Caribe Tours, a leading bus company, suspended its bus services nationwide yesterday to protest the murder of its chief of security. On Sunday, Caribe Tours buses transported friends and relatives to the funeral of Colonel Pedro Pablo Simé Jorge at the Cristo Redentor Cemetery in Santo Domingo. Simé died when Jimaní transport union members, that apparently fear the new Caribe Tours route to Haiti will affect their revenues, ambushed a company bus in which Simé was traveling. Caribe Tours is accusing the Sindicato de Dueños y Cobradores de Minibuses de Transporte de Pasajeros de Jimaní of ambushing the 61 year old man. Administrative director of Caribe Tours, Ivonne Montes de Oca said that Simé murder was planned by the members of the union that assaulted the bus. The company is accusing Francis Medina Ferreras, Claudio Soto and two others identified as Siler y Marcelo for the ambush. Montes de Oca said that the violent reaction of the union is irrational as the bus only picks up passengers at the Caribe Tours terminals, while the union covers short distance routes in the area. The director of the Oficina Técnica de Transporte Terrestre, which regulates ground transport in the DR, Germán Peña Guadalupe said that the interests of consumers are above those of individuals.
