Highwaymen assault ADO bus on Yucatán peninsula, leaving 30 passengers furious while police "just laughed"

Bandits to passengers: "It's the government's fault, we're poor and there's no work"


Mérida, Yucatán -
Thirty passengers riding on a first class bus from Cancún to Veracruz were robbed by an armed commando team near Champotón in the Mexican state of Campeche early last Wednesday morning (Apr. 10), news sources have reported.

Champotón is a a Gulf city about 130 miles southwest of Mérida. The bus passed through this city shortly before the attack.

The bus belonged to ADO (Autobuses de Oriente), one of the Yucatán peninsula's busiest and most respected first class lines. Most passenger traffic between Cancún and Mérida is carried by ADO.

Passengers told the Mexican press that ADO largely ignored the incident. Some claim the company pressured them not to file legal complaints. An ADO legal official in Veracruz offered passengers a 50% discount on future travel if they agreed not to press the incident, they reported.

One passenger who identified herself only as Patricia said the commando team held the bus along a remote stretch of highway for more than an hour while the gunmen helped themselves to cash, credit cards, cellphones, electronic devices, jewelry and other valuables.

"I didn't know what was going on at first," she said. "I was asleep when another passenger, very afraid, with wads of cash in her hands, told me to hand over my money, that we were being robbed."

"Just then someone in the back of the bus yelled out, 'Hand over your cellphones, cash and jewelry, leave your purses and bags on the seats, and get off the bus.' An older woman seated next to me asked one of the robbers why they were doing this. He said they had to do it, it was the government's fault, they were poor and there's no work for them."

Patricia claimed that as some of the women descended from the bus they were touched improperly by two of the men, including in the genital area.

After the team abandoned the robbery site, the two ADO drivers told their passengers that the bandits had blocked the road with a vehicle and then approached the door with weapons in hand.

Passengers said the bus proceeded immediately to the Public Ministry in nearby Champotón, where the crew explained what had happened and asked for a police escort until they were out of Campeche state and on their way again to Veracruz. "They just laughed at us," some reported.

Many told the press they were treated horribly by ADO officials in Veracruz when they demanded indemnification for their losses during the trip, which was supposed to have been on one of the company's luxury buses. "And their motto is, 'travel securely with us,' " Patricia noted.

No foreigners were reported among the passengers.

Authorities in Champotón later told the victims that some of their stolen property had turned up in the area, including luggage, two iPads, cellphones and, inexplicably, the "body of one of the robbers." Police offered no details about the latter, and said they had no leads on the whereabouts of the other assailants.

Autobuses de Oriente, S.A. de C.V., (Eastern Bus Line, Inc.), is one of Mexico's most well known bus companies. It was founded in 1939, with an initial route from Mexico City to Puebla to Veracruz. In the 1950s ADO added a route to Villahermosa, Tabasco. Other major cities served today include Cancún, Oaxaca, and San Francisco de Campeche, and in Yucatán state, Mérida and Valladolid.

Last week's attack was not the first one on an ADO bus in the Yucatán peninsula in recent months. Highwaymen hit Cancún-bound ADO bus.
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And watch out for cabs, too - Eight found executed in Cancún; taxi drivers suspected; Quintana Roo governor admits: many Cancún taxi drivers are on cartel payrolls.

Feb. 1 - Yucatán safety continues to be subject of hot debate
April 9 - Yucatán tourism remained flat in first quarter of 2013

Jan. 22 - Puerto Vallarta: tensions linger after brazen narco attack

Nov. 16, 2012 - Gross economic disparity still a hard fact of Mexican life

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