The State Department said it received hundreds of calls from U.S. citizens in Mexico to its 24/7 crisis hotline after the government killed a cartel leader known as “El Mencho,” CNN reported Monday.
Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, was killed on Sunday by Mexican authorities. Violent clashes erupted in parts of western Mexico after the drug lord’s death, with burning vehicles blocking roads in Jalisco and other states.
Violence resulted in the death of 30 cartel members and 25 Mexican National Guard members, Mexican officials reported, according to ABC News.
Officials urged citizens to shelter in place amid violent clashes and chaos following the cartel leader’s death.
Most of the calls directed to the State Department’s hotline, which went live on Sunday, pertain to flight cancellations, according to CNN.
On Monday, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said there was a “greater calm” across the nation.
“The public can rest assured that peace, security, and normalcy are being safeguarded across the country,” she added in remarks given during a Monday press briefing.
However, some U.S. citizens have said the unexpected turmoil shook them.
“We’ve seen columns of smoke going up at at least six different places in the city. So there was a lot of confusion in the beginning about what is happening,” tourist Alexander Cors said during a Thursday appearance on CNN’s “AC360.”
“Yeah, especially in the beginning, where we, you know, we didn’t know if people got hurt, [or] what the targets were. I think, you know, as the day went on, it looked more and more like, okay, this was kind of targeted property damage. And that was, that was calming to realize,” Cors added, noting it was hard to figure out the context surrounding the incident on social media and the internet.
