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Americans recount chaos as Mexico unrest subsides after cartel boss death
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MEXICO CITY: Firsthand accounts are emerging from Americans trapped by this week’s cartel-related violence in Mexico following the death of cartel boss Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho.”
As news spread of the Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG) cartel boss’s murder, reports described armed clashes between rival criminal organizations and Mexican security forces, as well as coordinated vehicle burnings and temporary highway blockades. Mexican authorities say that such operations are often linked to internal cartel disputes or targeted law enforcement actions.
With the situation improving, Americans in the tourist area of Puerto Vallarta and beyond shared their experiences of the violent scenes they were caught up in.
A soldier stands guard by a charred vehicle after it was set on fire in Cointzio, Michoacán state, Mexico, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, after the death of the leader of the Jalisco New Generation cartel, Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho.” (Armando Solis/AP Photo)
“My group was seven people, and we were on our way to the main port in Puerto Vallarta with a local shuttle driver when we saw a bus stopped horizontally across the road in front of us. At first, we thought it was an accident, but then we saw people running full speed away from the bus,” Colorado resident Scott Posilkin told Fox News Digital.
“As we were trying to register what was happening, we saw a man with a gun come around the far side of the bus. He waved it at us and gave us a hand signal to turn around, which we immediately did. We tried to head in the opposite direction, but we encountered another burning car, which left us essentially trapped between the two.”
He continued, “We went down to the only beach we could access. One of the locals advised us that the safest place for us would be out on the water. We took a tender boat out to the snorkeling boat we were supposed to be on and stayed there for a few hours. From the water, we could see what looked like much of the town burning.”
Posilkin said, “Getting a boat back to shore took a long time, and at one point we even considered swimming because there was no one on the beach to come get us. The captain said he had never seen the beach empty like that in his life, and he grew up there. We eventually flagged down a passing tender that brought us to shore. There were cartel members on a motorcycle who yelled ‘Viva Mexico’ at us, but we did not feel that they were threatening us in any way. Both our shuttle driver and the locals assured us that the cartel was not interested in harming Americans and that it was still safest for us to get home that way.”
A burned-out bus in the Puerto Vallarta area of Mexico. (Photo courtesy of Scott Posilkin)
Posilkin gave credit to the locals for their help and support. “I want to emphasize how above and beyond the locals went to help us during an incredibly stressful situation. Everyone we interacted with — from our boat captain to our shuttle driver — had grown up here, and none of them had ever seen anything like this before… More than anything, I feel bad for the locals. Tourism is their livelihood, and I worry about the impact this will have on them. This experience hasn’t changed my love for travel or for Mexico, though it was a serious ordeal.”
TROOPS REINFORCE PUERTO VALLARTA AS UNREST SHOWS SIGNS OF EASING FOLLOWING EL MENCHO’S DEATH
Tourists walk past a burned shop in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco state, Mexico, on Feb. 24, 2026, after cartel-linked violence erupted following the death of Jalisco New Generation cartel leader Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes. (Alfredo Estrella/AFP via Getty Images)
Rodolfo Flores, an American citizen and executive in the energy sector talked to Fox News Digital: “Although it wasn’t one of the worst-affected areas, on Sunday I saw a convenience store in Querétaro that had been burned down with a Molotov bomb.”
He said, “On the way to Mexico City, we saw cars and trucks that had been set on fire. This is just one example of how vulnerable we are, and it’s astonishing how these criminal organizations can terrorize the population. The authorities are to blame for allowing them to grow and expand with highly effective criminal cells.”
Security analysts note that cartel violence often intensifies following high-profile arrests, internal leadership disputes, or shifts in territorial control. Public displays of force — such as coordinated blockades or attacks on infrastructure — can serve as demonstrations of operational capacity.
Smoke rises after violence hit Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. (Photo courtesy of Scott Posilkin)
Another American, who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons, told Fox News Digital, “I left Coalcoman Michoacan on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. when the chaos began. As I left town, I saw them burning cars and trucks, pulling people out of their vehicles, and setting them on fire. Luckily, I managed to escape and cross the mountains; it’s a mountainous region. All along the way, I kept seeing burning cars and armed people. I was fortunate that they didn’t stop me,” he said.
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“I made it all the way to Colima and then to Guadalajara. Later, things got worse in my town. I heard they started burning gas stations and set fire to a supermarket. They closed off the town so people couldn’t get in or out.”
On Tuesday afternoon, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico posted an update stating that “U.S. citizens are no longer urged to shelter in place.”
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President Masoud Pezeshkian invoked one of Iran’s strongest wartime symbols on May 24, signaling Tehran’s resolve to hold its ground against the U.S. and Israel across the region, a counterterrorism expert said.
The Iranian leader’s remarks came at a key moment in diplomacy, as President Donald Trump said a deal with Tehran to end the war is “largely negotiated” and warned the U.S. would either sign “a great and meaningful” agreement or walk away entirely.
While Iran signaled broad agreement with Washington on some points, it said a final deal is not imminent and that negotiations over the remaining details are still underway.
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Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks with Fox News Channel’s Martha MacCallum during an interview in New York City on Sept. 25, 2025. (John Lamparski/Getty Images)
In an X post marking the anniversary of the 1982 recapture of Khorramshahr from Iraqi forces during the Iran-Iraq War, Pezeshkian said, “Khorramshahr today is Iran, the Persian Gulf, and the Strait of Hormuz,” adding that “resistance, self-sacrifice, and repelling aggression are rooted in the culture of this land.”
Analysts claimed Pezeshkian was deliberately invoking one of the deepest ideological touchstones of the Islamic Republic — the battle that came to symbolize national resistance, civilian sacrifice and defiance against invasion.
“This is the Iran-Iraq War reference, and the timing is the point,” said Dr. Omar Mohammed, director of the Antisemitism Research Initiative Program on Extremism at George Washington University.
May 24 marks the anniversary of the 1982 liberation of Khorramshahr, the southwestern city Saddam Hussein captured early in the war and Iranian forces retook after months of brutal urban combat.
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An Iranian flag is placed amid rubble next to a destroyed residential building near Ferdowsi Square in Tehran on March 3, 2026. (Atta Kenare/AFP)
“This is one of the Islamic Republic’s foundational mythological moments — civilian resistance, mass sacrifice, repelling an ‘aggressor army.’ Roughly what the Great Patriotic War is to Russia. The rhetorical move is the extension,” Mohammed told Fox News Digital.
“He’s mapping the 1980-82 defensive-war frame onto the current confrontation: Iran attacked by an aggressor, ordinary citizens (‘battle-untested but brave’) expected to stand and fight, with ‘resistance, sacrifice, repelling aggression’ cast as the cultural default mode.”
Some of the phrasing, Mohammed said, also evokes volunteer and Basij fighters versus a professional invading army. The analyst noted that Pezeshkian’s “Hormuz line” comment reflects a standard Iranian escalation tactic.
IRAN TO HOLD LIVE-FIRE DRILLS IN STRAIT OF HORMUZ WITH US ARMADA IN MIDDLE EAST
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and President Donald Trump stand together in an official setting. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)
“Invoking the strait inside a wartime-mobilization frame — even rhetorically — is a deliberate signal, not throat-clearing,” he added.
“The Khorramshahr frame is the deepest register the regime has. It’s what they reach for to signal existential war, not a managed crisis.”
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Mohammed explained that Pezeshkian’s X post is framing the current confrontation from the presidential account to send a “high-stakes message.”
“It’s also a tell on internal posture: Khorramshahr, in short, means ‘we are being invaded and we will not negotiate,’” he added.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has announced that her country will host the Iranian national football team during the upcoming FIFA World Cup, due to tensions with the United States.
On Monday, Sheinbaum said that FIFA, the global football governing body, had approached Mexico about hosting Iran, after the US said it did not wish to do so.
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“We have no reason to deny them the possibility of staying in Mexico,” Sheinbaum said during her daily media conference.
Previously, Iran had been scheduled to play all three of its group matches in the US.
But the administration of US President Donald Trump has previously said it is not “appropriate” for Iranian team members to be in the country, “for their own life and safety”.
It has yet to grant the Iranian team the necessary visas to travel to the US, despite Trump’s assertion that players and staff would be “welcome”.
Since February 28, the US and Israel have been at war with Iran, and peace negotiations are tense but ongoing.
The head of Iran’s football federation, Mehdi Taj, confirmed on Sunday that the team planned to move its training base from Tucson, Arizona, to the Mexican border city of Tijuana.
Taj explained that team leaders got approval for the move after meeting with FIFA officials in Istanbul, as well as holding an online conference with FIFA’s Secretary General, Mattias Grafstrom.
Switching the team’s base to Mexico, Taj said, would help avoid visa complications, with the team able to travel directly to Mexico aboard Iran Air flights.
But the US-Israeli war against Iran has cast a pall over the World Cup, making the Iranian team’s participation uncertain.
Roughly 3,468 people have been killed in Iran since February’s war began, and more than 26,500 have been injured. Further fatalities have been reported across the region.
The war has also thrown the global economy into turmoil, driving up the costs of fuel and agricultural fertiliser, among other goods.
Iran’s football team has long been a top squad in its region: It currently ranks near the top of the Asian Football Confederation. Its participation in the 2026 tournament marks its fourth straight World Cup qualification.
Trump, however, has sent mixed messages about Iran’s presence at the World Cup, suggesting at times that Iran should sit out the tournament. At other moments, he has expressed ambivalence.
In March, for instance, Politico asked Trump about Iran’s presence at the World Cup. Trump reportedly responded, “I really don’t care”, before calling Iran a “badly defeated country”.
The US, Mexico and Canada are co-hosting the games, with 78 matches in the US alone, including the final. Kick off is on June 11.
Iran is set to play its first two Group G matches in Los Angeles against New Zealand on June 15 and Belgium on June 21, before facing off against Egypt in Seattle on June 26.
The Trump administration’s hardline approach to immigration has raised additional concerns about whether the US will be a welcoming host for fans from around the world.
Already, Trump has moved to suspend visa processing for applicants from nearly 75 countries, including Iran, Brazil, Colombia, Ivory Coast and Senegal, which have teams at the World Cup.
Residents from some of those countries, however, are not required to receive visas to enter the US for short-term visits.
On Monday, Sheinbaum explained that she had been approached by the Iranian team and FIFA officials for help hosting players and staff.
“The United States doesn’t want the Iranian team to spend the night,” Sheinbaum said. “So they asked us, ‘Can we stay the night in Mexico?’ We said sure, no problem.’”
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