Hound Dog
Nov 23, 2010, 5:18 PM
Post #19 of 22
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Re: [Reefhound] video of police extortion
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No disagreement here but you're speaking from a position of experience and understanding. Many Americans who drive into Mexico have not been through it and don't know what is expected or allowable.
I don´t think Vichil would disagee with that. She was simply trying to enlighten newbies here on what flexibility exists here so they will feel more comfortable in dealing with the almost unlimited supply of crooked cops all over Mexico and will feel more willing to negotiate a deal with the crooked cop without fear of retribution . I can´t speak for her but we both know from a decade´s experience that having foreign plates is certainly a handicap.
When we first arrived in Mexico as retirees in 2001 and were driving around with California plates we were occasionally harassed and paid mordida just because we were easy marks. Back in about 2004 we had mastered some Spanish and had started driving a locally bought Jalisco plated Mexican automobile. In the six years since we have driven extensively - countless kilometers throughout central and southern Mexico - including several crossings through the center of the intimidating megalopolis of Mexico City and never even once have been stopped for mordida. Not once.
That´s all Vichil was saying. If you are new here with those Nebraska plates, maybe paying the mordida makes more sense than the alternative but always remember that the initial "little bite" request is almost always more than you really have to pay to get off the hook. As for the notion of bowing to corruption; get serious and play the system to your benefit with a minimum of sanctimony and always remember - believe me - you are much better off being stopped by a crooked cop in Mexico than by an honest cop in Los Angeles or Paris if you have done anything at all not in accordance with the law.
Would you rather get stopped for an actual driving infraction in L.A. County or Paris by an honest cop and have to face the gulag and draconian penalties and obscene increases in insurance premiums, whether fair or not, or suffer the unfair traffic stop in Mexico City by a cop expecting a small bite and that is the end of it. Well, let me tell you this. My wife grew up in Paris and we often go there and we lived in San Francisco for years and I´ll take the Mexican system any day even with the occasional traffic stop for a non-infraction requesting mordida which I may or may not pay as suits me considring the situation. I have had Mexico City cops who were nothing more than common thugs who made up offenses I had presumably committed and had guns and were not nice nor self-effacing guys and I have paid them nominal amounts in order to increase my chances of staying alive. Always properly assess your antagonist - especially if he is armed and you would like to survive a bit longer.
I remember a couple of years ago when I was fretting about the fact that here I was living in Ajijic and Chiapas which have no air pollution rules relating to vehicle emissions and was wondering whether or not I should bother to get an air pollution sticker to drive into Guadalajara or risk a ticket for having driven into that city while not in compliance with its vehicle emission statutes. A Mexican mechanic at Lakeside whose equipment was malfunctioning , expressed to me the universal sentiment of this nation in everything regarding the law amd told me, "Get serious. It is highly unlikely you will be pulled over in the city for that and if you are, just pay the damn fine in the form of a little bite and that will cost you way less that the vehicle emissions sticker which is as phony as a three peso bill anyway. Decide which crook you wish to pay."
(This post was edited by Hound Dog on Nov 23, 2010, 5:27 PM)
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