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.
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.
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.
"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."
