Gunmen shot down a military helicopter in the south of the state and set up 39 “narco blockades” in 26 municipalities, authorities reported. Eleven banks and five gas stations were attacked. Ten other attempts to torch gas stations reportedly failed, Governor Aristoteles Sandoval told reporters at a press conference Friday afternoon. He said seven people had died, 15 were injured and that 15 arrests were made. 
The number of dead was revised on Monday to 15. National Security Commissioner Monte Alejandro Rubido identified the deceased as six soldiers from the helicopter, a state investigative police officer and eight “presumed delinquents.” A seventh soldier died in hospital Wednesday.
The extraordinary day of events began in the south of the state in the early morning of May 1 – a national holiday – as federal forces began “Operacion Jalisco” with the aim of nabbing Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes (“El Mencho”), the presumed leader of the CJNG, viewed as the nation’s fastest growing drug cartel and responsible for a series of deadly attacks on police in Jalisco over the past few months.
The first incident occurred around 9 a.m., when a military helicopter spotted a convoy of armed gunmen on a highway between Casimiro Castillo and Villa Purificacion and ordered them to stop. The gunmen responded by opening fire on the helicopter, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing.
Commissioner Rubido Garcia said Monday that a rocket launcher was used to bring down the helicopter.
Of the 19 soldiers on board, seven died in the accident and ten were injured.
Events moved quickly from then on. A shootout in the town of Autlan claimed the lives of two gunmen and a state police officer, Mario Alberto Olivares Castorena.
According to Jalisco Attorney General Luis Carlos Najera, this incident was the cue for the CJNG to call on its “sleeper cells” and put in motion a well-planed diversionary operation to thwart the feds and create chaos on the state’s highways and in major cites.
It’s a tactic that the CJNG has used before on several occasions, particularly in Guadalajara in response to arrests of their high-profile operatives.
Commentators, however, say Friday’s operation was without precedent, given the scale and coordination of the attacks.
Simultaneously in Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta, Ciudad Guzman and other parts of the state, armed young men working in teams of three or four commandeered buses and bundled off the passengers. Turning around the buses to block the roads, the attackers then torched the vehicles, inciting panic and causing long traffic tail backs.
In a new tactic employed by the cartel, banks and gas stations were also targeted and set on fire. Puerto Vallarta municipal authorities said five gas stations and three banks in the town were vandalized.
The next day, a 20-year-old dairy products business in Puerto Vallarta was attacked and two of its vans set on fire at the intersection of Boulevard Francisco Medina Ascencio and Francisco Villa. Owner Jesus Bautista said staff and family members were locked in an office and only released “in an act of humanity” before the building was torched.
Authorities have yet to confirm whether Saturday’s attack was related to those of the previous day.
As the incidents unfolded Friday, the Jalisco government enabled a “Code Red” alert, which places all law enforcement forces in the state under a single command. The alert was lifted Sunday but Najera warned that federal forces were still active in the state.
Rubido Garcia said Monday that Operacion Jalisco would continue until the CJNG was “dismantled.” The federal government’s Security Cabinet met in Guadalajara Monday and will be working in coordination with Jalisco law enforcement to “finish the task.”
Meanwhile, Najera advised caution among citizens, noting that further outbreaks of violence were still possible while the federal operation was still active.
During Friday’s wave of violence, the U.S. Consulate General in Guadalajara issued a warning to its citizens either living or traveling in the state, advising them to “to remain in their homes until the situation is resolved.”
Canadian authorities also advised citizens to limit their movements throughout the state and follow the advice of local authorities.
Of the 19 people arrested on Friday, ten have been identified as directly having participated in the disturbances.
Bus companies and gas stations estimated losses from the violence at around 510 million pesos.
Around 130 metro area bus drivers resigned following Friday’s attacks, a representative for the concessionaires revealed Tuesday.