As the smoke begins to clear on a war between the Mexican government and the cartel, North Okanagan residents are providing on-the-ground insight on the conflict while waiting for safe passage home. It hasn’t been the honeymoon Ryan Sheepwash and Jeremy Alexander had imagined. The Vernon couple got married in Puerto Vallarta a week ago. On Feb. 19 they moved to a new hotel in the city for their honeymoon. They were about to head to the airport to return home on Sunday, Feb. 22, but their plans were halted when mayhem broke out in the city’s streets.
Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), and six others were killed Sunday in a security operation by the Mexican Army in Tapalpa, Jalisco. In retaliation, cartel members began torching businesses in Puerto Vallarta and many other communities, and set fire to hijacked cargo trucks, buses, and private vehicles to obstruct traffic routes. Sheepwash has spent time living in and visiting Puerto Vallarta and was tapped into a number of local group chats, which quickly began pouring out on-the-ground information as the cartel attacks erupted on Sunday. “(The cartel) lit cars on fire on all the major routes to get out, basically shutting down all of Puerto Vallarta for transportation,” said Sheepwash. “So we were basically scrambling, looking for a way to get to the airport because we had a booked confirmed flight.” Even a water taxi that would have taken them directly to the airport was disabled by a car bomb blaze along that route. It soon became clear that the airport would be shut down Sunday. It remained closed until Monday afternoon, but Sheepwash said even then, airlines were hesitant to send planes to it before knowing the full scope of the situation. WestJet sent the couple two pieces of correspondence instructing travellers to heed local government instructions. Government officials were telling people to stay indoors and off the streets. At Sheepwash and Alexander’s hotel, the front gates were barricaded.
The two stayed optimistic, even as plumes of smoke rose over the city and military helicopters came into view out the window of their hotel. They were in a secure resort, and like the rest of the world, they’d had a previous dry run for staying indoors.
“It was almost like Covid 2.0 for us,” Sheepwash said. “It was like, we’ve lived through this before, we can do it again.”
“We were just so grateful for all the staff, because even the staff had to stay overnight, and they set them up with temporary hurricane tent accommodation,” Alexander added. “So they’re toughing it out so that we can be fed and have water…we were really concerned about their families.”
Alexander said it did feel “a little dicey” early in the day Sunday, when they had their suitcases packed and then had to stay put.
Things have quieted down in the city, the couple said Tuesday, but they’ve been stuck in the city longer than they’d hoped.
Fortunately, they’ve been informed that their travel agent managed to secure two seats for them on a Thursday flight back home — the last two seats on that plane.
They’re hoping that everything goes smoothly, that the plane will in fact take off as scheduled and they won’t be stuck in the city any longer.
Things could have been much worse, the couple said. They’ve seen stories on social media of people trapped in the airport after it closed, sitting on the floor for 40 hours with little more than vending machine food at their disposal.
Had they been en route to the airport when the strikes began, they could have ended up on the streets of Puerto Vallarta for an extended period, Sheepwash said.
They also count themselves lucky to be leaving for home Thursday, as other Canadians at their hotel are having to wait until early March.
“A lot of people are just stuck in limbo,” Alexander said.
Many people in the Okanagan travel to Puerto Vallarta on a regular basis. For anyone who may also have relatives trapped in the city, Sheepwash said to their knowledge, the cartel is not attacking or targeting tourists.
Violence in Guadalajara area
Meanwhile, another North Okanagan couple is hunkering down in a small village about 40 minutes outside of Guadalajara, where a large concentration of explosive cartel strikes has taken place.
Ken Smedley told the Morning Star that he and his partner Dorian Kohl are in the village of Ajijic, near the city of Chapala which has been hit hard by cartel strikes.
Cartel attacks took place Sunday just up the road from the village on the way to Chapala.
“They blockaded the road,” Smedley said. “Cars and buses on fire.”
Smedley said Tuesday that the red alert in their area has been lifted and the road to Guadalajara has been reopened. Schools and universities will be opening back up on Wednesday, he said.
“Things are sort of settling down somewhat, kind of getting back to normal.”
Before things calmed down, a bank in Chapala burned down, as well as a chain of stores, cars and buses.
“They went on a real rampage in Chapala,” Smedley said.
The Mexican government is making some progress pushing back on the cartel, according to what Smedley is hearing on the ground.
“From what I can understand, they’ve apprehended about 80 to 100 of the different gang members, so they’re making some headway along those lines.”
Smedley and Kohl plan to stay in the village until the beginning of March, when they’ll hope to make their way back to Canada safely. — With files from Dan Ferguson
