‘Scary’: Edmonton flights to and from Puerto Vallarta cancelled amid cartel violence

An Edmonton man tells CTV News Edmonton's Nicole Lampa what it's like to be a tourist stranded in Puerto Vallarta at the moment.

Flights to and from Puerto Vallarta through the Edmonton International Airport are cancelled after cartel violence erupted in Jalisco state Sunday.

The Government of Canada issued a travel advisory for southwestern Mexico due to high levels of criminal activity and kidnapping.

“As a result of the advisory, operations to and from Puerto Vallarta have been impacted,” said a statement from an airport spokesperson. “One outbound flight from YEG has been affected today, and three inbound arrivals have been cancelled.”

The federal advisory says criminal groups have set up roadblocks with burning vehicles in several cities, including Puerto Vallarta where a shelter in place order is in effect.

“There have been shootouts with security forces and explosions,” said the advisory.

Those in Puerto Vallarta are instructed to keep a low profile, monitor local and international media and to follow the advice of local authorities.

A report from the Associated Press said the Mexican army killed the leader of the Jalisco News Generation Cartel, Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, “El Mencho, ” in an operation Sunday, decapitating Mexico’s most powerful cartel.

Vacation gone awry

Edmontonian Shea Goddard and her party of 25 are in Sayulita, about 30 kilometres away from Puerto Vallarta, for a joint bachelor-bachelorette party.

“All of the stores are shut down and everyone’s speeding and honking everywhere,” Goddard told CTV News Edmonton. “All the locals said that the cartel is coming and just kept saying it’s not safe to be outside.”

The bride-to-be said she’s hoping things will be sorted out by the time they leave on Thursday.

“A lot of people are really anxious … But we did speak to a local who said that this has never happened before, there’s so much up in the air right now,” said Goddard. “This is going to cause a lot of unrest in their communities and they’re scared.”

Luckily, a couple of people from their group were able to go out and get food and supplies.

“We’re doing well, but it took quite a while to get to where we’re at now,” said Goddard. “It’s still definitely scary, and it definitely is a bit of a damper.”

The group had several activities planned for the coming days, including snorkeling.

“It’s too bad because we can’t really do the vacation things we wanted to do, but we’re still in a beautiful place and we’re safe. That’s all that really matters,” she said. “But it is scary, especially when random people are coming up to tell you the cartel is coming.”

With files from the Associated Press