2/13/08

Guatemalan workers protest violence


Dozens of public transport workers blocked the road to El Salvador for several hours on Tuesday to protest extortion and death threats against them.


In the last few years, members of juvenile gangs have demanded from businessmen of the sector up to 50,000 quetzals (about $6,600) in exchange for not attacking their buses.


In view of their impossibility to raise such an amount, many transportation workers choose not to go to work and organize the blocking to demand safety from the government.


Despite joint Army/police patrolling, another driver was killed by gang members in Villa Nueva town on Monday night, bringing to 11 the number of fatalities in one week.

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