The governor said the incidents were extortion, not kidnappings, and the crime did not occur in Puerto Vallarta. Records from the U.S. State Department and Nayarit’s Attorney General show victims held and abused in Puerto Vallarta, then moved to Nayarit, contradicting his account on Puerto Vallarta kidnappings.
When state governor Pablo Lemus Navarro insisted that the recent cases involving U.S. citizens in Puerto Vallarta were merely extortion rather than kidnappings, he directly conflicted with both the U.S. State Department’s travel alert and Nayarit’s Attorney General. His version does not match evidence from those authorities, which describe true kidnappings, forced confinement and physical abuse—patterns far more severe than simple extortion schemes.
On June 2, 2025, the U.S. Consulate General in Guadalajara warned that several Americans had been kidnapped by individuals whom they met through dating apps in the Puerto Vallarta and Nuevo Nayarit areas. The statement noted that victims and their families in the U.S. faced extortion demands to secure their release. Travelers were urged to meet strangers only in public spaces and to report any threats immediately. Jalisco was rated “Level 3: Reconsider Travel” and Nayarit “Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution” due to crime and kidnapping.
By contrast, Governor Lemus Navarro publicly downplayed these incidents. Speaking on June 3, he said the case involving four American men was not a kidnapping but an extortion. He claimed the victims arranged for “sexual services” via an app, stayed at a Puerto Vallarta hotel, then went voluntarily to a house in the neighboring state of Nayarit. Once there, they were locked inside until they agreed to place calls and arrange money transfers. According to his statement, this amounted to extortion rather than abduction, even though he admits they were held against their will, he claims that is not kidnapping. However, the Governor may have fabricated the entire story of four men being extorted while trying to hire a sex worker. There is no record of the incident with the Attorney General's Office in Nayarit, and no media reports the events, which would have been widely reported if true.
Further undermining the governor’s remark is the Attorney General’s Office of Nayarit, who did detail a kidnapping last month that is much different than the story the Governor is attempting to have picked up by local media. According to Nayarit, on May 6, a U.S. woman was lured to an apartment complex in Puerto Vallarta by someone posing as a friend, it was believed she met this person on a dating app. She was then deprived of her liberty and physically assaulted. The assailant threatened her with further violence and demanded between $5,000 and $10,000 from her family for her release. Over a three-day period, she remained in forced confinement—first in Puerto Vallarta, then transferred to a motel in San Clemente de Lima within Nayarit on May 9. She escaped into the motel’s laundry room on May 9 and was rescued by Nayarit’s Criminal Investigation Agency, the Jalisco Prosecutor’s Office, and the FBI. The suspect, Edwin Aran “N,” was arrested in flagrante delicto and faces charges of aggravated kidnapping. These details were included in the indictment of Edwin Aran and supported with evidence. This even was not mentioned by the Governor today during his press conference, he claimed the only incident that may have been confused with a kidnapping of an American were the four men he claims were kidnapped last month without any evidence.
That account from the Attorney General’s Office clearly describes kidnapping, physical abuse and hostage-taking—none of which the governor acknowledged. Crucially, there is no mention of four men hiring “sexual services” or any claim that this was a consensual arrangement gone awry. Instead, the AG’s report details forcible confinement and violent threats. All a contradiction of the narrative the Governor is trying to force the media to report.
That discrepancy suggests the governor’s narrative either conflates separate incidents or minimizes the severity of what happened, likely to steer the news of Puerto Vallarta being connected with kidnappings of foreigners, which Mexico has struggled with for decades.
Meanwhile, local law enforcement in Nayarit appears to take the threat seriously, as evidenced by the swift rescue operation. The AG’s collaboration with the FBI shows a high level of concern about violence against foreigners. If the state governor publicly dismisses those realities, it undermines law enforcement efforts to deter such crimes and warns fewer people about real dangers.
Inconsistencies in Official Records
• Victim Profile and Number of Cases
- U.S. State Department: Several U.S. citizens kidnapped after meeting people via dating apps in separate events.
- Governor: Focused only on “four Americans” hiring sex workers, held for extortion in one single event.
- AG’s Office: Depicts a single U.S. woman kidnapped, abused, moved across state lines, and held for four days after connecting with a guy online.
• Nature of the Crime
- U.S. Consulate: Describes “kidnappings” and “extortion” demands over large sums.
- Governor: Insists it was “extortion,” not kidnapping—claims victims went willingly for paid sexual services and they were held against their will, but not taken from the location they arrived at willingly. The Governor claims kidnapping means forcefully removing a person from a location, which he claims never happened, the four men he claims were victims of a crime were never moved to another location, just held against their will, which to him is not kidnapping.
- AG’s Office: Reports aggravated kidnapping and physical assault without any consensual context.
• Location and Process
- U.S. Consulate: Warns about risks in both Puerto Vallarta (Jalisco) and Nuevo Nayarit.
- Governor: Says there was no crime in Puerto Vallarta. Tourists staying in Puerto Vallarta traveled out of the state willingly to meet a sex worker.
- AG’s Office: Confirms the victim’s initial abduction occurred in Puerto Vallarta before moving her to Nayarit.
The overlap in locations confirms that these are not isolated incidents confined to one state. In each case, Puerto Vallarta serves as the entry point. That aligns with both the U.S. travel advisory and the AG’s statement. Yet the governor’s version shifts responsibility toward consensual arrangements and frames it as a “simple” extortion racket.
