Local shares harrowing experience in Puerto Vallarta as cartel chaos erupts

Photos taken by Greg George, a St. Marys resident who was in Puerto Vallarta when chaos erupted from the killing of Nemesio Rubén Osguera Cervantes (otherwise known as “El Mencho”), a leader of a prominent cartel.

By Connor Luczka

St. Marys resident Greg George was downtown in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on Feb. 22, finishing an eight-day stay at a friend’s condo.

Speaking with Grant Haven Media, he recalled that it was unusually quiet at the crack of dawn that day. Usually, the streets below the condo would already be busy at that time.

“Then I smelled some acrid smell and I leaned out over the balcony and looked up,” George said. “There were two huge plumes of smoke. One was up on the mountain – Puerto Vallarta is kind of built on a couple of mountains – and then there was one closer to us, which turned out to be the gas station.”

Heading to the rooftop for a better view, George saw three fires burning which quickly turned to nine as explosions and gunfire began to ring out across the city. At that moment, he was not aware a local cartel leader had just been killed while en route to Mexico City.

According to the Associated Press, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), Nemesio Rubén Osguera Cervantes (otherwise known as “El Mencho”), was killed in a military operation undertaken by the Mexican army in the early morning of Feb. 22. Osguera Cervantes was supposed to be captured in Tapalpa but died from his injuries when a clash occurred with federal forces.

Puerto Vallarta, while quite far from the capital, is a coastal city in the state of Jalisco, the home of CJNG. After Osguera Cervantes was killed, the whole state was “code red” while many other states in Mexico were “code yellow.”

Over the course of the day, George and his companions went into lockdown and watched videos taken from across the area – videos of people commandeering vehicles, setting up roadblocks and other harrowing actions. On their own streets, George said they saw smoke consume the city and roving motorcycle groups, assumingly a part of the cartel, causing havoc. During one particularly close incident, members smashed in a nearby mattress store and set it ablaze with Molotov cocktails. Without police or other emergency services, and without sufficient fire extinguishers around, neighbours were forced to evacuate and let the fire burn itself out.

“(This) happened yesterday, a motorcycle chased a taxi down our street and turned the corner at the block, and we heard a gunshot, a loud gunshot. No idea what happened to the cab driver, but it was that aggressive and that close,” George said. “… Mid-afternoon, there were Mexican army helicopters with machine guns circling the valley here, right over us – literally just above our rooftops. It was like a scene from World War Two.”

George said he became aware of what occurred through word of mouth. Puerto Vallarta is a tourist destination with a large population of ex pats. Where he was, there were four condo buildings facing each other, filled mostly with tourists. As he and his neighbours heard information, they took to their balconies to shout to others across the street.

While he understands it has been an emergency, George said he has been concerned with the lack of available information for his fellow travellers. He did not have luck with consular services to register their passports with the Government of Canada, meaning all they could do was hunker down.

“The cartel had basically taken over the city,” George said. “Lots of things were going on within blocks of us. I think we were pretty much ground zero. So, the information that we were receiving was to shelter in place. There was not a lot of information coming from anybody.”

While his Feb. 23 flight was cancelled shortly after the violence broke out, George confirmed that Air Canada rescheduled a flight for Feb. 27, arriving back home on Feb. 28, after press time.

“I’ve done a lot of traveling, but I’ve never essentially been in a war zone like this,” George said. “(I was) concerned about the lack of available information, and while I do understand, yes, it’s an emergency situation, it was just difficult to know what to do except close your doors and (peek) outside to make sure that nothing is incoming.”