Pichilingue, Mexico, March 3, 2026 --  

While Mexico's Pacific resorts struggle against violent drug cartels, Baja California remains free of trouble.

As the Cabo Star ferry departs port en route to Mazatlán, it leaves one world and heads for another. The 100-mile-wide Gulf of California separates Baja California Sur from Sinaloa state. The latter is the territory of the brutal drug cartel of the same name. Baja California Sur, meanwhile, is a peaceful and sparsely populated region filled with beautiful beaches, desert mountain scapes, American vacationers and retired Canadians.

The Mexican government's capture and killing of the New Jalisco Cartel boss El Mencho last week has heightened this divide. The US State Department advises Americans not to travel to many parts of mainland Mexico due to threats of violence from the drug gangs. Sinaloa state is one of these no-go areas, although the city of Mazatlán earns an exception. The State Department publishes a map separating the safer tourist area - the historic center and a two block wide strip along the beach - from the red zone further inland. It reminiscent of the tiny fortified green zone and red zone of Baghdad during the war in Iraq.

Fortunately for Mazatlán, the car burnings and scattered violence that followed last week's raid on the New Jalisco Cartel spared Mazatlán and the rest of Sinaloa. The Sinaloa Cartel which dominates the area has no love for its rivals in Jalisco.

It was instead Puerto Vallarta, the resort town on the northern end of Jalisco state, that saw vehicles burning in roadblocks and frightened tourists. Cruise ships and flights, temporarily suspended, have now resumed to Puerto Vallarta.

But the risk is that the same violence that still grips Sinaloa state - especially due to fragmentation and infighting since the capture and 2016 is extradition of its drug cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman¹, might now spread to Jalisco State, If it does, Puerto Vallarta may find itself like Mazatlán, similarly besieged by a ring of violence with a narrow coastal tourist zone and a "do not travel" zone further Inland.

Many cruise lines that visit Puerto Vallarta stop in Mazatlán, too. Mazatlán was featured as a carefree port in weekly episodes of The Love Boat TV series back in the 1980s. But following the flareup in drug violence 15 years ago, many cruise lines stopped going to Mazatlán and cruise visits declined by nearly 80 percent in 2011². The security situation in Mazatlán has stabilized in recent years, and cruise ships have since returned. But the potential fragmentation and infighting in the New Jalisco Cartel risks a similar flareup in Jalisco and Puerto Vallarta.

Of course, tourists are rarely victimized by Mexico's drug gangs, and those few who are typically went looking for trouble. But even the perception of insecurity can cause a decline in tourist visits, which can lead to closed businesses, then vacant buildings and blighted areas. This is what has happened to parts of Acapulco another famed Mexican Pacific resort from the 1950s that has fallen on hard times after getting an unsafe reputation.

Whatever the fate of Mazatlán and Puerto Vallarta, the resorts of Baja California appear safe from the troubles across the water. As Mexico struggles to get its violent drug cartels under control, this Gulf of California is a welcome barrier to avoid the spread of violence from the mainland.

Notes:

1. BBC News, 'Fear is everywhere': BBC Reports From Mexican City Turned Into War Zone by Drug Cartel Feud, February 26, 2026

2. ABC News, Mexican port suffers loss of cruise ships, February 20, 2012