death of a major cartel leader<\/a>, sparking unrest in parts of western Mexico.<\/p>\nGov. Greg Abbott has ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to boost homeland security operations in response. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of State is urging Americans in Mexico to shelter in place and contact emergency hotlines for assistance.<\/p>\n
\nAustin mom describes fear over baby\u2019s heart condition <\/p>\n
Barbra Finnell of Austin has been in Sayulita \u2014 about 20 miles from Puerto Vallarta \u2014 celebrating her 40th birthday with 14 family members and friends.<\/p>\n
Most of their group flew home before the violence escalated, but Finnell, her husband, her in-laws and their 9-month-old son stayed behind. They were scheduled to fly home Monday, with a connection through Dallas, but their flight was canceled. The soonest they can now leave is Sunday, March 1.<\/p>\n
On the morning of Sunday, Feb. 22, the owner of their Airbnb rental messaged them, urging them to stay inside the gated compound. While Finnell said they couldn\u2019t see flames from nearby fires reportedly set by cartels, they could smell smoke.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was in disbelief because I feel like this part of Mexico is very safe,\u201d Finnell said.<\/p>\n
Her biggest concern is her infant son, who has a heart condition and is treated by cardiologists at Dell Children\u2019s Medical Center in Austin. The family packed enough medication and formula for their planned trip \u2014 but not for an extended stay.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thing that\u2019s probably the scariest is my son has a heart condition,\u201d Finnell said. \u201cWe\u2019re getting low on some meds because we were planning on going home \u2026 and running out of formula.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also worries about what would happen if her son needed emergency care and they couldn\u2019t reach a hospital in Puerto Vallarta.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Finnell planned to make the 3-mile drive into the nearby village to try to restock supplies.<\/p>\n
Despite the uncertainty, Finnell praised the property manager and local staff for their communication and for extending their stay at no cost.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are safe. That\u2019s the most important thing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\nGov. Abbott urges Texans to follow federal guidance <\/p>\n
Speaking Monday near Houston, Abbott repeated his call for Texans in Mexico \u2014 and those with loved ones traveling there \u2014 to closely monitor State Department warnings and seek assistance if needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re working to maintain the safety and security of our fellow Texans who currently are in Mexico and make sure we get them home safely,\u201d Abbott said.<\/p>\n
\nFlights suspended <\/p>\n
Southwest Airlines, which offers a nonstop route between Austin and Puerto Vallarta, confirmed it is not operating flights there for now. The airline said it will resume service and add flights once it is safe to do so.<\/p>\n
As of Monday, flights out of Puerto Vallarta remained disrupted, leaving travelers like Finnell waiting for a safe opportunity to return home.<\/p>\n
Even as she navigates canceled flights and safety concerns, Finnell said she feels fortunate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are just visitors in this land and privileged to be here,\u201d she said. \u201cThe people who live here are the ones who are going to be very impacted by this type of violence for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n
For now, her family remains sheltered in place, hoping their extended trip ends with what she calls the best birthday gift of all: a safe flight home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Austin family says they’re stuck in Mexico until Sunday after cartel violence led to canceled flights. PUERTO…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":{"0":"post-178237","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-austin-headlines","10":"tag-austin-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}