Cartel Violence Erupts in Mexico

March 2, 2026

On February 22, Mexican security forces killed Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho.” He was the leader of Jalisco New Generation, one of the largest and most brutal cartels in Mexico.

The cartel responded by launching a wave of violence. They set up roadblocks, burned cars and trucks, and set some businesses on fire. More than 50 people were killed, including at least 25 National Guard troops.

A lot of workers were scared by all this. But at the same time, many workers are tired of the cartels and the problems they create every day.

Cartels like Jalisco New Generation control whole regions of Mexico. They extort money from businesses large and small, and kidnap people for ransom. In some places they even tax the peasants, forcing them to pay for each kilo of corn, each cow or pig they sell. They also employ many workers themselves, paying very low wages to people growing drugs or other crops like limes and avocados. Of course, they also sell drugs to the population in Mexico, move them to the United States and other countries, and smuggle people across borders for a high price.

The cartels use extreme violence to enforce their rule—the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations estimated they have murdered between 350,000 and 400,000 people in the last 20 years.

Despite all these deaths, the cartels continue to find plenty of new recruits among the millions of young Mexicans who can’t find a steady job. For a young person from a working-class or poor family in Mexico, there are only three options—join the army, try to get to the U.S., or join a cartel. The cartels even put out job ads like any other business, offering high wages, no skills required, training done by the boss—though once you join, it’s almost impossible to quit.

People are afraid to denounce the cartels to the police because the cops are often working for them. Arrested cartel bosses are released the next day or sent to luxury prisons with emergency exits where they can simply walk out when they choose. Just a few months ago, when a mayor in Michoacan tried to arrest some corrupt politicians linked to the cartels, he was murdered in broad daylight.

The Mexican state apparatus is integrated with the cartels—and behind it is the U.S. state apparatus. When it can use them, the U.S. has directly helped the Mexican cartels grow, such as during its dirty wars in Central America in the 1980s. At other times, the U.S. and Mexican states have moved against one or another cartel. But neither the Mexican nor the U.S. state has ever systematically attempted to root the cartels out.

Neither the U.S. nor the Mexican capitalist class has a real interest in taking out the cartels—after all, they are linked with “legitimate” businesses, including U.S. businesses. The fruit they grow is sold by U.S. supermarkets. The money they make is laundered through U.S. banks or cryptocurrency schemes. The weapons they use come almost exclusively from U.S. manufacturers. And the violence they inflict helps keep under control the entire Mexican working class, to the benefit of the Mexican and U.S. corporations that employ Mexican workers for low wages.

Under pressure to show they are doing something, the Mexican government killed one cartel boss. But no one can believe that this will put any kind of dent in these massive criminal organizations.

In the end, the cartels are a product of the domination of Mexico by U.S. companies that suck out so much of the wealth created by the Mexican working class. The desperation this has created for so many young people in Mexico feeds the cartels, which are businesses like the rest, organized to make profit however they can.

To really take them on, it will be necessary to take on this capitalist system that has produced them.