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Speaker 1: Already and this is the Daily This is the Daily OS. Oh,

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Speaker 1: now it makes sense.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Wednesday,

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Speaker 2: the twenty fifth of February. I'm Zara Seidler.

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Speaker 1: I'm Billy fitz Simon's.

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Speaker 2: Earlier this week, the Mexican Army killed the country's most

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Speaker 2: wanted man, setting off a chain reaction of violence that

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Speaker 2: has continued in the days since. In today's podcast, we're

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Speaker 2: going to explain who Elmentcho was, why he was so significant,

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Speaker 2: both in Mexico and the US. I'll also get across

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Speaker 2: what has happened across Mexico this week.

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Speaker 1: Zara, when this news broke on Monday morning, our time,

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Speaker 1: I believe it was you cared so much and you

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Speaker 1: were trying to tell me it's crazy. You were trying

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Speaker 1: to tell me why I should care, and I wasn't

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Speaker 1: quite on your level.

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Speaker 2: Yep.

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Speaker 1: So this is your chance to now convince us all

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Speaker 1: why we should really care about this story.

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Speaker 2: We are really escalating the stakes here. We're increasing the

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Speaker 2: stakes to say, you know what, I don't know if

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Speaker 2: I could convinced Billy, but why not convince all our listeners?

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Speaker 2: Great idea?

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Speaker 1: Okay, So to fully understand this story, we need to

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Speaker 1: understand who Elmncho was.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, good starting point. Elmentcho. I'm referring to him

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Speaker 2: as Elmentcho. That was kind of what he was referred

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Speaker 2: to by everyone, by the media and certainly by groups locally,

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Speaker 2: so we'll call him that. It's not his real name, obviously,

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Speaker 2: but he was one of the country's most wanted men

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Speaker 2: because of his role leading the Khalisco New Generation Cartel,

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Speaker 2: which is Mexico's fastest growing crime group. Now, there are

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Speaker 2: lots of different cartels that operate within Mexico, but this

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Speaker 2: one was really significant. The US recently described it as

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Speaker 2: one of the largest and most violent drug trafficking organizations,

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Speaker 2: responsible for exporting tonnage quantities of cocaine, methamphetamine, and illicit

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Speaker 2: opioids into the US. It was this group designated as

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Speaker 2: a terrorist organization by the Trump administration last year, and

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Speaker 2: prior to this week, the US had a fifteen million

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Speaker 2: dollar reward for any information that would have led to

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Speaker 2: Elmencho's arrest. And so I guess that paints a bit

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Speaker 2: of color as to how important and significant it was

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Speaker 2: for authorities to find and capture this man and certainly

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Speaker 2: the importance of the group that he was leading within Mexico.

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Speaker 1: So the US government wanted him arrested. Yeah, but they

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Speaker 1: weren't actually involved in the killing of him.

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Speaker 2: Well no, So what we understand about the US's involvement,

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Speaker 2: and I guess we're jumping a bit ahead, but what

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Speaker 2: we know is that they helped with intelligence, but that

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Speaker 2: Mexican authorities actually carried out the operation.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 2: But the distinction that you just made between the capture

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Speaker 2: and the kill. Mexican authorities had captured him and then

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Speaker 2: he died in their presence. So once he had been captured,

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Speaker 2: they were transporting him to a medical facility and he

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Speaker 2: died in the helicopter on the way there. So he

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Speaker 2: wasn't killed. It wasn't, you know, like when we think of,

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Speaker 2: for example, the Asumma bin laden operation, where we understand

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Speaker 2: he was killed then and there by authorities. That's not

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Speaker 2: what happened here. We don't know whether they were intending

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Speaker 2: to just capture him. It seems like they were. But

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Speaker 2: then yet, as I said, he died a bit later

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Speaker 2: when he was being sent to a medical center.

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Speaker 1: Before we get to more about what happened, here is

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Speaker 1: a quick message from Today's sponsor Okay Zara. So the

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Speaker 1: killing happened on Sunday. How exactly did that happen?

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Speaker 2: So I said at the top that it was like

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Speaker 2: a Netflix movie, and I think that it's because I've

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Speaker 2: been watching The Night Manager. I don't know who you've

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Speaker 2: seen it. No, Oh my god, it's amazing. But there

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Speaker 2: is an operation, not to give any spoilers, that is

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Speaker 2: quite similar to what happened here, and so it's really

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Speaker 2: it is almost theatrical in how it unfolded. So essentially

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Speaker 2: what we understand is that authorities have been waiting and

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Speaker 2: collecting intelligence on Elmentcho and his movements, but it all

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Speaker 2: came to a head last Friday. And that's because authorities

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Speaker 2: found him by tracking someone who was close to one

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Speaker 2: of his romantic partners.

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Speaker 1: One of his romantic partners.

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Speaker 2: Yes, I mean, I'm not sure how many there were,

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Speaker 2: but it's been reported that it was one of his

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Speaker 2: romantic partners got it. But they didn't track the romantic partner.

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Speaker 2: They tracked someone close to the romantic partner who went

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Speaker 2: with the romantic partner to Elmentcho on Friday, and it

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Speaker 2: was then that they got eyes on him. So they

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Speaker 2: found it through this partner, So on Friday she went

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Speaker 2: to visit him, and by Sunday they had launched this operation.

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Speaker 2: Once she had left. Mexican President Claudia Shinbaum said that

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Speaker 2: with that intelligence, special forces raided the house captured Elmento,

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Speaker 2: but then, as I said, he was injured in the

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Speaker 2: process and died in transit on the way to Mexico City.

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Speaker 1: So we don't know if the authorities were intending on

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Speaker 1: killing him during the operation.

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Speaker 2: I mean, we can't say anything for certain, but it

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Speaker 2: certainly doesn't look like that was what was meant to happen,

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Speaker 2: given that he died in transit on the way to

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Speaker 2: a medical center. You know, this wasn't that he died

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Speaker 2: on the scene, It was some time after that. I

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Speaker 2: will just add that during the raid, Mexico's army came

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Speaker 2: under attack and there was quite a violent clash between

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Speaker 2: the army that was carrying out the operation and the

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Speaker 2: cartel members who were there protecting Elmentcho. We know that

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Speaker 2: security forces killed four cartel members there, and then a

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Speaker 2: further three died later similar to Elmentcho. Authorities then detained

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Speaker 2: another two cartel members.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So to wrap up where we are. Mexico's military

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Speaker 1: captured Elmncho. He then died in transit the way to

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Speaker 1: a medical center. They had the help of the US,

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Speaker 1: but yeah, the US wasn't actually involved in the operation.

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Speaker 1: And then what happened since then.

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Speaker 2: Well, essentially since this news became public, there has been

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Speaker 2: this chain reaction with members of Elmento's cartel almost immediately

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Speaker 2: launching these kind of violent attacks across the country. So

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Speaker 2: we've seen them starting to block roads, burning cars, torching businesses,

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Speaker 2: torching homes. You will have seen that there are images

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Speaker 2: of smoke billowing up into the air. That's part of

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Speaker 2: the arson attacks. And they've been these really targeted, almost

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Speaker 2: instantaneous responses to their leader being killed. They are trying

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Speaker 2: to create a sense of chaos on the streets. On Mondays,

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Speaker 2: schools and businesses were closed in some areas that were

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Speaker 2: worst affected by the violence, and residents and tourists were

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Speaker 2: instructed to stay indoors. There is a very popular tourist area, Portovyata,

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Speaker 2: where people have been speaking to media about being locked

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Speaker 2: down and told not to leave.

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Speaker 1: I saw some footage I think it was people in

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Speaker 1: an airport where they were running as soon as the

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Speaker 1: news broke and I was kind of confused. Why that

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Speaker 1: meant that people were rushing out of the airport.

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Speaker 2: I think no one wanted to be in an open space.

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Speaker 2: No one wanted to be vulnerable to if the cartels

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Speaker 2: then made their way there. They wanted to be locked down,

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Speaker 2: and that's what authorities were encouraging them to do. Right

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Speaker 2: at the time of recording, Mexican officials have said that

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Speaker 2: they have arrested seventy people and killed at least thirty

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Speaker 2: four people suspected of being cartel members leading the violence.

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Speaker 2: Twenty five members of the National Guard have been killed,

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Speaker 2: as well as at least one civilian who we understand

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Speaker 2: was caught in a shootout. It's been reported that one

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Speaker 2: of the cartel's leaders has actually offered his men are

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Speaker 2: reward of one thousand dollars for every soldier they have

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Speaker 2: killed along the way in these last few days. So

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Speaker 2: there is really like a very public, clear statement of

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Speaker 2: intent with violence here. The cartel is not backing down.

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Speaker 2: They are saying, you killed our leader, we will now

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Speaker 2: take to the streets.

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Speaker 1: Wow. And then one other thing that I have seen

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Speaker 1: is that Mexico is meant to be hosting the World

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Speaker 1: Cup this year and that this could potentially affect that.

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Speaker 2: Yes, so Mexico, as you just said, is co hosting

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Speaker 2: the fifth World Cup in June this year. I don't

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Speaker 2: know how that happened that it's already this year. I

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Speaker 2: feel like these things just y, you know.

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Speaker 1: Anyway, Men's World Cup.

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Speaker 2: To be clear, it is the Men's World Cup. So

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Speaker 2: there are four matches scheduled to be hosted in Guadalajara,

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Speaker 2: which is the heart of the current violence, and there

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Speaker 2: are now concerns that with this power vacuum that's been

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Speaker 2: created by the killing of El Mensho and with the

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Speaker 2: violence that has ensued, that it could impact the World Cup,

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Speaker 2: you know, being able to play out peacefully in Mexico.

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Speaker 2: There hasn't been an official statement from FIFA at the

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Speaker 2: time that we're recording this pug pass about it, but

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Speaker 2: we do know that regulations mean that FIFA is allowed

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Speaker 2: to cancel or relocate matches if there is a security risk.

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Speaker 2: So it could be that they decide to move those

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Speaker 2: games out of Mexico if this violence doesn't dissipate.

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Speaker 1: And I think Mexico isn't the only country that is

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Speaker 1: hosting the Men's World Cup. No, so that would make

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Speaker 1: sense for it to relocate, like it would be easier

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Speaker 1: for them to do that than if they were the

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Speaker 1: sole country hosting it.

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Speaker 2: One hundred. I mean, so much infrastructure goes into you know,

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Speaker 2: games like a World Cup, and so it's important to

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Speaker 2: the host country to be able to build that and

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Speaker 2: to increase tourism and all of those things. But you're right,

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Speaker 2: if there's not a security case to be made, then

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Speaker 2: they can move that to another country.

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Speaker 1: Czara is such an interesting story. I'm sure there will

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Speaker 1: be a lot more that we'll hear about this, definitely,

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Speaker 1: And thank you so much for listening to this episode

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Speaker 1: of The Daily Oas. We'll be back later today with

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Speaker 1: your evening headlines, but until then, we hope you have

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Speaker 1: a great day. My name is Lily Maddon and I'm

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Speaker 1: a proud Arunda Bunjelung Kalgudin woman from Gadighl country. The

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Speaker 1: Daily oz acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on the

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Speaker 1: lands of the Gadighl people and pays respect to all

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Speaker 1: Aboriginal and torrest Rate island and nations. We pay our

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Speaker 1: respects to the first peoples of these countries, both past

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Speaker 1: and present,