Manitoban stuck in Mexico after outbreak of violence due to arrest of drug cartel leader

A Manitoba family's vacation in Mexico has turned tense, as violence erupted in the country following the arrest of a drug cartel leader.

"We were on an excursion on a beautiful day on the water and on an island yesterday, when we saw plumes of smoke on the mainland and black helicopters hovering," Sheila North, a former CBC Manitoba host and reporter, said Friday. 

She's currently on vacation at a resort in Mazatlán.

"We didn't know what was going on. None of the staff we were with told us what was going on."

North says while her family is OK, the situation is unnerving.

On Thursday, airports in Culiacán, Mazatlán and Los Mochis, cities in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, were closed after an Aeromexico flight in Culiacán was reportedly hit by gunfire following the arrest of Ovidio Guzmán — a member of the Sinaloa Drug Cartel and the son of the jailed kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán.

As of Friday evening, the Culiacán and Mazatlán airports were reopened but the Los Mochis airport remained closed, according to the government of Canada's travel advisories website.

Videos shared on social media appeared to show heavy fighting overnight in Culiacán, the main city in Sinaloa and the home base of the Sinaloa cartel, with the sky lit up by helicopter gunfire.

The Canadian government is urging Canadians in Sinaloa to limit their movements and shelter in place.

North said thankfully, she and her family have been safe and tucked away at their resort, where they plan to stay until it's safe to leave.

Taking her children and grandson to Mazatlán was a "dream come true," she said, but "when something like this happens at the end of the trip, it's definitely unnerving and makes you think twice about coming here."

She registered all of her family's information through the government of Canada's website but hasn't received any updates from officials, she said.

"I hope that someone is monitoring the situation and making sure that we get home safely, because there's a lot of [Canadian] families here."

Stay or go?

There's no clearcut answer on whether Canadians should travel to Mexico right now, said Daryl Silver, president of Continental Travel Group, since the situation is fluid and constantly changing and only a fairly specific area is directly affected at this point.

"It's a matter of checking websites, talking to your travel adviser, being informed and moving on from there," he said.

His best advice for anyone planning to travel to the area in the near future is to know the conditions of their travel insurance.

Situations like this are unusual, he said, but for for travellers already in the region, "the impact is enormous … so I feel for them."

In a statement to CBC News, a spokesperson from Global Affairs Canada said while the airports in Culiacán and Mazatlán have reopened, travellers should check their flight status before heading to the airport, since many flight schedules have changed.

North was supposed to be on a plane back to Canada Friday, but her flight was pushed back to Sunday.

She says she was seeing more security on the beaches Friday.

"It feels safe," she said. "We'll wait and see."

She said local staff she spoke with on Friday also said they felt safer Friday than they did the day before, so she hopes the worst of the violence has already passed.

"We knew there was potential for something like this to possibly happen, but you never really think that it would."