As stability returns to Mexico, here’s what Canadian travellers should know

Global Affairs Canada is now telling Canadians in Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara to head to airports only if they have a confirmed flight, “and it’s safe to do so,” two days after violence erupted across Mexico.

“The situation in Mexico is becoming more stable … though the volatility and instability differs throughout the country,” Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand told reporters in Ottawa on Tuesday morning.

“For that reason, we are advising Canadians who remain in Mexico at this time to follow the advice of local authorities.”

CBC News has reached out to GAC multiple times for clarity on that advice and not yet heard back.

But according to a government news release in Jalisco state, all economic and productive activities there were scheduled to resume Tuesday, including the reopening of self-service stores, convenience stores, wholesale markets, banking institutions and intercity transport routes.

After the death of a notorious cartel leader as part of a government operation, gunmen blocked highways and set cars ablaze in several cities on Sunday, citizens in multiple regions were being advised to shelter in place and Canadian airlines cancelled flights to and from the region.

Global Affairs Canada (GAC) is still advising people to exercise a high degree of caution if they are in Mexico and to avoid non-essential travel in several states, saying that the security situation “could deteriorate rapidly” across the country.

By late Monday night, GAC updated its warning to add that, “while no new significant security incidents were reported in those areas on Feb. 23, further incidents are possible in these locations and in other areas across Mexico.”

The agency noted that local authorities are reopening roads, airports in Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara are open, and international flights are scheduled to resume Tuesday — but that shelter-in-place orders still remain in effect in Jalisco and Nayarit.

“Travel to the airport only if you have a confirmed flight, and it is safe to do so.”

Air Canada, WestJet, Air Transat and Porter have all said they will resume scheduled flights on Tuesday, while Flair said it will resume service on Wednesday.

About 55,000 Canadians in Mexico have registered with GAC as of Tuesday morning, Anand said.

Returning to normal

Les Wallace, 63, of Oakville, Ont., says it appears to him that things are returning to “near normal” in Nuevo Vallarta, just north of Puerto Vallarta, where he and his wife are staying in a resort.

He noted that grocery stores reopened Monday, albeit with long lineups, and that Tuesday’s farmer’s market is open, with most vendors on site.

“Who knows what tomorrow brings, but it seems we are back on track,” Wallace told CBC News.

He added, however, he’s aware that staying at a resort offers limited perspective on what it may be like in the heart of Puerto Vallarta.

“At the resort, it’s beers by the pool as usual.” 

According to the Jalisco government news release, which is written in Spanish, officials have strengthened their surveillance of land routes “to guarantee the safe return of people who were sheltered in vacation destinations last weekend.”

And in Puerto Vallarta, officials deployed personnel to guarantee the resumption of public transportation services, food supplies and services for the Hotel Zone and the general population, the news release adds.

However, it notes Jalisco is still under a code red, and the government will decide today whether that continues.