What Is Happening In Mexico: Matches Postponed and Security Questions After Cartel Leader’s Death
what is happening in mexico: Four high-level soccer matches were postponed Sunday after the Mexican army killed the leader of a powerful drug cartel in a town close to the World Cup host city of Guadalajara. The disruption rippled across sport and transport as authorities and organizers weighed security ahead of major fixtures.
What Is Happening In Mexico: league schedule upended after army operation
In Mexico City and beyond, organizers called off four high-level soccer matches Sunday after the Mexican army killed the cartel leader in a town near Guadalajara. Two top-tier games were postponed: Queretaro vs. Juarez FC in the men's tournament and Chivas vs. America in the women's league. Organizers also canceled two second-division matches, leaving the domestic calendar in disarray while local authorities respond to unrest.
Details of the operation that wounded and killed El Mencho
The man killed was identified as Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, nicknamed El Mencho, who led the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación. He was wounded in Tapalpa, Jalisco, about a two-hour drive southwest of Guadalajara, and he died while being flown to Mexico City. The army operation that produced those injuries and his death prompted immediate reactions across multiple states.
Cartel backlash: burned cars and blocked roads in nearly a dozen states
Following his death, cartel members burned cars and blocked roads in nearly a dozen Mexican states, creating security challenges for local authorities and travelers. The Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación is considered the most powerful in Mexico, with an estimated 19, 000 members and operations spanning 21 of the 32 states. It has been designated a foreign terrorist organization by the Trump administration, a classification that shapes how officials describe the group.
World Cup venues and playoffs draw fresh scrutiny
Jalisco's capital, Guadalajara, is scheduled to host four games in the World Cup in June, including two involving South Korea. Co-host Mexico, Spain, Uruguay and Colombia will also play there. The inter-confederation playoff for two of the remaining six World Cup spots is set to be played in Guadalajara and Monterrey in March, and world soccer's governing body requested a status report on security from the Mexican federation on Monday ahead of the games.
National team friendly and Mexican Open to proceed as scheduled
Questions about what is happening in mexico extend to other events on the calendar. Mexico's national team has a friendly against Iceland scheduled for Wednesday at the Corregidora stadium in Queretaro; the Mexican soccer federation has not made any public moves to postpone it, and the team was training as planned on Monday ahead of the game. The Mexican Open, an ATP tennis tournament, will begin Monday at the GNP Arena in Acapulco, Guerrero, and organizers issued a statement Sunday saying that "the tournament's operation continues as normal. "
