‘It looked like a downtown Beirut’: Southern Colorado man shares experience in Mexico
Mackenzie Stafford
COLORADO – The U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Mexico are warning U.S. citizens in specific locations to shelter in place until further notice.
According to the U.S. Embassy, the warning locations are Jalisco State, including Puerto Vallarta, Chapala and Guadalajara; Tamaulipas State, including Reynosa and other municipalities, areas of Michoacan State, Guerrero State and Nuevo Leon State.
It comes as Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, the powerful and long-pursued head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and one of the world’s most-wanted traffickers, died following a Mexican military operation on Sunday, according to CNN.
Officials say due to ongoing security operations and related road blockages and criminal activity, U.S. citizens in the named locations should shelter in place until further notice.
Senator Michael Bennet also issued a warning to travelers, saying he’s closely monitoring the situation in Jalisco and other parts of Mexico. He says that any Coloradans currently in Mexico or planning to travel to Mexico should sign up for the State Department’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program here.
If you are in one of those locations, officials urge you to:
Avoid areas around law enforcement activity
Be aware of your surroundings
Seek shelter and minimize unnecessary movements
Monitor local media for updates
Follow the directions of local authorities and in case of emergency, call 911
Avoid crowds
Keep family and friends advised of your location and well-being via phone, text, and social media
Michael Thomas from Highlands Ranch is in Jalisco State on vacation.
“We were just here for my wife’s 60th birthday, and we’ve been here since last Tuesday,” explained Michael Thomas.
The couple is on the trip with another pair for the birthday celebration. He says they left on Sunday for what started as a normal day. Thomas says they had some trouble getting to the beach with roads blocked off, but were able to find another route. He tells KRDO13 their tour guide friend took them out on the boat for a whale watching tour, and that’s when they started to notice a lack of activity.
“We went out on a boat, and nobody was out. No, people were out. No cars were driving. It was really strange,” recounted Thomas.
Thomas said the tour guide needed gas for his boat, and when they approached a beach club to get some ahead of the trip, they found a large plume of smoke near Mismaloya Beach, about 15 minutes south of Puerto Vallarta.
“He’s like, yeah, somebody blew up the gas station there. This one’s on fire. So he was trying hard to get gasoline for his engine, and he said, we’re going to another beach,” explained Thomas.
The group got hold of some gas and made it out on their journey. Thomas says the group was searching for whales in the water when they realized the action was on the shore.
“By the time we were out in the middle of the water and looking at whales, there were about 8 to 10 fires going that we could see,” Thomas continued, “Smoke was everywhere. It looked like a downtown, like Beirut or, you know, the middle of a battle in Baghdad. It was just really strange.”
He says they decided to go back to shore to get back to the resort when they ran into some roadblocks.
“But we couldn’t take the car to drive back to the hotel because the roads were locked down. So we took the boat, my buddy’s boat, to the Hilton nearby on the beach. We beached there and walked back to the hotel,” explained Thomas.
Thomas tells KRDO13 he’s been at the resort ever since. They are safe, sheltering in place there before they are expected to fly back on Friday. However, he says the flight is in limbo as they aren’t sure if the airport will be back open by Friday. Thomas says his friends who came on the trip had their flights cancelled and had to tentatively reschedule for Friday.
According to the Security Alert – Update 4 from the U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Mexico, flights continue to be disrupted due to the availability of flight crews in Puerto Vallarta. The Embassy says it is in close contact with airlines to monitor their plans.
The U.S. Embassy says all other airports in Mexico are open, and most airports are operating normally. If you are traveling via any airport other than Guadalajara or Puerto Vallarta, we have received no indication of any security-related flight disruptions, writes the U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Mexico. They recommend checking with your airline to confirm your flight status and schedule. The Embassy added that some, but not all, scheduled flights are departing from Guadalajara; if your flight to the United States is cancelled, you may be able to book a connecting flight through another Mexican city.
KRDO13 also spoke with a local travel agent who said that if you have a trip planned to Puerto Vallarta in the next week or so, they would recommend getting a travel agent to look at options to reschedule. They say holding off would be a good idea, as you will likely have to reschedule any planned excursions and be unable to get rides outside of a resort. She says this is another reminder of how important travel insurance is for cases like this.
The local travel agent also tells KRDO13 that their fellow travel agent in Cabo says the situation is fine there.
The U.S. Embassy also shared that while incidents were reported on Sunday, they say the situation has returned to normal in the following areas: Quintana Roo State (including Cancun, Cozumel, Playa del Carmen, and Tulum), Sinaloa, and Tamaulipas.