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At the time of recording this report — Sunday afternoon — only hours have passed since a major Mexican military operation in Jalisco led to the capture and death of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” the leader of the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG).

Washington had placed a $15 million bounty on his head. But as vehicles burned and roads were blocked in the aftermath, the question remains: what now?

Speaking from Mexico, Libre Média editor-in-chief Jérôme Blanchet-Gravel described the operation as both historic and politically revealing.

“With Trump, we can assume there will be other operations of this kind,” he said. “That said… this is already quite an achievement.”

Blanchet-Gravel pointed to Mexico’s political context. Since 2018, MORENA (Movimiento de Regeneración Nacional) governments have embraced what he called “‘abrazos, no balazos’ — ‘hugs, not bullets.’ It has essentially been a policy of non-intervention in the war against the cartels… and it has not worked. Unfortunately.”

He argued the turning point was U.S. pressure. “It was nonetheless a success of the Trump administration to have pressured… first López Obrador and now Ms. Sheinbaum into finally intervening with the necessary force. So once again, this is still Donald Trump’s shadow.”

Without Trump’s pressure? “No, I don’t think this would have been possible — at least not on this scale.”

Yet he cautioned against triumphalism. “With the cartels — you cut off one head and eight more appear, unfortunately. So this is not the end of drug trafficking.”

He also underscored the paradox: “Mexican cartels are armed with American weapons… So for Americans, it’s not entirely coherent.”

Ultimately, Blanchet-Gravel said, narco-trafficking is “an economy in its own right,” sustained by corruption, U.S. demand, and geographic reality.

“This is not the end,” he concluded, “but perhaps there will be a reconfiguration” — one that could shift the balance, at least temporarily, in favour of security on both sides of the border.