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The Puerto Vallarta Tourism Board has issued a statement confirming that no tourists were involved in or affected by a kidnapping in an upscale restaurant in the destination.
According to NBC News, up to 16 customers were abducted by gunmen from the upscale La Leche restaurant on Tuesday at around 1 a.m. local time. The restaurant is on the main drag of the city’s hotel district.
Security has been reinforced in Puerto Vallarta as an immediate safety measure, the Tourism Board said. The Governor of the State of Jalisco, Aristoteles Sandoval, has announced an investigation involving different security forces on the Federal, State and Municipal levels, as well as authorities from the neighboring state of Nayarit, to find those responsible. According to preliminary findings from the investigation, the victims and perpetrators belong to criminal groups from another region of the country, which the Tourism Board said points to the likelihood of this being an isolated case.
The Tourism Board also said that Puerto Vallarta is fully operational, with all tourism services and attractions open on their regular schedules, and that the authorities are taking all necessary measures.
“We hope that this isolated and unprecedented event has minimal impact in our city,” the Tourism Board said. “We are committed to proactively providing accurate information from official sources in a timely manner in order to keep our industry, residents and travelers informed, safe and well taken care of at all times.”