Students help themselves to buses.
Students from the Lázaro Cárdenas teacher training college in Tenería, México state, hijacked eight buses from Tenancingo and Ixtapan de la Sal early Wednesday morning.
They commandeered four Flecha Roja and four Estrella de Oro buses in order to attend an event on Thursday commemorating the 39th anniversary of the murder of professor Misael Díaz Acosta, who was killed near the school where he taught in Ecatepec.
The thefts broke an agreement the students made with state authorities on November 27 stipulating that they would give advance notice of the buses they would need for such events so that the transportation could be arranged and provided rather than hijacked.
As per that agreement, the Chamber of Passenger and Tourism Road Transport (Canapat) dropped charges it had filed against the students after they returned buses and released drivers they had been holding hostage.
Students of the school in Tenería hijacked buses a number of times last year, taking as many as 60 in October to attend a march in Mexico City.
After Wednesday’s hijackings, Canapat said that it will take more radical actions against the theft of buses by the Tenería students.
“We no longer want to be in the middle of whatever problems the students may have with authorities. We don’t want to be used to put pressure [on the government] and obtain their demands,” said Canapat delegate Odilón López Nava in a press release.
“We have nothing to do with this and we don’t want to be affected by it anymore. Whoever needs to resolve this should do so … We cannot provide a solution to what they are asking for.”
López said they still do not have an accurate account of the damages, nor do they know who is responsible for the latest hijackings. As for now, Canapat wants to avoid more thefts of buses.
“We are waiting for this to be resolved because we are no longer in a condition to go on like this. The unions are also willing to defend their drivers in order to avoid a repeat of what happened last year,” he said.
Sources: El Sol de Toluca (sp), Excélsior (sp), Debate (sp)
