‘Impossible to help our families’: Montrealers fear for loved ones after violence in Mexico

As violence rocked parts of Mexico on Sunday following the killing of cartel boss Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, Montrealers with family in the country are on edge.

Eliana León and Ana Isabel López are the owners of Morena Mia, a Mexican restaurant in Montreal’s Ville-Marie borough.

The pair, who have been in Montreal for two years, said they’re sad and worried for their loved ones in Mexico. They’re also saddled with a feeling of helplessness.

“We feel frustrated because it’s impossible to help our families,” said León.

López, who is from Guadalajara in Jalisco — not from from Puerto Vallarta, a beach town where much of Sunday’s violence was centred — still has most of her family living there.

She says violence linked to the cartels is a daily reality, and there’s always a concern that something could happen.

López said she’s especially worried about her teenage nephews in Guadalajara, saying teens in the city are often taken from their families and forced to join cartels.

“Every day, people disappear in Guadalajara,” she said. “Every day.”

And it’s not just limited to Guadalajara.

At Montreal’s Café Latino Comunitario, a hub for the Mexican community, Darinel de Jesus Ramirez Ramirez recounted how he left his home state of Chiapas for Canada three years ago.

“They were grabbing all the young people to put them in the cartel and compete for the area,” he said.

He said the violence, which stemmed from a cartel turf war, was awful.

“Sometimes, I don’t want to remember it,” he said. “Cars were driving by and in the neighbourhood over, they would start throwing bombs. You could hear strong detonations. They were awful.”

Now he’s worried for his sister and his grandmother, who still live in the area.

He fears the same could happen again as the cartels jostle for power in the wake of Oseguera Cervantes’s death.

The leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) was wounded in a clash with federal authorities and died from his injuries while en route to Mexico City, the Secretariat of National Defence said in a statement on Sunday.

Mass violence flared in several parts of Mexico after authorities announced the special forces operation to capture Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho.”

Worry things will get worse

Meanwhile, Mexican Montrealer Irlanda Espinoza, who has lived in Canada for 25 years, is wondering when her family will be back. Her aunt left Montreal a few days ago for Mazatlan, Sinaloa.

It’s located roughly 450 kilometres north of Puerto Vallarta, where a shelter in place order remained in effect on Monday.

Espinoza said her family isn’t venturing out “because even the buses and everything is stopped now,” she said.

Much of the anxiety stems from not knowing if things will get worse before they get better and how long the ordeal will last.

With news that cartel members are setting cars on fire in the streets and highways, they don’t dare drive to the airport, she said.

Multiple Canadian airlines have cancelled flights in and out of Puerto Vallarta, though some are set to resume on Tuesday.

Espinoza was supposed to join on the family trip but changed her mind. She said it’s hard to plan visits because you never know when violence might flare up.

Such safety concerns are part of the reason her 17-year-old son has never visited the country.

“I don’t want to bring him there because I cannot take this chance,” she said. “Sorry but I love my Mexico, but when I go, I do it alone.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Monday that she was told by her Mexican counterpart that he expects the situation will normalize in the coming days.

Anand, however, cautioned that the security situation in the country remained fluid and urged Canadians to follow advice from local officials.