SOMERS, N.Y. - A Somers woman who had to temporarily shelter in place while on vacation in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, during the recent violence says she found things more frustrating than frightening due to the lack of available, credible information.
Karen Korman and several members of her family -- including her five-month-old grandchild -- were staying at a condominium resort on Sunday, Feb. 22 just five miles from the center of the picturesque beach town when the military’s killing of drug kingpin Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes sparked widespread retaliation.
News outlets later reported that the subsequent clashes between the Mexican government’s security forces and cartel members had spread to 20 of Mexico’s 32 states.
Vehicles were torched. Highways blocked. Shops and public buildings were vandalized. Dozens of people were reported dead in the fighting.
The U.S. State Department warned citizens to take refuge indoors.
In Puerto Vallarta, cartel roadblocks triggered cancellations of domestic and international flights and left tourists unsure of when they’d be able to leave.
Meanwhile, disinformation was rampant as events unfolded.
Social media posts falsely claimed that the airport in Guadalajara, another popular tourist spot, had been taken over by the cartel. The airport quickly debunked the claim. It remained operational and secured by the Mexican military and National Guard forces.
Other anxiety-producing rumors had been that cartels were planning to move into hotels and also to round up American citizens.
By Tuesday, Feb. 24, the U.S. Embassy announced that the shelter in place advisory had been lifted and that public transportation and businesses were resuming operations.
(Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico, operator of the Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara airports, reported that it was operating 95 percent and 96 percent of scheduled flights, respectively, according to media reports.)
Information Lacking
Korman was staying at the condo in Puerto Vallarta for 10 days with her daughter, son-in-law, tiny grandson, and husband, Barry, when things erupted.
The community where she was seemed calm, safe, and removed from all the unrest.
However, Korman could see smoke rising from downtown Puerto Vallarta in the far distance and hear the wop-wop-wop of military helicopters as they flew low over the beach.
While she couldn’t say that alone wasn't scary, it was more disturbing not to know exactly what was going on, Korman said.
A lot of the information folks were picking up from the outside seemed wrong, incomplete, or deliberately misleading.
It was hard to know what was “real or imagined,” she added.
One of the things that was true was that the Costco where they had shopped in the city had to temporarily close after a dozen cars, two semis, and a motorcycle had been burned in its parking lot.
The Kormans’ condo had a fully stocked kitchen, so they weren’t worried about food while hunkered down.
The bigger supply fear was that they might run out of diapers for the baby.
Once the shelter-in-place advisory and other restrictions were lifted, they cautiously ventured out.
On the way to a shopping center, Korman saw several burnt-out vehicles by the roadside. The blackened carcasses had already been removed by the time she was driving back.
As for traveling safely back to the U.S., she told Halston Media that she wasn’t worried.
Buses were taking folks to the local airport. Extra flights were being made. Airlines, apparently concerned about the tourism dollar, weren’t hitting passengers with re-scheduling fees.
As of this writing, Korman was planning to eventually fly out of Puerto Vallarta to Mexico City and then back to the U.S.
Having experienced the isolation of lockdown in New York City during the COVID crisis and the sorrow of the horrific 9/11 attacks, she’s realistically able to put things in perspective.
“This one goes into the archives as well,” Korman said, noting that she felt privileged to have been able to visit Mexico and promising that recent events won’t discourage her from coming back to the country.
At last check, Korman was back on the beach, grateful for her family’s safety and for the chance to again enjoy the warmth, sunshine, and the beauty of the Pacific Ocean.
(She was also trying very, very hard not to think about snow back in Westchester.)
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