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Taxi drivers install bulletproof partitions to prevent crimes in northern Mexican state


ASSOCIATED PRESS

11:04 a.m. November 4, 2005

MONTERREY, Mexico – A workers' union has began adding bulletproof partitions to taxis driving through some of the most dangerous neighborhoods in this northern industrial city, an official said Friday.
Bulletproof partitions have been added to 50 taxis as part of a new measure aimed at protecting drivers who are members of the Confederation of Mexican Workers, or CTM, in northern Nuevo Leon state, union spokesman Zenon Escamilla said.

The union expects that about 15,000 taxis circulating in Nuevo Leon, on the border with Texas, will eventually get the partitions.

Each partition costs about US$800 (euro670) and the taxi's owner would pay for it. The workers' union will help drivers find low-interest loans to help cover the cost, Escamilla said.

Unlike in the capital, Mexico City, where "express kidnapping" victims are abducted in taxis, driven around for a few hours, beaten and forced to make withdrawals at automatic teller machines – crime is rare in Monterrey, considered to be one of the country's safest cities.

"What we want is precisely to prevent taxi crimes," Escamilla said. "We want to protect the lives of passengers and those taxi drivers working night shifts or driving in violent areas."