The warning was delivered two days after the Mexican government killed a top cartel leader, Nemesio ‘El Mencho’ Oseguera Cervantes.
By Catholics for Catholics
Cartel thugs, beware! Don’t even think of touching a U.S. citizen!
The White House warned Mexican drug cartels not to even consider targeting American tourists in Mexico, a country now in the midst of a wave of organized crime violence. U.S. authorities revealed that they provided intelligence that helped kill Nemesio, Oseguera Cervantes, the top drug lord in the world, according to a story by The Epoch Times.
During a program with “Fox & Friends,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt sent a stern message to the cartels, saying that they should “know not to lay a finger on a single American or they will pay severe consequences under this president, and they already are.”
The operation to kill El Mencho, as Cervantes was known, Leavitt added, was supported by U.S. intelligence provided to the Mexican government. The U.S. Embassy cautioned American citizens to shelter in place across several cities and states.
“We encourage all Americans in Mexico to, of course, adhere to the guidance provided by the State Department. Right now, we are unaware of any reports of any Americans being hurt, kidnapped, or killed,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told “Fox & Friends” in an interview on Tuesday morning.
In the meantime, the State Department is also trying to communicate with Americans who are in Mexico and are “taking hundreds of calls per day” to provide travel-related support, she said.
.@PressSec: "We encourage all Americans in Mexico to of course adhere to the guidance provided by the @StateDept… and the Mexican drug cartels know not to lay a finger on a single American or they will pay severe consequences under this @POTUS." pic.twitter.com/gwbUaD5oi9
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 24, 2026
Nevertheless, it’s not clear if the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) has any plans to go after U.S. citizens. Jalisco state, where the operation was carried out, includes Puerto Vallarta, a tourist and resort city on the Pacific coast that is popular with Americans, as well as Guadalajara, Mexico’s second biggest city that sports colonial architecture and great food.
On Monday, Ricardo Trevilla Trejo, Mexico’s Defense Secretary said that the army and National Guard launched an operation in the southern part of Jalisco state, in the beautiful mountain town of Tapalpa to capture Oseguera Cervantes, involving the Mexican air force and special forces. Investigators followed one of El Mencho’s mistresses, who led them to his luxurious cabin hideout, he said.
But the cartel counterattacked. Government soldiers killed eight members of the criminal group. Oseguera Cervantes and two of his bodyguards were wounded and died later during transfer by air to Mexico City, Trevilla said.
Mexican authorities reported that 25 members of the Mexican National Guard were killed in six separate attacks, while some 30 criminal suspects were killed in Jalisco, and four others in the neighboring state of Michoacan. Also killed were a prison guard and an agent from the state prosecutor’s office, officials said.
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