A wave of violence hit Mexico after a government raid on Sunday killed the longtime leader of one of its most powerful cartels. The group, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, responded by wreaking havoc, attacking security forces, blocking highways and setting fire to supermarkets, banks and vehicles.
While much of the chaos was concentrated in the state of Jalisco, where the cartel is based, The New York Times verified footage of roadblocks, fires and clashes in five other states stretching across Mexico. Here is what it looked like:
Blockades
Followers of the slain cartel leader, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, set vehicles ablaze on highways and streets around the country on Sunday, obstructing traffic.
Videos showed that larger vehicles like buses and semi trucks were often targeted, and sometimes used to block entire roads.
Mexican cartels have often lashed out after the capture of their top bosses. The goal is to show their power and discourage the authorities from taking them on again.
In Puerto Vallarta, the beachside city popular with American and Mexican tourists, guests took videos of burning cars from their hotels.
By Monday, it appeared that the authorities had mostly restored order in cities across the country, though the atmosphere remained tense. The authorities were still hauling away charred vehicles from intersections across the city of Guadalajara.
Clashes
Civilians in Zapopan sheltered indoors on Sunday as armed forces standing next to a line of white pickup trucks took aim and opened fire. Moments before, video captured an individual dousing a semi with a gasoline canister at the same intersection.
Other footage verified by The Times shows gunfights and clashes breaking out in both densely populated urban areas and rural ones.
Banco del Bienestar
Several videos showed destruction to branches of the state-run bank, Banco del Bienestar. In Ciudad Guzman, masked men were filmed lighting fire to the bank. Just over six miles away in Zapotiltic, video captured another branch of the same bank ablaze.
Officials said arsonists burned more than 20 branches of the state-run bank in the state of Jalisco alone.
Supermarkets and convenience stores
Footage showed many supermarkets and convenience stores set ablaze. Large columns of smoke were billowing up from a Costco in Puerto Vallarta, where at least five vehicles appeared to be ablaze in a nearby parking lot.
Hundreds of miles inland in Leon, police officers and onlookers watched as the branch of a popular chain of convenience stores, Oxxo, smoldered.
Supermarkets and Oxxo stores went up in flames across the country, including in tourist hubs like Cozumel and Playa del Carmen.
Devon Lum is a reporter on the Visual Investigations team at The Times, specializing in open-source techniques and visual analysis.
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