El Mencho killed: US tourists take shelter as Mexico erupts in chaos

Violence has erupted across Mexico following the killing of the country's most wanted drug leader known as El Mencho in a military operation on Sunday. You can see smoke billowing into the sky there in this resort town on Mexico's Pacific coast. A witness says, fires are ongoing and smell like burning rubber. Officials say suspected members of organized crime groups unleashed the wave of violence after the death of El Mencho.

He was a former police officer who was one of the world's most wanted traffickers. He led the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel or the CJNG. CNN's Valeria León has more details for us.

Fire, smoke and chaos across several Mexican states. Cities brought to a standstill as criminal groups retaliate after Mexico's most wanted drug leader died following a military operation Sunday. Blocked highways, drivers forced out of their cars at gunpoint, trucks and buses set on fire. Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, a former police officer known to most as El

Mencho, was the leader of the Jalisco New Generation cartel, wounded during a Mexican military operation and later died while being transported to Mexico City. The U.S. played a role in Sunday's operation, according to U.S. defense officials, though it's unclear to what extent. As fear spread, many Mexicans spoke out, calling for an end to the violence.

People are aware of this violence, and what they want is peace, to live in harmony and justice, not in war.

Blockades were reported across various states, and classes were suspended in at least three states as officials tried to contain the violence and keep civilians off the streets. I'm tired of seeing this continue every single day. Under El Mencho's command, the cartel expanded rapidly, challenging rivals like the Sinaloa Cartel for control of territory and trafficking routes, according to US and Mexican officials. El Mencho managed to avoid capture for years.

His detention and death is one of the most significant blows to organized crime in recent years and the first high-profile operation under President Claudia Shema. The fall of El Mencho may mark a major security milestone, but with tourism, foreign investment and security for the 2026 World Cup at stake, the world is watching how Mexico handles what comes next. Valeria Leon, CNN, Mexico City.

Well, the violence across Mexico has left some American tourists who have been asked to remain indoors stranded. Tavis Desjenees from Los Angeles is stuck in Puerto Vallarta and joins us now. Travis, thank you so much for being with us. We are so sorry that you and of course the locals are going through all of this. What is it like where you are right now?

Can you just describe the atmosphere and what you've been seeing so far?

Sure.

Thank you, Ben. At the very moment, it's about 11, 10 p.m. It's eerily quiet outside. And I say that listening from my windows, not from the streets, because we have been locked down for the duration of the day. It's been a day filled with anxiety. It started very fast and very loud.

It was, there was a bit of an information vacuum for the first few hours. There was a lot of anecdotal and social media reporting, so to speak, filling in some of those gaps for people. But we really were counting on each other to report to each other, what were you seeing on the street? We shared a lot of videos, a lot of photo, and it was pretty terrifying.

There were some sites that I personally saw just outside my Airbnb unit that I would have never imagined. It really did look and feel like a war zone. And I think that feeling of anxiety, that feeling of what does happen next or what could happen next, is driving what a lot of people are feeling right now. At the very moment though,

the streets, from what I can tell, and from what I'm reading on social media, are quite quiet. So I think we're all in a little bit of a holding pattern

to see what does or what could happen next. And to see a shelter in place warning in what should be a vibrant touristy area, what was your first reaction when things started happening so suddenly?

Unprecedented, I think, is the word that a lot of people would use. I've been coming to Puerto Vallarta for years, and it's a city in a country that I love immensely. It's a beautiful city filled with warm, generous people. And it's also a place where Canadian tourists, American tourists, and tourists from around the world

do see a safe haven, a bit of a paradise. So it is jarring to have that contrast, and especially when you see some of the visuals, some of the sites that actually do look like a war zone in a place that has been celebrated as such a paradise. It has been, of course, very jarring.

And again, the speed and the loudness with which it all happened, it was literally alarming. You didn't really have time to think about like what's happening. You really just want to see what's on the ground, see what's out your window.

Well, these pictures we're seeing while you're speaking are very, very scary. So I'm so sorry you're going through that. Are people actually following the shelter-in-place warnings, or have you seen some movement and activity regardless of that alert?

There has been some movement. I have, I've been going out on the balcony of my unit just to see what's going on, mostly during the day. And around four or five in the afternoon, you did start to see more and more people start to venture out. And I myself, I actually got in the elevator of my building

and there was another pair of tourists in the elevator and we all were kind of deciding like, or thinking about, do we wanna go out? Do we wanna try to see what's open? Especially with lack of food and in some cases, lack of drinkable water,

people are really starting to wonder and ask when it will it be safe for me to go out and explore? When will it be safe for me to maybe go to a store? Will the stores be open? Is it safe for employees to get here? I think those are all questions we're dealing with. Generally, though, I am seeing a great deal of respect for the lockdown, the shelter in place measure. And I think that's evidenced by what we're reading on social media right now. People saying the streets sound so

quiet. The city sounds so quiet.

These pictures are insane. My goodness. Can you just tell us more about the violence that people are seeing first hand? Tourists seeing these roadblocks and burned vehicles and a heavy military presence suddenly. It's mad.

Absolutely. I mean, I woke up to what I thought was a building demolition happening next door. And when I looked outside, I hadn't yet seen, there were some cars diagonally parked in some of the major intersections around my unit. And within maybe 90 minutes to two hours, each of those was lit on fire. And I actually did see and I saw and heard and smelled a group of criminals set a car on fire uh and run. So the city does smell like burnt rubber at the moment. I went up to the roof of my building and

it was uh it was there was a thin layer of of ash and some embers around and you just seen multiple plumes of smoke in the sky, in the horizon throughout the day. And that was one of the other eerie parts, seeing that you could visually spot the spread in the number of violent cases going on at any one time. And you definitely still feel and smell

that hanging in the air. So it is quite jarring. The noise, the visuals, the light, the sound, all of it,, especially the suddenness with which it came on this morning, I think it really did alarm a lot of people.

And I guess a big question is, when are you expecting that this situation is going to change? When are you hoping that the situation's gonna change? Because this is quite a wild current timeline that you're going through.

Absolutely, I hope that it would change tomorrow. I hope that tomorrow we're able to feel, all of us, feel some degree of normalcy and safety in this beautiful, incredible city. That said, I also understand a lot of us are dealing with the in-the-moment reaction.

When is my flight going to be delayed? When am I going to be able to find a meal? When am I going to be able to find a way back to my home? And if I can't find those answers, what are the other answers? What can I do in the meantime?

So I think we're all trying to deal with this with a certain degree of patience and understanding things that are beyond the individual's control. But also, we're very hungry for information. We're very interested in any sort of official information that can help us make some of these decisions. And

that also has been difficult because there is an immense amount of counter information that's in circulation. Is the airport closed or not? Is the airport under control or not? Each of these is a node in a network of decisions that we're all trying to make and all trying to have a certain amount of grace around while also maintaining safety in the moment. So it certainly is a lot going on and I really hope that everybody in this city, everybody in this country is able to feel normalcy and is able to

feel some degree of safety after this. Definitely hope that for the tourists and the locals as well but for now Travis Desjardins, thank you so much we and the locals as well but for now Travis Desjardins, thank you so much we really appreciate it. Stay safe.