Harger: I was just there when Puerto Vallarta was beautiful. Days later, it was on fire.

Five days ago, I was watching the sun come up over Puerto Vallarta harbor. It was one of the most beautiful mornings I can remember. I almost sent a picture to Manda and the crew at “Seattle’s Morning News.” I didn’t, because a friend told me to actually be on vacation for once. To unplug.

I really wish I had. Because after what happened Sunday, I don’t know when any of us will see it that way again.

I got home Sunday night from a seven-day cruise with my family aboard the Norwegian Bliss. Puerto Vallarta first, then Mazatlan, then Cabo San Lucas. One of the best trips I’ve taken. I was standing in line at LAX waiting to board my flight home to Seattle when the news started coming through.

What happened Sunday

The Mexican army killed El Mencho, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, in a military operation in Jalisco state. The cartel’s retaliation was immediate. Armed groups set buses and vehicles on fire across the state. Roads were blockaded. The governor activated a Code Red. Tourists at resorts were told not to leave. Air Canada, Southwest, Alaska, and Delta canceled flights. The U.S. State Department issued a shelter-in-place advisory. The streets I walked last week were on fire.

What our drivers told us

In Puerto Vallarta, our cab driver, Pablo, drove us to a resort. We had a day pass. At some point, the conversation turned to the cartels. He explained the arrangement plainly: the cartel made sure tourists stayed safe. Bad for business otherwise. He said it matter-of-factly, the way you’d explain a local zoning ordinance. Then he went quiet. Eyes back on the road. Subject closed.

In Mazatlan, we hired a driver named Alberto for the day. Drove us all around town. Talked our ears off. Same conversation. Same careful explanation. Tourists are safe because the cartel says so. That’s the deal.

A protection racket with good weather. The people of Jalisco didn’t build that arrangement. They inherited it. They live inside it because the alternative has always looked worse.

The Seattle connection

If you drive along the Seattle waterfront during Alaska cruise season, you know the Norwegian Bliss. Come summer, it runs Alaska itineraries out of Seattle. This time of year, it operates out of Los Angeles on the Mexican Riviera run. My family was on it last week.

We disembarked Sunday in LA. The ship turned around, took on new passengers, and the captain announced they would not be going to Puerto Vallarta this week. The Norwegian Bliss has already pulled it from the itinerary. The same ship that will be on Seattle’s waterfront this summer, taking people to Alaska, was docked in Puerto Vallarta days ago.

I wonder if it ever goes back.

Thousands of Northwest families have trips booked to Mexico in the coming weeks. Spring break is one of the busiest travel periods of the year for Seattle-area families. Nobody has a clear answer right now on when it is safe to return, or whether Puerto Vallarta’s tourism economy recovers. The harder question nobody wants to ask: Is this how Acapulco started?

We get what we tolerate, except when you have no choice

I’ve said in this space before that we get what we tolerate. But that assumes you have a choice about what you tolerate. A lot of Mexicans don’t. The corruption runs so deep, and has for so long, that the line between government and cartel blurs in ways that are hard to untangle. Killing El Mencho may prove to be a significant achievement. It may also just create a new power vacuum. When El Chapo fell, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel rose to fill the void. There is no clean move on this board.

I hope Pablo is okay. I hope Alberto is okay. I hope Puerto Vallarta gets its city back.

That sunrise photo I almost sent Wednesday. Same harbor. Sunday, it had smoke and fire and terror and death behind it. Four days apart.

None of this exists without a market. American demand for drugs funds every cartel, every weapon, every burning bus you saw in those videos Sunday. We are not innocent bystanders to what happened in Puerto Vallarta.

Charlie Harger is the host of “Seattle’s Morning News” on KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of his stories and commentaries here. Follow Charlie on X and email him here. 

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