140 Mexican Schools Shut Down Amid Extortion Fears
Today, we get news that 140 schools in the city of Acapulco will not open for the new school year because teachers, who have been threatened with violence, are too afraid to show up. That’s about 600 teachers and 140 schools out of the city’s 1,400, according to Julio Bernal, schools delegate for the state of Guerrero. The AP tells the story of the teachers:
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.