Azernews.Az

By Bloomberg

Coca-Cola Femsa SAB trucks have been attacked repeatedly by protesters after the disappearance of 43 students in southern Mexico, with the latest incident ending in two employees briefly taken hostage, the company said.

Demonstrators have seized about 180 delivery trucks since late September from the biggest franchised Coke bottler, parent company Fomento Economico Mexicano SAB said Thursday in an e- mail. Protesters rob the trucks’ products, their fuel or the entire vehicle, sometimes to block traffic during marches, according to the Monterrey, Mexico-based Femsa.

“Fortunately, our collaborators are OK,” Femsa said in a separate e-mailed statement. “We are currently evaluating the viability of our operation in Chilpancingo, meaning the review of our operating procedures, putting security of our people above all.”

The southern state of Guerrero is reeling after local police allegedly kidnapped the 43 college students and turned them over to a drug gang to be executed, according to the federal government. Marchers, including members of a teachers union, have been blocking access to the Acapulco airport, setting fire to city halls and threatening to shut down local elections this year.

Attacks on the soft-drink bottler have grown increasingly violent, according to Femsa. A group of protesters lobbed rocks at the company’s distribution center in the capital city of Chilpancingo on Wednesday after police arrested people who had seized one of the company’s vehicles, Femsa said. Two employees who had approached the demonstrators were detained by the group for over six hours, among other hostages, the company said.

The Guerrero state attorney general’s office didn’t immediately respond to requests seeking comment. The Associated Press had reported earlier that 10 people were injured in the attacks in Chilpancingo.

In August, the company reported that three small trucks and one large Coca-Cola delivery vehicle were torched in Guerrero and delivery workers were threatened along their routes, without specifying the motives behind the attack.