The U.S. State Department officially lifted its emergency shelter-in-place orders for American tourists in Mexico on Tuesday. However, nighttime curfews remain in effect for several popular vacation spots, including Puerto Vallarta, Guadalajara, and Tijuana, with the department urging citizens to stay indoors after dark and avoid travel between cities.
The curfew follows a 48-hour Code Red lockdown that left tourists barricaded inside their resorts and vacation rentals as cartel violence erupted across the region. During the Code Red, travel was prohibited, leaving Americans stranded in the crosshairs of a terrifying offensive launched by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
The violence was direct retaliation for the death of El Mencho, the CJNG’s longtime leader, who was killed during a military operation on Sunday.
As commercial airlines canceled hundreds of flights, some tourists desperately sought out costly alternatives, including charter flights on private planes.
Americans in Mexico took to social media, sharing videos of the chaos. In one widely circulated video, members of the CJNG set vehicles ablaze in a Puerto Vallarta Costco parking lot. Shoppers barricaded themselves behind security doors as black smoke overtook the parking lot and rubber tires exploded from the heat.
Similar scenes unfolded elsewhere across the region. CJNG members created over 250 highway barricades, using burning buses and semi-trucks to prevent travel and law enforcement response.
More than 200 Oxxo convenience stores were burned or vandalized, and at least 20 branches of the government-run Banco del Bienestar were torched as the CJNG targeted high-visibility public infrastructure.
Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes was the co-founder of the cartel and the most wanted man in both the United States and Mexico. For nearly a decade, he eluded authorities, but on Sunday, he was located and killed by military authorities in Tapalpa, a small mountain town near Guadalajara.
In response to the region’s instability, the U.S. State Department has updated its travel advisory for several Mexican states. Jalisco, which includes the major tourist hubs of Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara, is now listed as Level 3: Reconsider Travel—just one step below the highest “Do Not Travel” warning.
Although authorities have confirmed only one civilian death in the recent unrest, the scenes of violence have prompted many Americans to reconsider their upcoming spring break plans.
This fear could spell economic disaster for Mexican resort towns that depend heavily on tourist spending. While Puerto Vallarta welcomed a record 6.2 million visitors last year, many Americans are currently rethinking or canceling their plans to visit Mexico as a result of the CJNG’s attacks.
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