Mexico: UK Foreign Office issues urgent warning as flights are cancelled due to drug cartel violence
Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast
The Independent
3.6 • 628 Ratings
🗓️ 23 February 2026
⏱️ 7 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Many thousands of tourists are stranded in the resort of Puerto Vallarta after violence erupted following the killing of narcotics kingpin ‘El Mencho’. Most are American and Canadian visitors – dozens of flights were diverted or cancelled at Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara due to the upsurge in violence.
The vast majority of British travellers are in and around Cancun, 1,000 miles from the trouble. Should they be worried?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to today's independent travel podcast with me Simon Calder. It's Monday the 23rd of February. |
| 0:10.8 | Mexico is a country that I love. I've been travelling there for decades to the magnificent capital city, |
| 0:19.1 | to the beaches of Cancun and the rest of the Mayan Riviera, |
| 0:24.9 | as it's called, named after one of the great civilizations of the region. |
| 0:30.4 | I've travelled to the Pacific beaches as well to resorts like Watulco, Puerto Escondido and Puerto Vallata, and to some of the most atmospheric |
| 0:42.2 | cities anywhere in the Americas such as beautiful Oaxaca. But it is also a country of considerable |
| 0:51.6 | violence, all tied up with the drugs trade to the US and travellers in the |
| 0:58.5 | southwestern state of Halisco have been warned to stay indoors as violence erupted following |
| 1:05.5 | Sunday's killing of the drug cartel Kingpin Nemesio Oseguera-Sivantes. He was the leader of the drug cartel, Kingpin Nemesio Oseguera Sevantes. |
| 1:13.0 | He was the leader of the Halisco New Generation Cartel, one of the biggest organized crime gangs |
| 1:21.7 | in Mexico, and he was killed during a Mexican military operation with some US assistance. |
| 1:30.9 | He was known as El Mentiono and in revenge for his killing, violence has erupted across the state of |
| 1:39.3 | Halisco and elsewhere. The foreign office warned last night of serious security incidents, |
| 1:47.8 | including in Guadalajara, that's one of the venues for the 2026 World Cup, and Puerto Vallata. |
| 1:56.0 | The authorities, say the Foreign Office in Puerto Vallata, have issued a public advisory to stay indoors. |
| 2:03.6 | Roots to the airport may be blocked and the advice overall is exercise extreme caution, follow local |
| 2:11.7 | authorities' advice, including holders to stay inside and avoid non-essential travel in affected areas. |
| 2:20.2 | The US Embassy went one stage further. |
| 2:22.7 | They said shelter in place until further notice, both in the state of Halisco, as well as some other parts of the country. |
| 2:31.3 | Now, for many thousands of travellers, particularly from the US and Canada, |
| 2:37.5 | there are serious problems because they are stranded today in the very popular resort of Puerto |
| 2:44.8 | Viata. On Sunday, at least 30 flights departing from mainly American and Canadian airports for Puerto Vallata |
... |
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