Foreign Ministry urges Israelis in Mexico to exercise caution after powerful drug lord killed

The Foreign Ministry warns Israelis in Mexico to limit non-essential travel and avoid crowded areas in parts of the country after the Mexican army killed the leader of the country’s most powerful drug cartel, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

Urging Israelis to exercise “extreme caution” amid the heightened security situation, the Foreign Ministry recommends avoiding the areas around the airports in Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta, and avoiding non-essential travel across the state of Jalisco, where the cartel is based.

It instructs Israelis to be aware of any flight cancellations or changes due to unrest sparked by the killing of cartel leader Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, or “El Mencho,” and to follow instructions issued by local authorities.

The killing of Oseguera Cervantes has thrust swaths of Mexico into chaos, as the drug lord was the Mexican government’s biggest prize yet to show the Trump administration in its efforts to crack down on the cartels, and his death was met with a forceful reaction from the cartel, known by its Spanish initials CJNG.

Cars burned out by cartel members blocked roads in nearly a dozen Mexican states and left smoke billowing into the air. Jalisco’s capital, Guadalajara, was turned into a ghost town Sunday night as civilians hunkered down. School was canceled Monday in several states.