Acapulco’s violent descent sends army to schools

ACAPULCO,Mexico: Freshwhite paint covers the soot from the fire that criminals set in the middle school principal’s office in a rough Acapulco neighborhood, where gang-linked violence interrupted classes for weeks.

Outside, four stone-faced Mexican soldiers guard the gate, wielding assault rifles as big as a kindergartner to deter any more attacks.The army arrived here and in more than 100 other schools in the Pacific resort’s gangridden periphery three weeks ago to counter a rash of murders, kidnappings and extortion against teachers.

The unprecedented deployment of 1,000 troops to schools and surrounding neighborhoods was the only way to convince frightened teachers to return to classrooms, ending a two-month strike over the violence that had left 31,000 students homebound since November.

“We never thought it would get to such an extreme point, to be working with soldiers,” said Maria Ines Aparicio, principal of the Escuela Secundaria 100 middle school.

Standing next to a burned bookshelf as children in white shirts and plaid pants and skirts waited for the final bell in the courtyard, she lamented that crime fears caused the parents of six children to leave this year.

The teachers were already on strike when assailants sneaked into the school in December and set her office on fire, incinerating documents, computers and desks. An ominous note was left with a warning: “Don’t close the school.”

Aparicio said she did not know why her office was attacked.

But authorities accuse one of Acapulco’s gangs of setting the fire to scare teachers into paying them. — AFP