When the Embassy Says “Shelter in Place,” Nobody's Coming to Get You

A plane captain in Puerto Vallarta opened his doors and let 80 people board who didn't have tickets. It was one of the last flights out. A guy on that flight told a Texas news station he saw what looked like executions on the drive to the airport. When the plane took off, he looked out the window and saw dozens of people still standing on the tarmac.

The U.S. Embassy told everyone to shelter in place. Canada said they weren't sending evacuation flights. Airlines cancelled everything. Uber and taxis shut down. Roads were blocked with burning cars.

If you don't have a plan for that scenario before you get on a plane to Mexico, you're hoping. And hope got a lot of people stuck in PVR for days.

Your Government Is Not Coming

People don't want to hear this but it's true. Canada said it out loud on February 23. No evacuation flights, figure it out yourself, talk to your airline. The U.S. didn't say it that bluntly but “shelter in place” means the same thing. Sit tight and wait.

And look, that worked for most people. Restaurants started reopening Monday night. Flights trickled back Tuesday. Most tourists were fine. But “most people were fine” is not a security plan. Some people were stuck for days with no food options and no way to get to the airport. Some people watched buildings burn from their hotel balcony. And this was Puerto Vallarta, which has good infrastructure and international attention. If this happens somewhere smaller, somewhere with fewer flights and fewer hotels, it gets worse fast.

Travel insurance doesn't solve this either. I know people think it does. Travel insurance covers your cancelled flight and your lost bag. It does not send a team of guys to come get you when the roads are blocked with burning trucks. That's a completely different service.

There Are People Who Do This

There's a whole industry of former special operations guys who built businesses around exactly this problem. SEALs, Green Berets, Rangers, PJs, intel officers. Guys who spent 10 or 20 years running operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, South America. They got out and started companies that do crisis response and extraction for civilian clients.

These aren't security guard companies. These are operations centers staffed around the clock with people who've actually done this. Route planning, asset coordination, charter aircraft, ground teams, the whole thing. You call, you talk to someone with real operational experience, and they start working your problem immediately.

The industry has been growing for years but February 22 is the first time a lot of regular people realized it existed.

What does it cost

Less than you'd think for the basic stuff. More than you'd hope for the serious stuff.

Annual memberships that cover security evacuation run about $250 to $350. For that you get access to an ops center 24/7 that will actually plan and execute getting you out of civil unrest or a natural disaster. Without that, arranging your own emergency evacuation can cost six figures easy. So if you travel internationally at all, the membership is kind of a no-brainer.

Personal security details, like actual operators on the ground with you, run $2,000 to $3,000 a day per person in the U.S. and Canada. Latin America, Africa, Middle East, you're looking at $3,000 to $5,000 per operator per day. Depends on threat level and how many people you're protecting.

Charter aircraft for extraction run $35,000 on the low end for a smaller plane. Bigger aircraft, longer range, you're looking at $120,000+. Ground teams to move you from a hotel to an airport during an active crisis have gone for $150,000. That's the upper end but it gives you a sense of what the market looks like when demand spikes and everyone is trying to get out at the same time. During a crisis like February 22, prices go up because availability goes down. Everyone wants out and there are only so many operators and aircraft.

Hostage recovery is the top end. $30,000 a day minimum for active situations. Goes up from there fast depending on where it is and how complicated. That's the most experienced guys in the world doing the hardest thing there is and the pricing reflects it.

Corporate programs that cover multiple employees with pre-travel intel, monitoring, and guaranteed response times are usually way less than what one lawsuit would cost. If you're sending people to Mexico for work and you don't have something like this, your legal exposure after February 22 is significant.

What an Extraction Looks Like

You're in Puerto Vallarta. Things go bad. You have someone to call. Here's roughly what happens.

You call and someone answers right away. An actual person, not a recording. They start asking you questions while simultaneously pulling up the threat picture for your area. Where are you. Who's with you. Are you hurt. What's happening outside. Can you move.

Within the hour an ops team is building a plan to get you out. They're figuring out which roads are open from open source intel and social media and their own networks. If they have guys in-country those guys are already moving. They're checking airport status, looking at charter options from other airfields, figuring out if overland or maritime extraction makes more sense.

Then you get a call. Be at this location at this time. Bring your passport. Leave your suitcase. A team shows up and they move you. Could be straight to the airport. Could be a safe house first and then the airport tomorrow. Could be a long drive to a neighboring state where flights are running. These are guys who've driven through worse, and they know what they're doing.

Compare that to sitting in your hotel room refreshing the United app for two days.

This Isn't Going Away

CJNG just lost its boss and nobody knows who takes over. That means factions fighting, unpredictable violence, and an unstable security environment in Jalisco for months. Puerto Vallarta is in Jalisco. Guadalajara, which is hosting World Cup matches in June, is in Jalisco.

The U.S. wants Mexico to keep targeting cartel leaders. So more operations like February 22 are coming. And every single one carries the same risk of retaliatory chaos across the region.

The market for private crisis response is going to keep growing because the gap between what governments can do and what people need keeps getting wider. But the market is also messy. Big firms, small shops, solo guys. Quality is all over the place. Pricing for what sounds like the same service can vary by 5x depending on who you call. And in a crisis you don't have time to shop around and figure out who's actually good.

What to do about it

Get an extraction membership before your next international trip. Under $350 a year. Just do it.

If you run a company that sends people abroad, get your duty of care house in order. ISO 31030 says you need evacuation planning for high-risk destinations. Mexico qualifies. February 22 made that argument for you. Fix the gap before it becomes a lawsuit.

If you need something specific, operators for a trip, a corporate program, or you're already in a situation, don't try to navigate this market cold. It's fragmented and vetting takes time you probably don't have.