Violence in Puerto Vallarta Was Horrifying, but Shouldn’t Be Surprising; More Delays on the Indian Canyon, Vista Chino Bridge Projects–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: Feb. 23, 2026

Indy Digest: Feb. 23, 2026

Puerto Vallarta is one of my absolute favorite locales. It was the most recent place where the hubby and I vacationed; we have a lot of friends and acquaintances who live there, own property there, or are frequent visitors—so it was horrifying to see the images of the violence and destruction yesterday.

It was horrifying, but it wasn’t surprising.

Fortunately, order started to be restored today. Here’s The New York Times’ lede:

Shasta Townsend, a Canadian who helps foreigners relocate to the Mexican tourist magnet Puerto Vallarta, was driving into the city Sunday morning when she spotted a large column of smoke off in the distance.

Several cars along the road had flat tires—and it soon became clear why. As she looked on, she said, two men on a motorcycle pulled up and started scattering spikes on the road.

“That was a little heart-racing,” Ms. Townsend said.

Hours earlier, Mexican security forces had killed the most powerful cartel leader in the country. Now the cartel was wreaking revenge, blocking roadways and setting shops afire across Mexico. And some tourist towns like Puerto Vallarta, ordinarily spared Mexico’s drug violence, were also in the cross-hairs.

On Monday, the coastal city was still shrouded in smoke and unease, but with the violence appearing to abate, people began venturing out onto the streets.

The mayor of Puerto Vallarta, Luis Ernesto Munguía, said the city was taking emergency measures to restore order, including restoring public transportation services.

A day earlier, the U.S. government had advised stranded Americans to “shelter in place” in parts of the country. Cruise ships quickly recharted their courses, taking a pass on a popular tourist destination now plunged into chaos.

As for the killing of that cartel leader, here’s how the NYT explained things: “Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as ‘El Mencho,’ was the longtime leader of one of Mexico’s most powerful cartels, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, and was widely regarded as one of the country’s most violent criminal figures. He presided over a criminal enterprise that has expanded rapidly over the past decade, producing and selling drugs, extorting local businesses and terrorizing communities across the country. Mr. Oseguera’s killing plunged Mexico into a highly tense moment that could unleash a surge in violence. Past captures of cartel leaders have set off wars between the government and cartels, as well as between opposing factions jockeying for power in the beheaded criminal group.”

While Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, has not seen this type of violence in recent years, make no mistake: The Jalisco New Generation Cartel is part of the very fabric of Puerto Vallarta. and has been for more than a decade.

On Feb. 19—just last Thursday—CBS News reported this:

Kovay Gardens sells itself as a secluded retreat on Mexico’s Pacific coast: a private beach along the Bahía de Banderas, four pools spilling toward the ocean and beds dressed in Egyptian cotton. Guests are promised room service, buffet breakfasts and airport shuttles to the boutique resort outside Puerto Vallarta.

But U.S. officials say that behind the 22-room beachfront timeshare is a cartel-run fraud engine that has drained millions from American visitors.

The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday sanctioned Kovay Gardens, accusing the resort in Nayarit of operating under the direction of the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación, or CJNG. The move also targeted an entire network of people and companies the federal government says worked with the cartel to defraud U.S. citizens, including many older American victims who lost life savings to the schemes.

For more than a decade, CJNG consolidated control over timeshare scams in Puerto Vallarta and the surrounding Bahía de Banderas, according to the U.S. Treasury, expanding influence in a region spanning Jalisco and Nayarit and drawing tens of thousands of U.S. tourists annually.

Officials say that at Kovay Gardens, prospective buyers were lured into sales pitches that promised luxury and vowing unused weeks could generate even more in rental income. Once owners signed contracts, the resort allegedly overcharged credit cards, feeding customer data directly into CJNG-run call centers that launched waves of additional investment scams, allowing the cartel to profit repeatedly from the same victims. After initial losses, Americans were contacted again by callers posing as lawyers or officials who then claimed they could help recover the money for yet another fee, while others were threatened with fines or legal trouble unless they paid, officials say.

In 2024, The New York Times published an in-depth piece on the timeshare-fraud scheme led by CJNC.

Other news stories from the not-too-distant past:

• In February 2022, InSight Crime, a nonprofit think tank that covers organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean, reported: “Recent US sanctions against an alleged Jalisco Cartel operative have revealed that the powerful Mexican group is using the resort town of Puerto Vallarta to process drug cash through nightclubs, bars and restaurants. The US Treasury Department accused Sergio Armando Orozco Rodríguez, alias ‘Chocho,’ of having links to senior members of the Jalisco Cartel New Generation (Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación—CJNG) in a February 17 announcement. Treasury officials said that Orozco Rodríguez has multiple businesses in Puerto Vallarta, where he is alleged to launder money for the cartel and run its extortion rackets in the western beach destination. New businesses were required to get ‘unofficial permission’ from Orozco Rodríguez to open and pay regular fees to the CJNG, according to the Treasury Department.”

• In December 2020: Reuters reported: “The former governor of the Mexican state of Jalisco was shot dead early on Friday in a restaurant bathroom in the beach town of Puerto Vallarta, one of the most high profile political killings since Mexico embarked on its ‘War on Drugs’ in 2006. Jalisco state officials said Aristoteles Sandoval was shot in the back by an unidentified assailant while his security detail were outside. A shootout erupted as his bodyguards began moving Sandoval to hospital. Mexico is struggling to tame raging violence across the country, with Jalisco one of the epicenters of internecine cartel warfare that last year drove murders to an all-time high with 34,670 homicides recorded. Sandoval’s 2013-18 term as governor was overshadowed by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), which rose from obscurity to become one of the most powerful in Mexico, leaving a trail of death and defiance behind it.”

• In August 2016, according to the San Antonio Express-News: “Surveillance footage from La Leche restaurant in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico reveals the moments before the son of Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman’s son was kidnapped early Monday morning. Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar, 29, was among the half-dozen kidnapped at the restaurant by the group’s rival, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, a fact El Chapo learned Wednesday, El Blog del Narco reported. The cartel leader’s attorneys informed him of his son’s disappearance, sources said.”

Of course, no place is completely safe. There is crime everywhere. Heck, our own government has created an atmosphere of terror in parts of these United States over the last year. (As one California expat in Puerto Vallarta told the Los Angeles Times, “The truth is, I feel safer here than I would in Minneapolis right now.”)

There’s an excellent chance I will return to Puerto Vallarta in the coming years, as will myriad other tourists, and the odds are extremely good that if we are careful, we’ll be safe. After all, American tourism is good for business, and therefore good for the cartel (and, on a much happier note, good for all the amazing hard-working locals who make their livings as a result of tourism). And even as bad as yesterday’s events in Puerto Vallarta were, I have not seen any reports of tourists being seriously harmed.

But if you go to Puerto Vallarta, or pretty much anywhere else in Mexico, you shouldn’t be naive: Organize crime is going to be right there with you.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• One more Puerto Vallarta-related item before we move on: This is your periodic reminder that a lot of the images shared and things said on social media are pure crap, and you should verify and/or rely on trusted sources before reposting. Here’s a Politifact piece showing that an oft-shared Puerto Vallarta image from yesterday was fake, generated by AI. And L.A. Taco—which you should follow for both the great food and ICE/immigration coverage—reports that, among other things, the Puerto Vallarta Costco did NOT burn down, despite numerous social media claims it did; in fact, the whole piece, describing what PV is like today, is a worth a read.

• The feds announced that TSA Precheck lines would close down—and then changed course. The Washington Post explains what happened: “The Department of Homeland Security’s plans to temporarily suspend TSA PreCheck were conceived by DHS Secretary Kristi L. Noem and her top adviser, Corey Lewandowski, but then pulled back after the White House intervened, according to a White House official and a person close to the Trump administration. … The department said Saturday that it planned to halt PreCheck, a popular program that allows certain travelers to move through airport security faster, starting at 6 a.m. Sunday, only to reverse itself hours later. The people spoke to The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. The initial announcement received swift pushback from Democrats and air and travel industry groups. Social media users posted Sunday morning that TSA PreCheck lines were operating as planned. The agency has said that Global Entry, a program run by Customs and Border Protection, will remain paused. … In addition to the confusion surrounding the TSA PreCheck announcement, Noem recently has faced broader scrutiny over her management of the department.”

• Speaking of poorly run organizations … we bring you the California Democratic Party, which is getting perilously close to allowing two Republicans to advance to the general election this year. Our partners at Calmatters report on this year’s state party convention: “Eight of the nine Democrats vying for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s seat made their pitch at the California Democratic Party convention Saturday, during a marathon weekend of meeting, greeting, wining and dining as they wooed thousands of Democratic delegates in San Francisco. … Many Democrats found it hard to pick a favorite in such an unusually wide field just two weeks before the deadline to finalize June primary candidates. … The convention underscored the anxiety and frustration throughout the party that two Republicans could advance after the June 2 primary election to the November ballot. Polls for months have shown the top two Republican candidates, former Fox News commentator Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, could beat most Democrats in the race.  Former Oakland mayoral candidate Loren Taylor summed it up at (Eric) Swalwell’s party: ‘We know we need to narrow the field, but nobody’s willing to call it.’”

• Here’s another periodic reminder: Measles is very much again a thing to which you could be exposed. The Los Angeles Times reported last week: “A fourth measles case has been confirmed in Los Angeles County, prompting renewed calls from health officials for residents to ensure they are protected against the highly contagious virus. The infected individual flew from Singapore to Los Angeles International Airport on Feb. 9 aboard Singapore Airlines Flight 38. The plane landed at about 7 p.m. following a 14-hour journey, according to the L.A. County Department of Public Health. Over the following days, the individual visited a few San Gabriel Valley fast food restaurants, potentially exposing others to the measles virus. ‘As measles cases increase, it is important that residents take steps to make sure they are fully protected,’ L.A. County Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis said in a statement. ‘The (measles-mumps-rubella) vaccine is the safest and most reliable way to prevent measles and protect yourself, your family, and your community.’”

• And finally … we’ll conclude with two bits of food-related recall news. First up is … Aldi meatballs! Fox Business says: “Federal regulators announced Sunday a recall of nearly 9,500 pounds of frozen, ready-to-eat meatballs over potential metal fragment contamination. The recall affects New York–based Rosina Food Products’ Italian-styled meatballs, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) said. … The issue was discovered after a consumer reported finding metal fragments in the meatballs. There have been no reports of confirmed injuries, but the department said anyone concerned should contact a healthcare provider. … The impacted packages were distributed to Aldi supermarket locations nationwide. The recall applies to 32-ounce bags of fully cooked, frozen ‘Bremer FAMILY SIZE ITALIAN STYLE MEATBALLS,’ which contain about 64 meatballs per package.“

• And … Trader Joe’s chicken fried rice! USA Today reports: “Ready-to-eat chicken fried rice sold at Trader Joe’s stores across the United States is being recalled due to possible glass contamination, according to a notice shared on the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service website. Ajinomoto Foods North America, an Oregon-based food manufacturer, notified the FSIS after receiving customer complaints. Four customers reported finding glass in the products, although there have been no confirmed reports of injuries, according to the notice the FSIS shared on Feb. 19. … The recalled fried rice comes in a green 20-ounce plastic bag that reads ‘Trader Joe’s Chicken Fried Rice with stir fried rice, vegetables, seasoned dark chicken meat and eggs.’”

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