Puerto Vallarta Violence: What Calgary Travelers Didn't See Coming

CALGARY, AB — As reported by CBC Calgary, Calgarians are trickling back from Puerto Vallarta after violence erupted Sunday when Mexican special forces killed Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, the head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Travelers described "unsettling" and "surreal" scenes as cartel retaliation shut down the resort city.

But the real story isn't the disrupted vacations—it's the $15 million manhunt that just detonated a power vacuum across Mexico's tourism corridor.

The operation that killed Oseguera Cervantes, known as "El Mencho," was the culmination of years of U.S. intelligence work, including CIA surveillance of a romantic partner that pinpointed his location in Tapalpa, Jalisco. The U.S. had offered $15 million for information leading to his capture. When Mexican forces moved in on February 22, the wounded cartel boss died en route to Mexico City by air. Seven alleged cartel members and at least one civilian died in the initial raid. Three Mexican soldiers were wounded.

What followed was textbook Jalisco New Generation Cartel retaliation: burning vehicles blocking roads across eight Mexican states, from Jalisco to Tamaulipas. Over 70 people died in the operation and ensuing violence, including security forces and suspected cartel members. Puerto Vallarta, which welcomed over six million visitors in 2025, became a ghost town as shelter-in-place orders locked tourists in resorts.

The CJNG, founded in 2009, built its reputation on extreme violence and military-grade firepower. This is the cartel that used rocket launchers to down a military helicopter in 2015 and attempted a spectacular assassination of Mexico City's police chief in June 2020. In September 2025 alone, a DEA operation targeting CJNG seized over 1.1 million counterfeit fentanyl pills, 6,062 kilograms of methamphetamine, 22,842 kilograms of cocaine, 33 kilograms of heroin, and $48.2 million in cash and assets.

Here's the friction: "El Mencho" left no clear successor. His son, Rubén Oseguera González ("El Menchito"), is serving 30 years in a U.S. prison on drug trafficking and firearms charges after his sentencing in early 2025. When cartel kingpins fall without heirs, deputies and rivals fight for control. History says that violence escalates, not diminishes.

Global Affairs Canada updated its travel advisory on February 22, urging Canadians to "exercise a high degree of caution" and avoid non-essential travel to Jalisco. Air Canada, WestJet, Delta, United, Porter, Flair, Sunwing, and Transat all suspended flights. By February 24, airport operations were resuming, but the calculus for Calgary travelers has permanently shifted.

Puerto Vallarta markets itself as paradise. But when a $15 million target lives in the hills above your beach resort, and his death triggers coordinated attacks across eight states, the postcard starts to look different. For the six million annual visitors—including thousands of Calgarians—the question isn't whether Mexico is safe. It's whether they're willing to vacation in the middle of a succession war.