Puerto Vallarta’s recent violence against women has moved from the streets to the Jalisco Congress. Local deputy Yussara Canales is demanding emergency coordination from federal, state, and municipal authorities after three women were killed in 11 days. Her proposal puts new pressure on agencies already working under gender violence alerts, and asks them to explain what protections, investigations, and public actions are actually in place.
Lawmaker asks for emergency response after killings
Puerto Vallarta deputy Yussara Canales González is pressing federal, state, and municipal authorities to take urgent action on violence against women after three femicides were reported in the city during an 11-day span in May.
Canales, a PVEM legislator representing Jalisco’s District 5, presented a legislative agreement asking the federal Secretariat for Women, Jalisco’s Secretariat for Substantive Equality between Women and Men, and the Puerto Vallarta government to review emergency measures for prevention, protection, and care. The proposal also asks authorities to explain what has been done under the existing violence against women alerts and how institutions are coordinating their response.
“Puerto Vallarta is living through a very serious situation,” Canales said, according to the statement tied to the proposal. “In barely 11 days in May, three femicides and different acts of violence against women were recorded, something we cannot normalize.”
The call follows a series of cases that have sharpened scrutiny of the city’s institutional response. Three women have been found dead in Puerto Vallarta since May 10, including cases reported near Mismaloya and Mojoneras, with investigations still open. A women’s organization had already pressed City Hall for policies, transparency, and resources after those deaths.
The pressure is now on existing alert systems
The proposal does not create a new investigation. It asks agencies to account for the tools already in place.
Jalisco’s Gender Violence Alert against Women defines the mechanism as a set of emergency measures meant to confront and eradicate femicide violence in a specific territory. The state’s AVGM plan stems from a federal resolution issued in November 2018 and includes 88 actions involving more than 40 state areas and all 125 municipal governments.
Canales said the city’s situation is alarming despite alert mechanisms dating to 2016 and 2018. Her agreement asks what concrete actions have been applied in Puerto Vallarta, what protection measures are active, and how authorities are coordinating the strategy against femicide violence.
The request also puts Jalisco prosecutors under direct pressure. Canales asked the Fiscalía to make clear its prevention, investigation, and prosecution strategy for crimes committed against women in Puerto Vallarta, especially cases tied to femicide and gender-based violence.
“Puerto Vallarta cannot become a place where killing women is reduced to a statistic,” Canales said. “Today, firm actions, real coordination, and results are needed. Women deserve to live free and safe.”
Officials had promised a targeted strategy months ago
The state’s response was already supposed to move beyond diagnosis. In January, Jalisco officials said Puerto Vallarta hosted a high-level regional security table for gender-based violence, involving the state equality secretariat, security coordination, prosecutors, Escudo Urbano C5, state security officials, and nearby municipalities.
That work was described as a territorial strategy based on crime data, with attention to rape, child sexual abuse, and family violence. State officials also said the Pulso de Vida model would be used for women at imminent risk.
The same January meeting included a follow-up session on the Alerta de Violencia de Género contra las Mujeres with state agencies, municipal officials, and civil groups, including CLADEM and Colectivo Mujeres Puerto Vallarta.
Fabiola Loya Hernández, then head of Jalisco’s equality secretariat, said at that meeting that the state had to comply with the measures in Jalisco’s two gender violence alerts. “There is will and a lot of commitment from Governor Pablo Lemus Navarro to work toward the objective of guaranteeing zero tolerance for femicides in Jalisco,” she said.
Canales’ proposal now asks what that coordination has produced in Puerto Vallarta after the latest killings.
Prosecutors reject serial attacker claim while questions remain
The Fiscalía del Estado has separately rejected claims that the recent cases show the existence of a serial attacker in Puerto Vallarta. Prosecutors said the cases registered in the municipality are being handled through investigative acts and did not confirm a single linked pattern.
That denial does not answer the broader policy question raised by Canales and local women’s groups. The issue now before authorities is whether existing protocols, alerts, protection orders, and investigative units are functioning quickly enough when women face lethal violence.
Jalisco’s own legislative records show these questions are not new. In December, state legislators questioned the Equality Secretariat about Pulso de Vida coverage, alternatives for women without digital access, alert polygons in Puerto Vallarta, femicide case files, and the operation of the Centers for Justice for Women. The response cited territorial mapping in Puerto Vallarta and said any woman’s death is investigated under femicide protocol.
A 2020 AVGM technical meeting for Puerto Vallarta also recorded concerns from civil organizations about municipal protocols, budget, community attention centers, and the need for permanent training with a gender perspective.
Canales said women’s groups are returning to the streets because they no longer trust silence from authorities.
“Women are afraid, collectives are going out again, and authorities cannot continue acting as if nothing is happening,” she said.
