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COMMENTARY: A 'normal' day after widespread violence in Mexico

The phones started ringing before we understood what was happening.

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My brother was about to leave for a trip back home after visiting our parents for a few days. I hadn’t travelled to Mexico for more than a year and had barely arrived. Then messages started coming.

“Are you OK?” a friend wrote. “I’m very sorry, please be safe,” another one sent.

Don’t go out, highways are blocked, there are vehicles burning. Social media said there had been a confrontation; the comments mentioned the military. Then the news spread: the death of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as El Mencho, leader of the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación, had triggered violent reactions across parts of western Mexico.

I am Mexican, born and raised. I lived in Michoacán most of my life and moved to P.E.I. in 2023. My state is a small region in the middle of the country that most Canadians don’t know about, that is, of course, until moments like this. Sadly, it will now be remembered as one of the regions directly affected by the unrest.

Last Sunday, however, I was back home.

In a matter of hours, plans changed quickly. We stayed indoors. Travel was postponed.

There was uncertainty, but also something else. A strange atmosphere all around. Yes, the videos showed cars burning and chaos on the highways. Yet there, at my parents’ small house in the countryside, nothing was going on. The birds still sang, the sun sat high, and the mountain was silent, as it always is.

By noon the next day, businesses were open again.

Coffee shops. Pharmacies. People running errands.

Life, at least on the surface, had resumed in most parts of Michoacán.

And among all the confusion and apparent peace, I couldn’t........

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