More flights returned from Mexico on Wednesday morning after major airports were shut down amid fighting between drug cartels and the Mexican military.
The U.S. State Department said the situation has returned to normal following a weekend of widespread violence in the state of Jalisco after the killing Sunday of a Mexican cartel boss by the Mexican military with help from U.S. intelligence. Passengers arriving at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport described being caught in the middle of gunfire and burning vehicles while trying to return from Puerto Vallarta.
“I was right in the heart of Zona Romantica, and I was actually awake when things actually started popping off, so I got to see a lot of gunshots. I was actually walking the streets where I saw cars on fire, like a motorcycle was running by, and apparently throwing Molotov cocktails, it was really crazy,” said Anthony Scott, a Seattle-area traveler.
At the peak of the fighting, buses were set on fire to block roads as gunfire was exchanged with police and the Mexican military. “About 9:30, all of the sudden we see smoke and sounds of bombs going off,” said Randy Burge, another traveler who witnessed the violence.
Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, said conditions are improving. “Things are also gradually returning to normal in Puerto Vallarta. And the most important thing about this is that our objective, as I said yesterday, is security and peace, and that is what we are working on in the strategy we have set for ourselves,” she said.
The State Department says the airports in Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta are both secure, but some flights remain disrupted. Mexico is still under the State Department’s Level 2 travel alert, which advises travelers to exercise increased caution, with some Mexican states on the do not travel list. The violence erupted after Mexican military forces killed a high-ranking cartel leader in an operation supported by U.S. intelligence agencies, triggering retaliation across the region.
