Mexico vacation turns into nightmare for Brandonites

Travel plans for some Westman residents vacationing in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, have drastically changed this week after violence erupted following the death of a drug cartel leader on Sunday.

Brandon resident Rob Ryan said his wife and a group of family and friends were waiting at the WestJet gate inside the Puerto Vallarta International Airport on Sunday morning when it suddenly went into lockdown.

The group of six heard a commotion near the front doors of the airport, with people saying there was gunfire and an explosion outside.

“One hundred people hit the ground, like, literally. We laid on the floor, and we figured … these guys are coming in the front doors,” said Ryan, speaking from his hotel.

The violence broke out after the Mexican military killed Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” who was the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

Oseguera Cervantes was notorious for trafficking fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine to the United States and staging brazen attacks against Mexican government officials.

At least 73 people, including security forces, suspected cartel members and others, have died in the attempt to capture the drug lord.

Cartel members responded to his death with widespread violence, which included blocking roads at more than 250 checkpoints in 20 Mexican states and burning vehicles.

The Canadian government issued a shelter-in-place order for tourists in different parts of Mexico on Sunday.

Ryan said the WestJet travellers were herded into a hallway where they huddled together for 10 minutes until they were told all flights were cancelled.

“There was really a large presence of National Guard outside the airport … and there (were) military helicopters landing there,” he said.

‘There was a lot of big trucks with big machine guns on the top, driving around there,” Ryan said.

Ryan said his group was stranded for 24 hours in the airport, which had completely shut down except for one convenience store.

“It was absolutely horrendous,” he said. “None of us have ever gone through that.”

He said they managed to book rooms at a nearby hotel for Monday evening. They were escorted by two taxi drivers, who walked them to the hotel because cabs weren’t permitted to pick travellers up from the airport at the time.

Within their hotel block, Ryan said he saw the burnt shell of a bus and a motorcycle that had also been on fire. On Tuesday morning, Puerto Vallarta still had “very few cars on the road,” but most things in the city were going back to normal, he said.

Air Canada, Air Transat, WestJet and Porter Airlines all announced they were resuming flights to and from the popular tourist destination on Tuesday.

Ryan’s group had multiple calls with a WestJet travel agent, spanning several hours, in an attempt to book a flight home. He and his wife secured a flight for March 1, but that means they are stuck in Puerto Vallarta paying hundreds of dollars in extra expenses until then, he said.

“This has been just a nightmare,” he said.

Kevin McClure and his spouse were supposed to be on the same WestJet flight as Ryan’s group on Sunday, but the couple didn’t make it to the airport before it shut down.

McClure said an Uber driver cancelled their ride around 9 a.m. and no other rides became available.

The couple, from Pleasant Valley, located south of Brandon, stayed put at a condo off the main avenue in Puerto Vallarta while they waited to find out what was happening in the area.

McClure said he saw plumes of smoke rising near the popular Malecón oceanfront promenade and eventually received a notification from WestJet that their flight had been cancelled.

“We were very fortunate that we didn’t make it to the airport because we would have been stuck there,” he said.

The condo was put into a lockdown and security guards told travellers not to swim at the pool or park on the streets out of fear that vehicles could be set on fire, McClure said.

“Sunday was eerie because there wasn’t a vehicle or a person to be really seen on the streets,” he said.

“It was like living in the apocalypse because, I mean, you walked out there and there was nothing. It was just dead. Just dead quiet.”

McClure went for a short walk on Monday and saw about eight burned vehicles, including a semi and motorcycle in a Costco parking lot directly behind the condo where he was staying.

Some convenience stores had been set on fire and people were looting, he said.

“At no time, did we ever feel unsafe, but … we were cautious,” McClure said.

The couple was able to stay at the condo with friends they had been vacationing with until WestJet rescheduled their flight for Tuesday afternoon.

McClure said an armed member of the National Guard was stationed outside the airport in Puerto Vallarta around 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, which was packed with people trying to get home.

Brandon resident Sandi Duncan is vacationing in Barra de Navidad — a small town located on the western coastline of the Mexican state of Jalisco — which she said is less than an hour from some of the violence.

On Sunday, she heard about a bus set on fire while crossing a bridge, located 30 minutes away from her, that stopped all traffic.

“We were definitely worried, and then we heard all the uproar in Puerto Vallarta,” she said.

“We have been told to stay inside and be very safe.”

Duncan has been involved with organizing “Carnaval Costalegre,” an annual three-day event that cancelled its parade on Sunday due to safety concerns.

Duncan vacations in Mexico for five months every year and worries the recent violence will be “financially devastating” for areas that rely on tourism.

» tadamski@brandonsun.com, with files from The Canadian Press