The U.S. Embassy has issued a security alert for its citizens in Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara after an increase in the presence of federal security forces.

“There is increased presence of Mexican security forces in the Puerto Vallarta area and the potential for confrontations between criminal groups and security forces in the Puerto Vallarta area and in the Guadalajara metropolitan area,” the Thursday alert read.

The warning also applies to Nuevo Nayarit, Nayarit, but did not specify which events triggered the alert in that area.

The warning comes after a confrontation between cartel members and government forces in Puerto Vallarta on April 22 killed an alleged high-level member of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), leading to the deployment of 400 soldiers to the port city. Saúl Alejandro N., known as El Chopa, died from a gunshot wound after being arrested in the death of former Jalisco governor Aristóteles Sandoval in 2020.

Then this week, two off-duty members of the military were kidnapped by members of a CJNG cell before being released Thursday afternoon, according to the Defense Ministry.

The previous alert, issued April 18, instructed citizens to avoid traveling to Zacatecas due to “violent turf battles between cartels.”

With reports from El Universal