Guatemalan Drivers: No
More Violence
Guatemalan capital
public transportation
workers went on strike
Monday and brought much
of urban transportation
to a standstill to
protest the murder of
another driver at the
hands of youth gangs.
Raul Orlando Padilla,
33, was shot to death
Sunday night in Landivar
colony, after refusing
to pay the "tax"
demanded by the
so-called maras for
permission to drive.
Youth gangs, or maras,
demand 40 dollars a week
from the drivers.
So far this year more
than 60 drivers and
their assistants have
been killed in assaults
on urban and suburban
transport, and the
majority of these cases
are not investigated by
police, transport
leaders denounced.
According to the
Association of Urban
Transport Services
Companies, 1,300
extortions and some 200
bus assaults are
registered each day,
mainly in the capital.
According to union
leader Victoriano
Zacarias, of Guatemalan
Workers Central, they
have not received a
response for life
insurance for their
workers and the police
have not been able to
guarantee the security
of the employees. |
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