Thousands mourn 5 murders called “isolated incident”

Thousands of people packed the commercial center of Chorrera on Wednesday to call  for peace and condemn the kidnapping and murder of five young Chorreranos, children of Chinese merchants.

As an expression of solidarity, Chinese merchants across the country closed their business during the morning, and hundreds of them travled to La Chorrera to attend a mass celebrated in the church San Francisco de Paula. 

The former director of the Judicial Technical Police Jaime Abad said  that comments by  the Security Minister, Jose Raul Mulino, had been "unwise and unfortunate."

Mulino told the media that the kidnapping and murder of the young was "an isolated case." Soon after his remarks another Chinese resident was murdered in a different area.

The students' bodies were found on September 15 under the floor of a house in El Trapichito.