Cartel Violence Erupts in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

On Sunday, the idyllic Mexico cruising life was interrupted by violence after the killing of the drug lord Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho.” The violence appears to be primarily lots of fires set by cartel members who have attacked road transportation with fires set to cars, buses, gas stations and other highway infrastructure. We spoke with Richard Spindler in Punta Mita, who reported that the attacks have avoided killing civilians, with the people being allowed to leave before the cars and buses were set on fire. As he noted, the cartels are also dependent on tourism and don’t want to kill the goose that lays the golden egg. The cartels remain very disciplined and clearly are avoiding injuring people.

We heard from Craig Chamberlain of Novamar Insurance, who was down at his offices in Puerto Vallarta, that he was carjacked at gunpoint yesterday. Fortunately, like everyone else, he was allowed to flee and seek shelter in a hotel. This morning, Craig said, “One carjacking at gunpoint in my life is enough for my wife and me! Today has dawned pretty peacefully. The main road is open but only a few cars are out. We are holed up at the Sheraton until tomorrow. Our Novamar PV staff is working from home today. They tell me to wait until we see public buses rolling again — the ones that weren’t torched yesterday. It’s now another beautiful day in Banderas Bay, just no boats as the ports are closed.” He says local news reports are saying the bad guys are damaging property but not hurting people.

We’ve heard no reports of damage or injury to the marinas or cruising community, though some of the action was a little too close for comfort. We’ve seen reports that the explosions could be heard nearby. Schools and roads were shut down but people have remained safe. Now, on Monday morning, the violence appears to have subsided and we’ll continue to find out more about what’s true and what is rumor.

There were reports that the Costco in Puerto Vallarta was burned down. It turned out to be untrue; however, there were vehicles in the parking lot set on fire, creating nearby damage.

This time of year is both beautiful and busy, with many cruising and racing events along the Mexican coastline. The San Diego to Puerto Vallarta Race is scheduled to send the first starters off this Thursday, February 26. We saw a report that Carnival in Barra de Navidad was canceled yesterday. Event organizers and participants will be watching closely to see if and how this continues to unfold and how they should respond. It’s too early to tell, though all is likely to return to normal.

We reached out to San Francisco YC member Matthew Sessions, who’s in the middle of a short break in Sayulita and gave us this report: “There were zero disturbances yesterday here in Sayulita, and we think it was mostly confined to downtown PV. We just drove around Sayulita and headed most of the way to Punta Mita a few minutes ago.”

“The main coastal road, Highway 200, has reopened, and there are no checkpoint restrictions that we saw. About one-third of the shops and restaurants have now reopened here in Sayulita (versus essentially everything shut down by late afternoon yesterday). It seems like more and more shops/restaurants will be open later today.

“Looking at the United app, there look like ~8 flights from United hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, LAX, and SFO scheduled for PVR today. Two are canceled; the rest are on time. The southbound planes are 90% empty; the northbound planes are full. United planes northbound from PVR back to the USA this afternoon are essentially on time.”

“And in other news, another gorgeous day here. Crystal clear and low 80s. The ocean is about 79 [degrees] and perfect.” The Sessions are scheduled to fly home tomorrow.

It’s sad to see such beauty intruded upon by violence. We’ll keep fingers crossed that the chaos continues to subside and people are safe as life returns to normal.