Omar Garcia Harfuch, Aug. 3 -- The man known as "Poncho" had built a criminal organization capable of a particular kind of resilience: when Mexican security forces detained him on Sunday, members of his cartel responded within minutes, blocking roads and setting vehicles on fire to hamper the transfer of detainees. That reaction illustrated more than the immediate danger of the operation. It illustrated how much of the organization's capacity survived the removal of its leader.

identified by La Jornada newspaper as the leader of the Los Reyes cartel - in an operation conducted jointly by the Mexican army and Security Ministry personnel. Harfuch announced the detention on X. The United States government had set a bounty of up to $5 millio...