Sawt Falasteen - Mexico's Jalisco cautiously tries returning to normal after cartel violence

Schools were closed in state capital Guadalajara, as were many businesses.

Public transportation partially resumed -- though buses carried few passengers.

Those going about town seemed to mostly be headed to the grocery store to stock up in case gang members decided to block roads and set fire to vehicles and shops again, as they did after the army announced it killed Nemesio "El Mencho" Oseguera.

The powerful leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel died from his wounds in a shootout with authorities Sunday, sparking a wave of retaliatory violence including a prison break.

In Guadalajara, Matias Mora was too scared to leave his home after "they burned down the pharmacy."

But cautiously, the taxi driver took to the streets for work Monday.

"We were short on food," he said.

Nearly "everything" is closed "and there are huge lines to buy things" at the few places that are open, Juan Soler, a retiree, told AFP.

"We were locked inside, terrified," Maria de Jesus Gonzalez said as she moved forward through a long line at the supermarket.

As shopping carts ran out, some patrons bought laundry baskets to load their groceries in.

In the city's streets, authorities removed burnt vehicles reduced to twisted, smoke-stained metal structures.

But not all was calm across the state of Jalisco.

On the road to Tapalpa, the city where Oseguera fought his last stand, cartel members still manned roadblocks.

Authorities have said the worst of the violence has passed, with most blockades ending across the country.

- More to come? -

Some 10,000 troops have been deployed to restore calm after violence erupted across 20 of Mexico's 32 states Sunday, including in the resort city of Puerto Vallarta, popular with international tourists.

Oseguera, 59, was considered the last of the drug lords who acted in the brutal mold of the now-imprisoned Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, of the rival Sinaloa cartel.

He was a founding member of New Generation, which was formed in 2009 and has grown into one of Mexico's most violent crime organizations.

During the raid on Oseguera and subsequent clashes, at least 27 members of security forces, 46 suspected criminals and one civilian were killed, authorities reported.

Though Oseguera's death is being hailed as a victory, the wave of violence over the weekend was perhaps a harbinger of things to come.

Experts have warned the "absence of a direct succession" within New Generation could lead to a power vacuum -- and violent fights to fill it.

N.AbuHussein--SF-PST