The China Mail - Puerto Vallarta: the Mexican paradise in flames over the killing of 'El Mencho'

Dozens of incinerated vehicles lined the streets and some vandalized stores were empty Tuesday, with stunned residents and tourists still in disbelief.

"It feels like we're in a war-zone," Javier Perez, a 41-year-old engineer who lives in the city, told AFP as he went through the parking lot of a grocery store replete with burnt out cars.

It all started when Nemesio "El Mencho" Oseguera, the top leader of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), was killed in a Mexican military raid on Sunday.

His death led to an outbreak of violence across the western state of Jalisco, where massacres and clandestine graves are so common they hardly raise an eyebrow.

Puerto Vallarta, however, had remained almost immune to the state's daily violence, becoming a popular spot for American and Canadian tourists, and expats, escaping brutal winters back home.

Until last Sunday, when black towers of smoke blotted out the sun.

"We had no idea what was going on, and then we saw the bus was burned and the car was burned, and then we saw black smoke all around the city from the window," Farah Saunders, a 53-year-old Canadian retiree, said.

Member of Oseguera's cartel blocked off roads, burned vehicles, attacked gas stations, businesses, and banks and confronted authorities in 20 of the country's 32 states.

Puerto Vallarta Mayor Luis Ernesto Munguia reported on Monday that over 200 vehicles were burned and 40 businesses were vandalized. Beyond that, 23 inmates escaped from the local jail with support from criminals who busted open the door amid riots.

The sky blacked by the smoke from flaming vehicles was visible from Saunders's suite in a luxury hotel along Puerto Vallarta's main strip.

The remains of a bus reduced to scrap metal lay abandoned in the street, while AFP saw dozens of stores and shopping centers along the same corridor that remained closed and deserted.

"We were quite scared, we've never gone through something like this in Canada," said Saunders, who came here with her husband from Alberta, excited by the good reputation Vallarta has among their fellow citizens.

"Some 20,000 of us live here," she added.

She and her husband, who should have returned to their country on Monday, remain stranded by the cancellation of flights by US and Canadian airlines following the operation against "El Mencho."

- Costco attack -

Twelve kilometers from the hotel zone, crossing empty streets with minimal traffic, residents in the well-off neighborhood of Fluvial Vallarta wandered through the parking lot of a Costco wholesaler.

The cartel gunmen had no mercy for Costco on Sunday, where they burned over 40 vehicles.

Silent, Javier Perez walked through the expanse of destroyed vehicles accompanied by his family.

"Unfortunately, this happened to our city, which is a beautiful place," he told AFP.

A resident of Puerto Vallarta for 16 years, Perez questioned whether the government could have alerted the population so they could take cover before the ensuing violence.

- 'Bad Image' -

Other residents lost more than just their cars, as their businesses were incinerated down to the cement, including a motorcycle store in the southern La Vena neighborhood.

Said Diaz, 20, inspected the store where barely ten days earlier he fulfilled his dream of buying a motorcycle.

"When I came, I was so impressed with all the bikes here, and now there is nothing... Every time I came home from work I took some time to look at them," said the young man, who works at a beachside condominium complex frequented by foreigners.

"This has left Vallarta with a really bad image. I work in a condo and now a lot of people are leaving," Diaz added, expressing worries over the potential impacts to his employment.

K.Lam--ThChM