Coloradans stuck in Puerto Vallarta amid cartel violence in Mexico: "It's been scary"

For Colorado tourists in Mexico, their trips to paradise quickly turned into chaos after a weekend of violent retaliation from cartel members following the death of a prominent cartel leader. The notorious leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, known as "El Mencho," was captured and killed Sunday, Mexican authorities said Monday.

"It's been scary. It's been a lot of fluidity, [and] unknowns going on," said Marisa Saturni-Johnson.

Marisa and her husband Matt shared videos and photos from their Airbnb in downtown Puerto Vallarta, as cartel members set cars on fire and blocked traffic into the city.

"Had a great time at that Airbnb for about a week, and then, what was it, Sunday morning," said Marisa. "We woke up, I looked out the window, and I said, 'Oh my god, Matt, I think this bus is on fire.'"

From the roof of their building, they could see other fires being set all over the city.

"Tires were exploding. The glass is exploding. We saw down the street a car that had been parked sideways that had been set on fire so that it could be a roadblock," said Matt. "All of the convenience stores around here, there's 60 or 70, that were lit on fire [and] full of looters after the fires went out."

Just three miles south of Puerto Vallarta, other Coloradans on vacation could see smoke covering the air.

"We've been coming to Puerto Vallarta for close to 20 years. We've never had a problem like this," said Michael Thomas.

"These blockades took part in around 11 states out of 31," said Federico Bass, Deputy Consul General for the Mexico Consulate in Denver.

Bass tells CBS Colorado the violent retaliations in cities across the country were targeting military forces in response to the Mexican government's coordinated plan to take kingpin cartel leader El Mencho into custody. The leader of the Jalisco Nueva Generation cartel group died in an exchange of gunfire as military forces attempted to capture him.

"Those criminals who belong to this group executed some actions to try to stop the actions of Mexican law enforcement, and as a result, they stalled vehicles, set them on fire on the main roads, and attacked other law enforcement officers from the national guard," said Bass.

Bass assures civilians and tourists have not been targeted in the violence over the weekend, and the military now has the cartel's efforts under control.

"As far as I know, nobody's been hurt down here as far as tourists or anything else," said Johnson.

"I'm so glad that this is really coming to a rest, and we're coming out on the other side of it," said Marisa. "We still have a shelter-in-place order."

Marisa and Matt were supposed to leave the country on Monday, but as many tourists in Puerto Vallarta have learned, many flights were canceled or delayed amid security concerns.

"Stayed home last night, it was pretty quiet. Everybody from the building hung out on the roof," said Matt. This morning, we went out and found breakfast, and found a dollar store kind of place that was open.

Marisa and Matt say that despite some of the initial fears, they've found comfort in the hospitality from other tourists and people in the community, working together to get food and supplies.

"We were trying to find help, and some people who were in a compound actually went and purchased for us some Pepsi and some snacks, and then they passed it over the fence to us," said Marisa. "We tried to pay, and they wouldn't accept payment. So, I think this just goes to show, like, humanity is still very much alive in situations like this, where horrible things happen. We can only do things that we can, and that's band together and survive."

They also say this has not discouraged them from traveling to places like Puerto Vallarta in the future.

"It's such a fluid situation right now. I think let's let those who want to get out right now be able to get out. Let's let the locals be able to rebuild some of their stuff. I don't think, as a tourist in general, this is going to deter me," said Matt.

Bass encourages people not to cancel their travel plans, especially to other parts of the country, as things begin to settle down.

"This is a joint effort to stop drug trafficking, to hit drug cartels in order for both the Mexican and the United States people to be safe. These efforts will take a short, even bloody, but short disturbance of the common life, but it's something we need to do for the sake of both our societies," said Bass.

As of Monday night, one flight from Puerto Vallarta did arrive as scheduled into Denver, with at least three more flights scheduled out of Puerto Vallarta to Denver on Tuesday.