Tourist describes horror as violence erupts in Mexico after drug lord El Mencho killed
A British tourist left stranded in a Mexican village as violence swept across the country has described a frightening journey past blocked roads and burnt out cars in a bid to find his way to safety.
Andy Martin, 33, from London was staying in a cabin in El Estuche, just outside of Tapalpa in the western state of Jalisco when Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as El Mencho was killed in a security operation to arrest him.
The death of the leader of the Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) drug cartel sparked a wave of retaliatory violence across the nation, with roads in 20 Mexican states blocked by burning cars, sending plumes of smoke into the air.
Residents in Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-largest city and Jalisco’s capital, were forced to shelter indoors, while schools in several states cancelled classes on Monday.
Mr Martin had been staying with his friend from Guadalajara and had been taking a break in the cabin for the weekend, which was around two hours’ drive away. They had enjoyed a relaxing evening with a barbecue, but then on Sunday morning all they could hear was army helicopters.
Unable to travel safely, he decided to stay an extra night.
“It was super quiet in the whole area around Tapalpa, and we just spent the day in this beautiful cabin, there wasn’t really much else you could do,” he told the Independent. “When it got dark, it suddenly got a bit scary because we were in the middle of nowhere. Apart from the helicopters it was strangely calm.”
The wave of violent attacks were launched by the CJNG on Sunday. The operation to capture El Mencho and the violence which followed killed more than 70 people, the BBC reported.
Puerto Vallarta, a beach resort on Mexico’s Pacific coast, was one town to be anichit by the blockades. During the unrest 23 prisoners escaped after armed men rammed one of the prison gates with a car.
After staying an extra night in the cabin, Mr Martin journeyed into nearby Los Espinos to find out where it would be safe to travel to. Roads were closed and shops were already running low on food with no eggs or cheese.
“We didn’t know what roads were blocked or set on fire,” he explained and described a “controlled panic” and anxiety among other people staying in the cabins who had all been caught off guard by the unrest.
He grouped together with others staying in the area and left Los Espinos at 1.30pm for Guadalajara as a “mini convoy” leaving his belongings behind and only carrying a bag containing his passport and a phone charger.
“I said to my friend what is the worst case scenario, they take the car and we have to find another way. So we just packed a little rucksack each with a passport and a phone charger. If the worst happens we just need to get out of the car and you grab that,” Mr Martin said.
“I didn’t hear a single car pass the cabin but then from midday everybody was leaving,” he added.
The roads became jammed with traffic and passers by warned them of closed roads ahead, fallen trees, burnt out buses.
“Coming into Guadalajara there were still bits of the road on fire. There was the army in lots of places still just clearing up,” he recalled.
He added that his friend “felt so much better” when they headed out of Los Espinos and “got to that first blockade that had been cleared and saw the army.”
Source: independent.co.uk
