BY JOE ARCE
Over the past weekend the U.S. State Department released a security alert advising American citizens in several Mexican states, including Jalisco, Tamaulipas, Michoacan, Guerrero and Nuevo Leon, to take shelter until further notice.
Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion's leader Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes (El Mencho) was killed in the attack in the state of Jalisco, according to Mexico’s Ministry of Defense. They also said he was wounded during the raid in the town of Tapalpa and died while being flown to a hospital in Guadalajara. So, they decided to go to Morelia's airport and fly to Mexico City instead.”
Military troops killed others during the attack. The killing of El Mencho who was a well-known drug lord caused several hours of roadblocks and set fires to vehicles and to other properties in parts of the state of Jalisco. Former Kansas City resident Sergio Acosta and owner of The Gusto Lounge in Puerto Vallarta told Hispanic News via phone call, “I was concerned but I didn’t fear for my life. My wife was a little more scared than me. We could see some fires from our house, there were also buses, vehicles and a gas station that had been on fire near my business.” Acosta added that some of the area businesses were not damaged including his. “While others did sustain some damage like Costco. We were lucky we didn’t lose power or anything like that.” Acosta said he would reopen his lounge as soon as possible.
Ofelia G. Acosta who lives here in the metro told Hispanic News, “As soon as I learned what was happening in Puerto Vallarta, I got very scared for my son Sergio and his wife. The only information I had at the time was that an arrest was being made of a former cop and it turned out to be El Mencho. Anytime Puerto Vallarta is on the map, whether it’s a hurricane or anything else, I’m going to worry as a mother. I talked to my son Sergio later that day and he told me, ‘We are all good, but we are all on locked down and no businesses are open for anyone and everything is shut down.’”
Hispanic News spoke with a resident in Guadalajara, Mexico who asked that we not give her name. She told us that, “the city had been impacted by EL Mencho’s killing. We learned on social media about some vehicles and buildings were set on fire on different parts of the state of Jalisco and some parts of her city of Guadalajara.
“This has happened before but not like this. There were a lot of fake news, so we were trying to get the most accurate information. We had our food stand open and everything was normal up to about noon last Sunday, then the government asked the civilians to stay home and avoid going out if it was not necessary.
We suddenly closed our food stand because the rumors started to spread that some hitmen were at the flea market a few blocks away. We did not want to take a chance. Most of the malls were closed, markets, some churches did not have evening masses and massive events were canceled. And some schools were closed on Monday. Students were told to go on line for their studies.”
Hispanic News asked this person, if she felt safe after Guadalajara city officials asked residents to stay home due to the killing of the El Mencho. “There is a tense calm around, not many people on the streets. Some stores and supermarkets are open. We waited for updated information alerting us that it was safe before we ventured out once again,” said the resident.
