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\nTracey Seida and Jerry Buckland captured this image of smoke and flames from car fires near their vacation rental in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on Sunday. <\/p>\n
Seida and Buckland, a married couple, awoke Sunday with plans for a run on a path along the waterfront, near the downtown Puerto Vallarta neighbourhood where they\u2019re staying. As they walked to the path, said Seida, they noticed the smoke from a large fire to their south.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought, \u2018This doesn\u2019t look very good for running,\u2019 because the smoke was quite intense, so we thought, \u2018Maybe we\u2019ll just go get a coffee,\u2019 and then we noticed another fire and another fire,\u201d said Seida. \u201cWe thought, \u2018Oh my gosh, something\u2019s happening.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
She said they spoke with a local resident on the street and learned of a vehicle fire believed to have been lit by the cartel on a nearby highway, before texting the owner of their vacation rental, who advised them to return home out of safety concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe left the coffee place and we saw that businesses were closing, people were briskly walking or running and just as we stepped out of the coffee shop, military vehicles were coming down the road, making announcements,\u201d said Seida, who added she and Buckland aren\u2019t concerned for their personal safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started hustling back to our Airbnb and as we turned up our street, there was a car upside down and on fire, just half a block from where we\u2019re staying.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said within 20 minutes of arriving back to their rental, there were no vehicles travelling on the streets, apart from the occasional motorcycle, as they saw more fires start and explosions ring out.<\/p>\n
The couple have been charging up their devices, as they\u2019ve been told to expect the city\u2019s power to go out overnight.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \u201cI feel perfectly safe where I am,\u201d said Seida. \u201cWe\u2019re fine, we feel safe where we are \u2014 it doesn\u2019t seem the cartel is targeting people.\u201d<\/p>\n But, said Seida, the city is \u201ceerily quiet.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s smoke all across the city\u2026 there\u2019s nobody anywhere,\u201d said Seida.<\/p>\n Seida, who is retired, has been in the Mexican city for just over three weeks, but her husband, a Canadian Mennonite University professor, arrived more recently.<\/p>\n He was slated to return to Winnipeg on Monday, with courses to teach on Tuesday, but it\u2019s at this point unclear when flights will resume landing or taking off from Puerto Vallarta\u2019s airport.<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t Air Canada, Porter and WestJet have cancelled flights into the Puerto Vallarta airport.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen there,\u201d said Seida.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t An official with the Canadian consulate department confirms the government is aware of and monitoring the developing situation.<\/p>\n -With files from The Canadian Press<\/p>\n erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Erik Pindera Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020.\u00a0 Read more about Erik<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Erik produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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\nCartels commonly use roadblocks of burning vehicles to block military operations, the Associated Press reported on Sunday.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tREFUGIO RUIZ \/ THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
\nPedestrians walk past charred buses that were set on fire, on a road in Guadalajara, Jalisco state, Mexico, Sunday, after the death of the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Nemesio Rub\u00e9n Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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