American tourists attending a wedding in Mexico found themselves confined indoors, grappling with limited resources, as they urgently sought earlier flights back home. This chaos erupted following the death of a prominent cartel leader, sparking a wave of violent unrest across the region.
Megan Bullock, 32, had traveled to Puerto Vallarta for a friend’s wedding when news broke on Sunday morning that Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, the infamous leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, had been killed by the Mexican military.
In response, cartel members unleashed a storm of violence, setting off explosions and establishing roadblocks in 20 states. The destruction was alarmingly close to Bullock’s resort, where the chaos was palpable.
“Explosions were happening to the right of us throughout the day,” Bullock recounted to The Post, describing the unsettling scene.
“There was a lot of dark smoke,” she continued. “While gunfire wasn’t audible, fires kept erupting continuously.”
Joe Antonini, also 32 and from Brooklyn, found his wedding celebrations cut short by the turmoil, sharing the distress of fellow guests amid the unfolding crisis.
Antonini said he could also see the billowing smoke plumes from his hotel.
All of the tourists and workers at the hotel were warned to stay inside and the US Embassy issued an advisory to all Americans.
“We’re all basically stuck,” he said.
The stressful situation has only been exacerbated by the “dwindling resources,” Antonini stressed, along with the language barrier between tourists and the local workers.
Bullock added that some staffers had been working for 72 hours in the chaos, with both food and water quickly running out on the first day.
“So they’re exhausted and they don’t really know what to tell us,” Bullock said.
While things have calmed down and resources were restocked by Monday, the Americans said they were eager to leave as soon as possible as the carnage around Jalisco and its neighboring states show no sign of slowing down.
Both Bullock and Antonini said they were able to book a flight out of the country for later in the week, but they said they and others are looking for any flights that might become available even earlier.
Bullock noted that there was an initial panic after several airlines — including Alaska, Delta, Southwest, United and American — cancelled flights to Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara out of an abundance of caution.
For now, both Americans are adhering to the orders from US officials to stay off the streets under any circumstances.
On Monday, President Claudia Sheinbaum said the cartel’s more than 250 roadblocks have been cleared, with Mexican authorities arresting more than 70 people across seven states as part of a crackdown to restore order.
At least 73 people were killed in the operation to take down El Mencho and the subsequent attack from the cartels, including 25 Mexican National Guard troops.
