Official: 140 Acapulco schools close over threats

[marmar]

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Only one week into the school year, 140 elementary schools in the Pacific resort city of Acapulco closed Monday after teachers refused to show up for fear of extortion threats and kidnappings by drug gangs.

About 600 teachers in the slums on Acapulco's mountainsides said they were intimidated by recent cases of extortion and abduction, said Julio Bernal, schools delegate for the southern Mexican state of Guerrero. Bernal said 140 of about 1,400 schools in Acapulco didn't open.

Two teachers said at least four of their peers had been kidnapped on the outskirts of Acapulco in the past eight days. The teachers agreed to discuss the situation only if their names were not used, saying they feared for their safety.

One of the teachers, who works at an elementary school, said she had seen men drive by the school with rifles sticking out vehicle windows. She said fellow teachers had received extortion threats demanding they give half of their salaries or face attack. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gEqtaFJeZQBnkcRwghBL_qv7b-Og?docId=644ce5fb7f4447d394e07de28ed3486b

[Skink]

1. I'd have no problem moving our troops from Iraq to Mexico.

that's a war we should pay for.

[marmar]

2. And if there's one war that's a bigger failure than the Iraq War......

...... it's the drug war. A military presence will do nothing but f**k things up even more.

[Skink]

3. When it's spilling into Texas it is a problem.

[Modern_Matthew]

4. +1000. We are excellent at creating problems...

Then making them worse by trying to battle the unintended consequences.