Puerto Vallarta

On Saturday night I had dinner with my friend Laurie.  She said her cousin was returning from a holiday in Puerto Vallarta and she would pick him up at the airport the next afternoon.  In the morning, she got a short text message from him.  His flight was cancelled.  No reason was given.

Through the morning, I kept reading about all the problems they were having in Puerto Vallarta.  I called Laurie and later in the morning she got this message from him:

The airport is closed! There has been an uprising of the cartel!!  

Laurie said:  He will keep me posted. I am supposed to pick him up this afternoon! 🤔

My next door neighbour who is in the travel business got this message from his friend who is staying at an Air BNB in Puerto Vallarta:

Yes, we are here. 

Yes, the situation is bad. Probably worse than you've read. Here's what's up:

As I understand it, yesterday, the government launched an operation against the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). Today, they killed the leader of the cartel, El Mencho. 

In retaliation, CJNG launched a massive campaign of mayhem in Guadalajara, Vallarta, other cities in Jalisco and (I'm told, but cannot confirm) Michoacán and Tamaulipus states. 

It started 8:15am central time this morning with multiple coordinated car and bus-jackings, followed by burning those vehicles. All on major roads in and around the cities. This was accompanied by a lot of spreading of tire spikes. I was watching the hockey game and heard some bangs. Went outside and saw smoke. 

More and more vehicles were burned, all around the bay. Looks like as far north as Bucerias. 

About two hours ago, it progressed to property fires. Gas stations and convenience stores, mostly.

The OXXO store just down from my house was firebombed about noon. A taxi was also lit on fire, about 12:30. 

There are cartel members on motorcycles zipping around with guns, setting fires. Police and the army are pursuing, although mostly in Versalles nieghborhood, and near the airport. Very little vehicle traffic here in de Diciembre/Centro because all the roads in/out are blocked. 

There is a military troop ship circling in the ocean, in front of our house. 

Flights in/out are cancelled or diverted. Expected to be running again on Tuesday, but ????

We are sheltering in place. We have food, tequila, power (for now), and Internet (for now). 

We're in no immediate danger. 

But our hearts are broken that our favorite place is under attack, from within.

Here is another email I read:

We are all here at the ****.  Because of the “situation “, they gave us all our same rooms free of charge for tonight.  The airport is completely shut down….no flights in or out since early this morning so my whole family is still here.  We are under a “ shelter in place” order until who knows when. The Concierge called the **** to hold our rooms until we can safely leave the resort …who knows when?  Hopefully the message got through.  We have no idea what tomorrow will bring…fires were all around us but have quietened down now.  Keeping all phones, devices charged as power outages are anticipated.  Sunwing agent is no where in sight.  No buses…burnt, no taxis….burnt….crazy.  No one on the roads.

We will see what tomorrow brings?!

I've taken out names and places for obvious reasons.

There is a lot of misinformation on social media.  These are reports from people who are there.  My thoughts and prayers are with them.  If the airport won't open, maybe a cruise ship can help them leave safely!

For Canadians in Mexico: The Emergency Watch and Response Centre is available 24/7 at +1 613-996-8885 (collect calls accepted) & e-mail at: sos@international.gc.ca Canadians needing emergency consular assistance can contact the Embassy of Canada to Mexico at +52 55-5724-7900.