The drivers demanded greater police protection and called for the media to stop demonizing them over road accidents and labor disputes.
In light of the killings, police in Tonala are implementing a special security program to help protect bus drivers, but their counterparts in Guadalajara have yet to announce any such measures. Instead, the drivers are reportedly considering hiring private security for protection on the routes considered most dangerous.
The Jalisco Attorney General’s Office (PGJEJ) said it is investigating whether the victims had links to organized crime or if these were vigilante killings in retaliation for the deaths of people hit by bus drivers.
Messages found by the crime scenes appear to attribute the killings to the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) and a cell from the same gang is believed to have been behind the murder of three bus drivers in February this year. Authorities allege that Efrain Fonseca, a member of the CJNG who was killed by police later that month, had ordered fellow gang members to kill bus drivers at the time.