1 post tagged “corruption”

You always expect a work trip to Mexico to be different from the usual US based ones. But flying in anywhere and picking up your hire car can always be an adventure. Admittedly, it's usually just getting lost, but this time I got stopped by some crooked cops with some trumped up charge (that kept changing the more I argued that it was impossible for me to have done it) they wanted to fine me for. The story kept twisting around until the guy eventually got bored of me telling him I'd done nothing wrong and started writing out the ticket and pointedly holding onto my license. He started filling in the 'fee' section and as I continued to argue and snort derisively at the number he had written down, it began getting crossed out and smaller ones filled in. Eventually, I got it slightly more than halved (still $100, mind you) at which case it became clear he wasn't budging and was starting to make 'you need to get out the car or just pick your license up at the station' noises and I didn't have time.So we ended up having to pay.

Thieving bastards.

The second incident was about an hour later, with me dodging a couple of piles of rags and glass and bits of truck frontage on the way from Mexico City to Puebla. As I swerved into the outside lane, I realised that the pile of rags was recently human, and that the truck that was just coming to a stop ahead of me had hit someone at around 110km/hr. It was the massive smear of blood, you see, that gave the game away. That and the second pile of rags being the guy's leg. If he wasn't already dead, it was a matter of minutes, either from blood loss or from impact trauma. People were starting to run towards him as I came alongside him and tried not to hit anything (or anyone) else.

Welcome to Mexico, I thought. Hmmm.