Uncovering Mexico
Jeremy Schwartz is the Mexico correspondent for Cox Newspapers. He is based in Mexico City.What's on this page?
All the entries posted on March 11, 2008.
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Home > Uncovering Mexico > Archives > 2008 > March > 11
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
My first bribe
It had to happen sooner or later. Perhaps the most shocking thing about it was that it came nearly two years into my assignment in Mexico.
Last week, while traveling through the scorching state of Guerrero, I paid my first bribe. My wife Nancy and I were in a small town just south of Acapulco to interview returning migrants from the U.S. when it happened. Hunting for an Internet cafe to send some emails, I drove our rental car through the chaotic downtown streets. The wrong way it turns out. Although there were no signs informing the visitor of the fact, the main street was one-way. The local police were apparently watching, but instead of pulling us over, they waited until we parked and entered the Internet cafe before springing into action. As I typed an email, two motorcycle cops unscrewed our front license plate to take with them.
A friendly street vendor alerted Nancy to the scheme and we rushed outside to see what was going on. The cops said we had violated the law and for that they were taking our license plate. We could get it the next day (a Saturday) although the office might be closed, in which case we would have to wait until Monday. We explained that we were visitors, that the street was unmarked and that taking our license plate did not seem the appropriate response to a minor traffic violation. Nancy managed to keep them from speeding off with our plates, but they eventually left when another motorcycle cop rode up. The new cop said he would get our plate back - all we would have to pay would be 60 pesos (about $6) to get rid of the ticket. I conceded, figuring it was the easiest way to avoid a weekend-long conflagration.
The cop did get our plates back amid much apologizing after the police learned we were also journalists. By this time a small crowd had gathered, chastising the police for shaking us down and backing up our claim that the street was unmarked.
In the end I paid the cop the 60 pesos with change from my pocket. In a way I didn’t feel that bad - I had in fact committed an infraction. But we would learn from residents later that taking license plates from out-of-staters was a regular activity for local police, looking for far juicier bribes than the one we paid.