Calgary woman in Mexico describes deserted streets amid cartel violence

A Calgary woman visiting Mexico says there's been a lot of uncertainty over the past 24 hours following an eruption of violence in the Mexican state of Sinaloa.

Carmen Galvez is staying in Mazatln, a resort area inSinaloa. The region saw widespread violence Thursday following the arrest of alleged drug trafficker Ovidio (The Mouse) Guzman, a son of former cartel boss Joaquin (El Chapo) Guzman.

On Thursday, the Canadian government urged Canadians in the area to limit their movements and shelter in place. It said violence is particularly fierce in Mazatln, Culiacan, Los Mochis and Guasave.

"It is scary, because you don't know how far it goes or how safe we are," Galvez said.

"Usually the violence has not come to Mazatln, but this time it's everywhere. It's everywhere."

Galvez said she went out to get food on Friday.

"The roads were deserted. Like nobody was in the roads, there was no buses, and you saw no police and no military," she said.

Galvez said she is scheduled to return to Calgary on Tuesdayand is monitoring flights.

WestJet says Mazatlnflights will resume Saturday

The Culiacn and Mazatln airports were closed, and all flights were suspended at Los Mochis airport Thursday.

On Friday, however, Mazatlnairport said in a tweet it isoperating at 100 per cent, adding it recommends travellers contact their airline to find out the status of their flights.

Culiacnairport also tweeted that it had reopened Friday.

A flight operated by Sunwing Airlines, which was destined for Mazatln from Calgary on Friday, was cancelled.

"In consultation with government, and out of an abundance of caution, we are cancelling all of today's southbound departures to Mazatln. This affects departures from Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Kelowna and Vancouver," Sunwing said in an emailed statement.

The airline added that northbound return flights have been impacted by delays, and recovery flights are in the process of being scheduled.

In a statement Friday, WestJet said that due to Mazatln International Airport's reopening, operations to Mazatln are scheduled to resume on Saturday. On Friday, it cancelled two flights, one from Vancouver to Mazatln and another from Mazatln to Vancouver.

An Air Canada spokesperson said in an emailed statement that none of the regions the company flies to are affected by the unrestbut noted the company is "watching the situation closely."