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Leader regretted that public transport continues “on its knees” fighting against extortion while trying to maintain its operations.
The leader of urban transport, Wilmer Cálix, denounced on Wednesday that criminal groups are demanding double extortion payments during this Morazanic Week, which further aggravates the already precarious economic situation of the sector.
“In San Pedro Sula there are several routes stopped, and in Tegucigalpa we are facing the same circumstances. These criminal structures want us to pay double for Morazanic Week, because they are also going on vacation,” Cálix told a media outlet.
The voracity of extortionists also increases during the Christmas season, when they demand double payment for the “bonus.”
The leader regretted that public transport continues “on its knees”, fighting against extortion while trying to maintain its operations.
“We live off our daily earnings and the compensation bonus, but these structures do not understand our reality and demand payment, regardless of our financial situation,” he added.
The situation is critical every year, in 2023 alone public transport has paid between 500 and 600 million lempiras to criminal groups, despite measures such as the state of emergency .
In the last fourteen years, more than five thousand public transport drivers have been killed for not paying extortion in Honduras and Guatemala.
But despite the seriousness of the problem, the actions of the Honduran authorities remain insufficient, so the transporters are calling for a more effective response from the security forces to confront this crisis that threatens their survival and that of thousands of families who depend on this sector.
