The director of Civil Protection and Firefighters of Puerto Vallarta, Gerardo Castillén Andrade, reported that 50 lifeguards are guarding the city’s beaches this Holy Week and Easter 2023, after City Hall councilors urged the municipal agency to post lifeguards.
Castillén said that, in Palmares beach on Highway 200 toward Mismaloya near the
entrance to El Nogalito, there is a lifeguard every day because it is one of the most visited beaches, like Los Muertos, Camarones, and the beach of El Holi.
In the Puerto Vallarta City Hall session held last Friday, March 31, the national councilor for Puerto Vallarta, Carla Castro López (Verde party), urged Castillén to designate lifeguards and water rescue equipment in public beach areas, and to verify that establishments with access to or in front of the beaches, and those with a pool, have a contingency plan.
Castro said, “I went to Palmares Beach, and there were no lifeguards. It is full of children and many adults, and there does not seem to be Civil Protection staff there, either, to prevent accidents, even though Easter is when the most tourists arrive.”
Christian Eduardo Alonso Robles, president of the Civil Protection commission, responded that, where there are no lifeguards, surveillance tours are being carried out every day.
Last Saturday, April 1, 2023, the start-up flag of the Holy Week and Easter 2023 operation was carried out, in which security authorities from the three levels of government are being deployed throughout the municipality, especially on the beaches.