cartels that control the flow of drugs into the U.S. have become exceedingly powerful over the years. The cartels essentially run much of the country, and collectively they probably possess more military firepower than the Mexican government does. The good news for the Mexican government is that the cartels are not united. They have always spent a tremendous amount of time and energy fighting one another, but if something occurred that changed all that, it would certainly be a very ominous development.

Have we just witnessed such an event?
On Sunday, the death of El Mencho caused violence to erupt all over Mexico…
Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” was killed in Tapalpa, Jalisco, Mexico on Sunday, Feb. 22, as part of a Mexican military operation. Oseguera was seriously injured in the shootout and died during air transfer to Mexico City. Six other cartel members were killed and two were arrested, Mexico’s Ministry of National Defense announced. Three military members were also injured during the operation.
The operation set off a wave of civil unrest, with vehicles being torched and gunmen, believed to be supported of Oseguera, blocking highways in a more than a dozen states.

His death is not going to do much to disrupt the operation of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel because it is highly decentralized.

But it could potentially unite the cartels against a common enemy.
Without a doubt, the JNGC is going be seeking revenge, and there have been numerous reports of gunfire in and around Puerto Vallarta within the past 24 hours…
Videos circulating on social media show vehicles burning in Puerto Vallarta, Guadalajara and Tapalpa, which are all located in the state of Jalisco.
Armed thugs on motorcycles and the sounds of their gunfire have also been reported by residents of Puerto Vallarta. Videos of Mexican forces exchanging fire with cartel members have started popping up on X and Instagram.
Videos of chaos at Guadalajara International Airport in Jalisco have also been circulating, showing smoke rising from runways and people running in a panic. Other videos show people hiding inside the airport and laying on the ground.
Cartel members aren’t just setting vehicles on fire because they are angry.
It is a common tactic for cartel members to set vehicles on fire in order to slow down the movements of the Mexican military.

One American that was in Mexico at the time that all the chaos broke out had an interesting story about how he got back to the airport…
Johnson, who co-hosts a morning show on 104.9 The More in Spencer, Iowa, believes he was among the last travelers to catch a cab from his resort before they stopped taking passengers.
“The driver who took us did not brake at all. He drove on parts of the road that he shouldn’t have, and we were dodging, burning buses and burning taxi cabs, and he was clinching a rosary and kissed it a couple of times,” Johnson told USA TODAY.
Another U.S. tourist posted video footage of a Costco that was being engulfed by flames…
A San Diego tourist, James Stephens, posted chilling footage of a Costco store up in flames and revealed the whole city had been locked down.
He said: ‘Stuck in Puerto Vallarta as the cartel is attempting to take over the city. Entire city shut down. Can’t get out. Crazy right? We’re safe.’
So far, I have not seen any reports of any U.S. tourists have been killed, although U.S. Senator Bernie Moreno seems to think that the cartels are “hunting down American citizens”…
Bernie Moreno took to X on Monday to relay ‘troubling’ reports that narco-terrorists are ‘hunting down American citizens’ in Puerto Vallarta amid gangs clashing with authorities in the city.
‘The drug cartels should be aware that if any American citizen is harmed in Mexico there will be a violent and terminal retribution from the US. Any USMCA negotiations should cease until this situation is resolved,’ the senator added.

Yes, there are many Americans that are trapped in Mexico right now that are scared out of their minds.

One man actually called his mother in order to tell her where his will was…
An American couple on their first trip away from their four-year-old son have told their family members where their wills are hidden after becoming trapped in Mexico.
The unnamed individuals were on vacation in Puerto Vallarta when the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel was killed by the Mexican military on Sunday, prompting widespread violence across the region.
‘I had to call my mom today and, you know, just tell her, “Look, here’s where my will is. We just created this. I don’t want you to panic, but I may need you to stay a couple [of] days extra with my son”,’ the concerned father told Fox Digital.
As long as they stay out of the way, almost all of the tourists should be perfectly fine, because this fight is not about them.
A showdown between the large cartels and the central government in Mexico City has been coming for a long time.
And apparently the JNGC had already prepared an extensive plan in case something like this ever happened…



Will the other cartels join the JNGC in their fight against the Mexican government?
If so, we will want to watch how things develop very closely.
If the Mexican government were to fall and the cartels were to take over, it is probably inevitable that the U.S. would feel compelled to invade.
And then we would be at war with Mexico.
The JNGC is already quite upset with the Trump administration, because it turns out that the CIA was heavily involved in locating El Mencho…
The Central Intelligence Agency provided important intelligence on the location of Mexico’s most wanted cartel boss that led to an operation by Mexican special operation forces and his killing on Sunday, according to a U.S. official and others with knowledge of the operation.
The Mexican authorities said on Monday that they had found the cartel boss, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, the longtime leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel known as El Mencho, by tracking one of his romantic partners. They said they had first followed one of her close associates, who took the woman to a rendezvous with Mr. Oseguera at the cartel leader’s hide-out.
Will there be blowback from this?
One anonymous online account is warning that we will see “massive terrorism operations on U.S. soil”…



This is very serious.
I think that the “war on drugs” just went to an entirely new level, and the JNGC is willing to go all in.
Are the Mexican government and the U.S. government willing to say the same thing?
I believe that we will see a tremendous amount of drug-related violence in the days ahead, and that is not good news for any of us.
Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

Did A Civil War In Mexico Just Begin?