{"id":67085,"date":"2026-02-25T20:03:44","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T20:03:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-responds-to-chaos-of-mexicos-cartel-war"},"modified":"2026-02-25T20:54:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T20:54:06","slug":"fifa-responds-to-chaos-of-mexicos-cartel-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-responds-to-chaos-of-mexicos-cartel-war","title":{"rendered":"FIFA Responds to Chaos of Mexico&#8217;s Cartel War"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. <\/strong> <\/span>As cartel-related violence grips Mexico just months before World Cup 2026, concerns grow over the country\u2019s ability to host matches safely.<\/p>\n<p>The unrest followed a military operation targeting Nemesio Oseguera, known as El Mencho, leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, and triggered deadly reprisals across several regions. Burned vehicles, blocked roads, and dozens of deaths plunged parts of the country into chaos, with Guadalajara\u2014one of the host cities\u2014among the areas affected, even as authorities deployed around 10,000 soldiers to restore order.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the situation, FIFA president Gianni Infantino played down the crisis ahead of the 2026 World Cup, expressing full confidence in Mexican authorities during an interview with AFP.<\/p>\n<p>He described conditions as calm and insisted the tournament would proceed smoothly, a stance echoed by Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum, who assured fans that Guadalajara, Mexico City, and Monterrey would offer full security. Whether this optimism reflects reality or masks deeper risks remains an open question.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Lesotho<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. As cartel-related violence grips Mexico just months before World Cup 2026, concerns grow over the country\u2019s ability to host matches safely. The unrest followed a military operation targeting Nemesio Oseguera, known as El Mencho, leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, and triggered deadly reprisals across several regions. Burned vehicles, blocked roads, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":67084,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[245],"class_list":["post-67085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>FIFA Responds to Chaos of Mexico&#039;s Cartel War - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Lesotho. 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