Calgary woman in Mexico describes deserted streets amid cartel violence

A Calgary woman visiting Mexico says there's been a lot of uncertainty over the past 24 hours following an eruption of violence in the Mexican state of Sinaloa.

WestJet says Saturday’s flights to Mazatlán expected to resume

Jade Markus · CBC News · Posted: Jan 06, 2023 8:41 PM EST | Last Updated: January 7, 2023

A truck burns on a street in Culiacan, Sinaloa state, Mexico. — A truck burns on a street in Culiacan, Sinaloa state, on Thursday. Mexican security forces captured Ovidio Guzmán, an alleged drug trafficker in a pre-dawn operation Thursday that set off gunfights and roadblocks across the western state’s capital. (Martin Urista/The Associated Press)

A Calgary woman visiting Mexico says there's been a lot of uncertainty over the past 24 hours following an eruption of violence in the Mexican state of Sinaloa.

Carmen Galvez is staying in Mazatlán, a resort area in Sinaloa. The region saw widespread violence Thursday following the arrest of alleged drug trafficker Ovidio (The Mouse) Guzman, a son of former cartel boss Joaquin (El Chapo) Guzman.

On Thursday, the Canadian government urged Canadians in the area to limit their movements and shelter in place. It said violence is particularly fierce in Mazatlán, Culiacan, Los Mochis and Guasave.

"It is scary, because you don't know how far it goes or how safe we are," Galvez said.

"Usually the violence has not come to Mazatlán, but this time it's everywhere. It's everywhere."

Galvez said she went out to get food on Friday.

"The roads were deserted. Like nobody was in the roads, there was no buses, and you saw no police and no military," she said.

Galvez said she is scheduled to return to Calgary on Tuesday and is monitoring flights.

Two photos joined together. A woman stands with a boy in front of the ocean. she is wearing a black shirt and he is wearing an orange one. in the other one a woman is with a boy and a man. They are dressed up in white shirts and the woman is wearing a patterned dress. — Carmen Galvez, left, poses with her 12-year-old son. On the right, she is with her son and her husband, who flew back to Calgary on Sunday. (Submitted by Carmen Galvez )

WestJet says Mazatlán flights will resume Saturday

The Culiacán and Mazatlán airports were closed, and all flights were suspended at Los Mochis airport Thursday.

On Friday, however, Mazatlán airport said in a tweet it is operating at 100 per cent, adding it recommends travellers contact their airline to find out the status of their flights.

Culiacán airport also tweeted that it had reopened Friday.

A flight operated by Sunwing Airlines, which was destined for Mazatlán from Calgary on Friday, was cancelled.

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"In consultation with government, and out of an abundance of caution, we are cancelling all of today's southbound departures to Mazatlán. This affects departures from Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Kelowna and Vancouver," Sunwing said in an emailed statement.

The airline added that northbound return flights have been impacted by delays, and recovery flights are in the process of being scheduled.

In a statement Friday, WestJet said that due to Mazatlán International Airport's reopening, operations to Mazatlán are scheduled to resume on Saturday. On Friday, it cancelled two flights, one from Vancouver to Mazatlán and another from Mazatlán to Vancouver.

An Air Canada spokesperson said in an emailed statement that none of the regions the company flies to are affected by the unrest but noted the company is "watching the situation closely."