Violence erupts in Mexico after army kills drug lord
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This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.
I'm Andrew Peach and in the early hours of Monday the 23rd of February these are our main stories. Violence has broken out across Mexico after the leader of one of the country's most feared drugs cartels was killed in a military operation. There's been a second day of protests at Iranian universities with crowds chanting death to the dictator. And a man who broke into President Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate carrying a shotgun and a fuel can has been shot dead. Also in this podcast, Ukraine's president tells BBC News that Russia has already started World War III. We have different views regarding a third world war. I believe that Putin has already started it. The question is how much territory he will be able to seize and how to stop him.
And the Winter Olympics have come to an end at a glittering ceremony in Verona. We start in Mexico, where a government military operation has led to the killing of a major drugs kingpin, leader of the feared new generation Calisco cartel. Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes was known by his nickname El Mencho, a drug lord so powerful the US authorities put a $15 million bounty on his head. Since his killing, the response from El Mencho's cartel has been swift and violent. In as many as eight different Mexican states, the group has set cars alight, built roadblocks and attacked security forces. Plumes of smoke have been filmed rising over several cities and many international flights have been cancelled. Our correspondent in Miami, Luis Fajardo, told me more about the drug's lord.
El Mencho was a very big figure in the crime world, both of Mexico and internationally. Friends and foes of Mexican President Claudio Sheinbaum have acknowledged that it is a very big deal for the authorities to have killed him on Sunday. He was the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which was seen as probably the most powerful or certainly one of the most powerful drug cartels in Mexico. A person who was compared to other major, major figures in the drug trafficking world. Particularly his organization was said to have a big role in sending fentanyl to the United States, which has replaced cocaine. as the drug of choice for many of these cartels obtaining fabulous amounts of wealth from smuggling drugs to the U.S.
El Mencho was 59. He had begun as a police officer. Then he had moved through the ranks of other criminal organizations until he organized the Jalisco New Generation cartel and rose to its top. So certainly a very big deal for Mexican authorities, taking a lot of credit for that today. And hoping that this is going to have some kind of an impact, particularly on the relations with the United States, where Donald Trump has been demanding more cooperation from Mexico in fighting these drug trafficking organizations.
That's interesting. I was going to ask you why now? And is it about trying to maintain good relations with Donald Trump?
That's what some commentators have been saying, particularly commentators who are critical of Scheinbaum. They say that this action was also possible. I mean, it certainly seems to assign a lot of credit to Mexican authorities, to Mexican law enforcement, who were the main drivers of this operation. But again, critics say that this was also the result of very strong pressure from the U.S., And particularly the underlying threat that the U.S. has been presenting, that they're saying that they have been suggesting in many occasions that they would take unilateral, even armed action against cartels if they perceived that the Mexican authorities were not cooperating enough. So according to these commentators, this has also helped convince the Sheinbaum administration to move apparently in a much more forceful way than had been the case in other years under other administrations in Mexico.
And why are we seeing people all over the country setting cars on fire, building roadblocks, all that kind of thing?
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