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Canadian tourists remain barricaded in hotel amid Mexican cartel violence

Hotel lobby full of people who slept there overnight after flights cancelled
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Men carry furniture after looting a store, as a truck burns on a street in Culiacan, Sinaloa state, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023. Mexican security forces captured Ovidio Guzmán, an alleged drug trafficker wanted by the United States and one of the sons of former Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, in a pre-dawn operation Thursday that set off gunfights and roadblocks across the western state’s capital. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Martin Urista

Canadian tourists remain barricaded in their hotel today amid violence in the streets after the arrest of a major drug cartel leader.

Tina Dahl, an Edmonton woman with relatives stranded in the popular resort town of Mazatlan, says her six family members remain safe.

But she says they’re definitely shaken by what’s happened.

She says the hotel lobby was full of people who slept there overnight after their flights were cancelled.

The beaches are full of military vehicles patrolling up and down as helicopters patrol the skies.

Dahl says her family went to their room Thursday afternoon and have stayed there.

The federal government is advising Canadians to limit their movements and shelter in place.

The violence in western Mexico began after a pre-dawn security operation Thursday, in which security forces captured alleged drug trafficker Ovidio (The Mouse) Guzman, who is a son of former cartel boss Joaquin (El Chapo) Guzman.

RELATED: Canadian government tells travellers in Mexico to shelter in place due to violence