The US government has not changed its travel advisory for Mexico, despite the recent incident between the army and Sinaloa drug cartel last week, where three aircraft were fired on by members of the cartel following the arrest by the Mexican army of drug cartel leader, Ovidio Guzmán.
The arrest also led to clashes between the army and the cartel in Sinaloa and Sonora.
Cartel members shot live ammunition at an AeroMexico Embraer E190 operating flight AM165 between Culiacán and Mexico City. Passengers and crew members were forced to take cover from gunfire as the aircraft readied for departure. The aircraft returned to the gate with no injuries to anyone on board.
The incident affected daily life across Sinaloa. Public offices and private companies closed, people remained locked in their homes and three airports, Culiacán International (CUL), Mazatlán International (MZT), and Los Mochis International (LMM) closed for the day.
South African travel experts advised Travel News that the incident was strictly related to the arrest of the kingpin and that it should not affect tourism to Mexico.
The US travel advisory for travel to Mexico in general is level 2, the same as its advisory for travel to South Africa. But it has issued a security alert for travel to Sinaloa state, which is already one of six Mexican states where it advises US citizens not to travel at all, due to “crime and kidnapping”.
Meanwhile, Canadian carriers WestJet and Sunwing Airlines have decided to cancel select flights to Mexico until further notice in response to the situation. US carriers American Airlines, Sun Country Airlines, United Airlines, and Alaska Airlines have offered customers an opportunity to cancel flights to MZT and CUL airports free of charge, which suggests these airlines may be looking at cancelling flights to those airports should tensions rise in the region.
