Quebecers vacationing in the Puerto Vallarta region have found themselves in the middle of the violence and chaos in Mexico.
Yves Boutin was in the middle of watching Canada play the United States for the gold medal on Sunday in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, when all of a sudden he saw smoke coming from the town.
The retired Quebecer pulled himself away from the high stakes hockey game and took out his motorcycle with a friend to find out what was happening.
Once he arrived at the scene, he said he saw several vehicles on fire and stopped to film the carnage with his cellphone. He didn’t know it at the time, but the Mexican army on Sunday killed the leader of a major drug cartel, Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho.” Violence erupted in the streets of Puerto Vallarta and other Mexican cities in the aftermath of the operation.
“It was like a war zone,” Boutin said in an interview on Monday.
Puerto Vallarta A burned vehicle in the middle of the street in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (Yves Boutin)
Moments later, he said he came face to face with people he believed to be cartel members, and things took a violent turn.
Boutin says he was chased for about a kilometre in the streets before he was caught and then attacked.
Canadians in Mexico told to shelter in place amid violence Canadian tourists in and around Puerto Vallarta have been told to shelter in place after the killing of a cartel leader sparked violence.
“He grabbed me, hit me on the face and they put me down and they were really aggressive,” Boutin said.
He says the assailants then torched his motorcycle in the middle of the street.
Yves Boutin Yves Boutin’s burned out motorcycle in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in the aftermath of the killing of drug cartel leader Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes. (Yves Boutin)
A family living nearby told him to take shelter in their home, where he slept overnight as residents were under a shelter-in-place order.
“I didn’t sleep all night because it was running in my head and thinking about what I had done,” he recalled.
Puerto Vallarta Smoke billows from a storefront in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (Yves Boutin)
Boutin is a retired CBC News producer and is used to chasing the news, but he said he never intended to get swept up in it.
“I want to say that the people of Mexico are really, very kind. They’re not dangerous. It’s so only one part of the cartel that is dangerous,” he said.
He said things have calmed down on Monday.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand said her department has received 440 calls, including two for non-life-threatening injuries.
Several Canadian airlines have also cancelled their flights from the region for security reasons.
Another Quebecer who spoke to CTV News by phone and only wants to be named “Raoul” for security reasons says it’s not safe right now in Puerto Vallarta and he’s unsure of who to trust.
“A lot of people walk on the beach and you’re not sure if it’s a citizen or it’s a cartel guy,” he told CTV News.
His one-week trip was supposed to wrap up on Sunday but that’s when the violence broke out.
“We’ve been advised not to go in the city because there’s been a lot of shots going on and a lot of bomb explosions. So we try to stay safe,” he said.
“Everything is closed, all stores, everything is down, it’s closed. We’re under siege so nothing is moving.”
Like so many other visitors, they find themselves stranded and stuck in the middle of a deadly confrontation.