February 24 2026, 08:15 
Puerto Vallarta saw widespread mayhem on Sunday, following the
According to the Associated Press, the Mexican army carried out an operation Sunday to capture Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, the most powerful criminal organization in the country. Cervantes was reportedly injured and died while being transported to Mexico City.
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In a Sunday X post, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that the U.S. had “provided intelligence support to the Mexican government in order to assist with” the operation.
Cities across Mexico quickly descended into chaos, with suspected gang members reportedly pulling people from their cars at gunpoint before setting the vehicles on fire and blocking roads at more than 250 points in 20 Mexican states. On Sunday, authorities had already reported at least 14 deaths, according to the AP.
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As CNN reports, the U.S. State Department urged American nationals in Mexico to “seek shelter and remain in residences or hotels,” as the violence spread, and several U.S. airlines canceled flights to and from the country.
In Puerto Vallarta, American tourists shared videos of the scene with LGBTQ+ outlet Uncloseted Media. One clip showed Mexican military helicopters circling as vacationers continued to lounge by the pool at an LGBTQ+ resort. Another showed a similar scene, with pillars of smoke rising from the surrounding city. A third, filmed in the city’s Zona Romántica gayborhood, showed the gas tank of a bus that had been set on fire exploding, the flames spreading to a nearby building.
American actor Jason Dottley, who lives in Puerto Vallarta, wrote in a Sunday Facebook post that cartel members had “blown up” a store that shared a wall with his apartment, along with five cars on his block. Video Dottley shared shows two cars in flames blocking an intersection.
“We are [in] lockdown and scared to leave as they have threatened to shoot anyone in the [streets],” Dottley wrote.
American drag performer Hedda Lettuce, who also lives in Puerto Vallarta, recorded several videos of the destruction she witnessed in her neighborhood on her walk home from a Sunday brunch gig. The clips show several burnt-out cars, some of them still in flames, and all blocking intersections, as stunned citizens look on.
In two other clips, filmed from her home, Lettuce captured the moment when two men set a nearby convenience store ablaze, and the fire was raging.
On Monday morning, Lettuce shared two more videos of the quiet aftermath of Sunday’s destruction, reporting that a nearby store had opened to feed the neighborhood. “That’s how people do it in this community. They open their arms and their stores and make even the most difficult times bearable,” Lettuce said in one clip.
During her daily news conference on Monday morning, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum reassured the public that “there is already more calm and there is government, there are armed forces, there is a security cabinet, and there is a lot of coordination,” according to CNN. “Peace, security, and normalcy are being maintained in the country,” Sheinbaum said.
But as The New York Times notes, that peace could be short-lived. Analysts told the paper that Cervantes’ death will likely lead to “a war of succession” among his four commanders, with violence spreading across Mexico.
“This is good for Washington, without a doubt, because what they are looking for is weakened cartels and a reduction of drug shipments,” security consultant David Saucedo told the paper. “This is bad news for Mexico because smaller cartels mean more violent cartels, and homicides and other crimes will rise.”
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