TAPALPA:The roar of machine guns and drone of helicopters shook the luxurious resort where Mexico’s most-wanted cartel boss hid on Sunday, plunging tourists enjoying the picturesque western Mexican town of Tapalpa into panic.
Nemesio Oseguera, the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) leader known as “El Mencho,” attempted to flee the audacious Mexican military operation in the mountainous area of the Jalisco state but was wounded during the escape and died while in transport to a hospital.
“It was terrifying... you could hear machine guns firing from the ground into the air and from the air to the ground,” a tourist who arrived at the resort the night before the operation told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity for his safety.
The gunfire erupted around dawn.
“It gradually increased, and then the weapons were loud,” the man said, estimating the shootout lasted a couple of hours.
Tourists who rented the exclusive cabins were allowed to leave on Tuesday, following an initial request from the mayor’s office on Sunday to shelter in place.
Last date
Oseguera had his last date in the cabin resort with a girlfriend, who officials say was key to tracking the drug lord.
He had maintained a low profile at the Tapalpa Country Club, according to AFP interviews.
“I didn’t know there were people like that (here),” said one young domestic worker who lives in the area, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
But a tourist, who also asked not to be identified, said he had heard that the drug lord “was in this region.”
He said he imagined what might happen if they tried to arrest the cartel boss.
“It was a very tense moment,” he said of the violence, which involved a firefight between government special forces and the cartel’s security detail.
Authorities on Tuesday prevented people from approaching the scene of the battle.
The drug lord’s two-story stone resort house, which displayed large religious images on the exterior, was surrounded by hundreds of shell casings and an abandoned Jeep with its doors open, according to residents.
Mexican media outlets published images of the cabin’s luxurious interior, showing furniture with open drawers and unmade beds.
A table with religious images and candles, a handwritten prayer and medication for the kidney problems that had reportedly plagued Oseguera for years could also be seen.
Incendiary revenge
Oseguera’s killing made Tapalpa, a town known for its scenic charm and ecotourism activities, the epicenter of a wave of retaliation from the CJNG that spread to 20 of Mexico’s 32 states.
“They were burning cars and buses on the outskirts of Tapalpa,” the domestic worker recalled.
By Tuesday, the town was desolate.
Tourists, who usually spend weekends in this wooded retreat, began to head home.
Inside the Mexican resort that was the final hideout of ‘El Mencho’
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Inside the Mexican resort that was the final hideout of ‘El Mencho’
- The roar of machine guns and drone of helicopters shook the luxurious resort where Mexico’s most-wanted cartel boss hid on Sunday
Tug of war: how US presidents battle Congress for military powers
- The last official declaration of war by Congress was as far back as World War II
WASHINGTON, United States: Donald Trump’s unleashing of operation “Epic Fury” against Iran has once more underscored the long and bitter struggle between US presidents and Congress over who has the power to decide on foreign military action.
In his video address announcing “major combat” with the Islamic republic, Trump didn’t once mention any authorization or consultation with the US House of Representatives or Senate.
In doing so he sidelined not only Democrats, who called for an urgent war powers vote, but also his own Republican party as he asserts his dominance over a largely cowed legislature.
A US official said Secretary of State Marco Rubio had called top congressional leaders known as the “Gang of Eight” to give them a heads up on the Iran attack — adding that one was unreachable.
Rubio also “laid out the situation” and consulted with the same leaders on Tuesday in an hour-long briefing, the US official said.
According to the US Constitution, only Congress can declare war.
But at the same time the founding document of the United States first signed in 1787 says that the president is the “commander in chief” of the military, a definition that US leaders have in recent years taken very broadly.
The last official declaration of war by Congress was as far back as World War II.
There was no such proclamation during the unpopular Vietnam War, and it was then that Congress sought to reassert its powers.
In 1973 it adopted the War Powers Resolution, passed over Richard Nixon’s veto, to become the only lasting limit on unilateral presidential military action abroad.
The act allows the president to carry out a limited military intervention to respond to an urgent situation created by an attack against the United States.
In his video address on Saturday, Trump evoked an “imminent” threat to justify strikes against Iran.
- Sixty days -
Yet under this law, the president must still inform Congress within 48 hours.
It also says that if the president deploys US troops for a military action for more than 60 days, the head of state must then obtain the authorization of Congress for continued action.
That falls short of an official declaration of war.
The US Congress notably authorized the use of force in such a way after the September 11, 2011 attacks on the United States by Al-Qaeda. Presidents have used it over the past two decades for not only the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan but a series of operations in several countries linked to the “War on Terror.”
Trump is far from the first US president to launch military operations without going through Congress.
Democrat Bill Clinton launched US air strikes against Kosovo in 1999 as part of a NATO campaign, despite the lack of a green light from skeptical lawmakers.
Barack Obama did the same for airstrikes in Libya in 2011.
Trump followed their example in his first term in 2018 when he launched airstrikes in Syria along with Britain and France.
But since his return to power the 79-year-old has sought to push presidential power to its limits, and that includes in the military sphere.
Trump has ordered strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats in Latin America without consulting Congress, and in June 2025 struck Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Perhaps the most controversial act was when he ordered the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro in a lightning military raid on January 3.
Republicans however managed to knock down moves by Democrats for a rare war powers resolution that would have curbed his authority over Venezuela operations.
Trump has meanwhile sought to extend his powers over the home front. Democrats have slammed the Republican for deploying the National Guard in several US cities in what he calls a crackdown on crime and immigration.
