Country’s ‘owners’ call drivers who terrorized school children ‘vandals’

Boca Chica, Dominican Republic.- The two biggest associations of bus owners of Andrés, Boca Chica on Thursday called the several drivers who terrorized 50 students and teachers by threatening to torch their school bus headed to the Book Fair, "vandals.”

The incident is the latest by the bus owners’ unions, called the country’s ‘owners’ for their frequent violence and who strike fear on police and officials, the most tragic of which was the March 7, 2007, torching of a bus full of workers that killed two women, allegedly by members of the feared Fenatrano association.

Blas Garcia of Sichoproboch and Modesto Santana of Asochombca said the 10 drivers accused of causing the incident have been suspended, and apologized to the town of Boca Chica and the school.

"No. That’s not the spirit, much less our unions’ interest to cause disturbances or problems in Boca Chica or elsewhere in the country it’s not what we want. What we seek is to work for the benefit of jobs and therefore the wellbeing of our families because we’re responsible,“ Garcia said.

Boca Chica media report that Santo Domingo Province Office of the Prosecutor had issued warrants to arrest the drivers, identified by investigators through videos aired on several TV channels.

The drivers intercepted the bus 25 kilometers east of the capital on the Las Americas highway, forcing students and teachers out of the vehicle under threats of breaking its windows and setting it afire.