(LifeSiteNews) — Violence has erupted across Mexico after a drug kingpin who had a $15 million bounty on his head from the U.S. government was shot and later died after a melee with law enforcement.

Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes was killed by Mexican officials Sunday while was conducting an operation to capture him in Tapalpa. According to multiple outlets, at least eight other high-ranking cartel members have died. U.S. intelligence aided the Mexican National Guard in carrying out the attacks.

Destruction has swept across Mexico over the last 24 hours. Disturbing footage of people seeking shelter at the Guadalajara airport amid gunfire has made the rounds on social media. Schools in various municipalities were also closed Monday while smoke clouds rose over the tourist town of Puerto Vallarta after an operation against the cartels, forcing Air Canada to cancel flights to the locale.

Chaos erupts at Guadalajara International Airport in Jalisco, Mexico, as the CJNG Cartel launches attacks outside and potentially inside the airport, as retaliation for today’s successful elimination of CJNG leader El Mencho. pic.twitter.com/fspjMASWV1

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) February 22, 2026

Texas Republican Gov. Gregg Abbott urged Texans who are in Mexico to “stay alert” and to remain in touch with Embassy officials. The U.S. State Department has also set up a 24/7 crisis hotline for Americans citizens in Mexico affected by the chaos. Citizens requiring assistance calling from the U.S. or Canada should dial +1-888-407-4747. U.S. citizens calling from overseas, including Mexico, should call: +1 202-501-4444.

Amid the bloodshed, two priests climbed atop the roof of the Parish of the Holy Cross in El Salto in Jalisco on Sunday. Seeking to bring peace and calmness to the situation, they exposed Christ in a monstrance and gave a Eucharistic blessing over the region.

Two priests responded with a Eucharistic blessing to the fear sparked by a wave of violence shaking Mexico after the death of drug lord Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho.”

On Sunday, February 22, Father Ricardo López Díaz, from the Parish of the Holy Cross in El… pic.twitter.com/6AM6O0Ndt3

— ChurchPOP (@Church_POP) February 23, 2026

Multiple U.S. officials praised the Mexican government for carrying out the strikes. “This is a great development for Mexico, the U.S., Latin America, and the world,” U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said. U.S. Ambassador Ron Johnson also heralded the news, noting that “under the leadership of President (Donald) Trump and President (Claudia) Sheinbaum, bilateral cooperation has reached unprecedented levels.”

Sheinbaum, who is Jewish, initially had a testy relationship with Trump. At various times during the first several months into her presidency, she traded barbs with the former real estate mogul, in particular over his renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. While her willingness to collaborate with the U.S. to carry out strikes on criminals who are flooding America with lethal drugs is praiseworthy, she remains a staunch supporter of what John Paul II called the “culture of death.”

During Sheinbaum’s previous tenure as mayor of Mexico City, she ceased public school policy mandating gender-appropriate uniforms for children. Moreover, she is affiliated with the pro-abortion Movement for Social Regeneration party and has personally championed “progressive” issues like abortion and gender ideology. She won election in 2024 while competing against other candidates such as Xóchitl Gálvez, a self-labeled “Trotskyite by origin.” Media reports at the time described Gálvez as a “liberal,” “defender of abortion” and LGBT ideologies. The third presidential candidate, the Citizen Movement’s Jorge Álvarez Máynez, was also pro-abortion and a supporter of same-sex “marriage.”

In 2022, Patricia Sandoval, a former Planned Parenthood employee, told LifeSite co-founder John-Henry Westen that Mexico is returning to its pagan roots. Sandoval said that during an exorcism conducted by Fr. Gabriele Amorth, demons revealed that they were the “four demons that governed and controlled Mexico before the apparition (of Our Lady of Guadalupe) in 1531.”

Sandoval further said that the demons called themselves the demons “of bloodshed and human sacrifice” and that they are back in control of the country because Mexico has turned its back on the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Sandoval also revealed that Mary is “greatly offended” at what has happened in Mexico that she is asking lawmakers to recognize abortion is a sin and to ban it. Sandoval then said Our Lady wants Mexico’s president to consecrate the country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Marty while also wanting clergy and laity to do acts of penance and mortifications for allowing abortion to take place in the first place. Sandoval said that if these three requirements are done, the violence and bloodshed will come to an end. If not, it will continue.

The violence now erupting over Mexico makes sense when viewed in light of Sandoval’s remarks. But Catholics don’t need prophesy or demons during an exorcism to tell them that. Scripture is replete with references to how sin has a negative impact on a country. “Justice exalteth a nation: but sin maketh nations miserable,” Proverbs 14:34 reads. “If My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land,” 2 Chronicles 7:14 says. Let us pray that the people of Mexico heed the warnings of Our Lady and the words of wisdom contained in these Bible verses.