Mexico’s security minister disclosed that at least 25 soldiers have been killed in reprisal attacks by organised crime groups following the death of the head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, widely regarded as the country’s most powerful drug-trafficking syndicate. Violence has rippled across no fewer than 20 states since Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, better known as “El Mencho”, died after being apprehended by the army on Sunday. Officials now face mounting questions over whether the cartel’s decentralised command structure has triggered a wave of coordinated retaliation designed to test the state’s authority.