Tegucigalpa - Jose's scars are a constant reminder of the day gang members set him on fire for failing to pay their "war tax" -- a daily nightmare for bus drivers in Honduras.
Jose says he was never warned he had to pay the "tax," imposed on bus and taxi drivers, small-business owners and ordinary residents by the gangs that have carved up much of Central America and made it one of the most violent regions in the world.
He was driving down Armed Forces Avenue on the west side of Tegucigalpa, the capital, when four young men hijacked his bus, unloaded the passengers at gunpoint and doused it in gasoline.
"Then they closed the door, busted the door lever to make sure I couldn't get out, and threw a lit match through the window," said Jose, whose name has been changed to protect him.
The gang members then fled in a pickup truck.
"They thought I had burnt to death, but I was still alive. I managed to get out through a window," said the slight 46-year-old man.
"I jumped out like a torch and rolled on the ground to put out the flames," he told AFP.
He was hospitalized for two months and is badly scarred on his jaw, neck and arms.
Others have been less fortunate.
Just last month, the charred body of 19-year-old taxi driver Noe Martinez was found inside his vehicle.
So far this year 50 people have been killed -- 17 of them drivers -- and 25 wounded in attacks on public transport, according to the National Human Rights Commission.
AFP
