Silly, silly hijackers

In case you crawled under a rock yesterday, you've probably heard about the crazed Bolivian hijacker who yesterday threatened to blow up an Aeromexico plane flying into Mexico City from Cancún if he did not receive an audience with Presidente Felipe Calderón.

The initial reaction from the police and media was, of course, to assume that this was some kind of terrorist or drug-related attack. Four possible hijackers had been indicated and a cardboard box-bomb allegedly on board, so what else would you naturally assume?

The BBC London, in fact, called The News office asking for insider information on airport security in Mexico and if hijackings were normal here. I didn't feel qualified to speak as an expert, and as our most inside sources only speak Spanish and all of our English-speaking talent had been so swiftly kicked to the curb months ago, I had to tell a very disappointed Brit that we could offer him nothing. It felt pretty emasculating (can women be that?) to work for a local newspaper and tell a BBC London reporter that we're not actually a real newspaper, we just translate things from the wires (and offer stunningly awesome culture reporting).

Back to the hijacker: As the day progressed, the 104 passengers were released and later the 7 crew members. In the end, there was just one hijacker. His purported accomplices? The Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Apparently the Bolivian man, a Christian pastor who had been living in Mexico for years, had received a message from God that horrible things would happen to Mexico on 9/09/09, as the numbers' reflection spells out the sign of the Devil: 666.

In the end, no harm, no foul. Except for that apocalyptic goblin that ate everyone but gringos yesterday. Time to finally open some Chipotle and Panera franchises down here? I think so, too.