A Big Blue Burrito in Mexico

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by garrobito

..just to finish my inputs on this matter.. there are no difference between the police who ask for a bribe and the guy who paid for it...
Both are corrupt guys tried not do the right thing..
Period.

You forgot the words..."In my opinion".

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by garrobito

..just to finish my inputs on this matter.. there are no difference between the police who ask for a bribe and the guy who paid for it...
Both are corrupt guys tried not do the right thing..
Period.

Hogwash!

Plenty of young, ignorant and scared young folks have been shaken down in Mexico (and lots of other places, including myself as a 16 year old in Chicago) by police and other officials. The on the spot decision to knuckle under and pay up, rather than face unknown perils is not corrupt, but an understandable choice. Far from being corrupt, this is a reasonable response to an unreasonable position.

You have depicted yourself as a traveling superhero. Perhaps you have never been placed in a position where the consequences of refusing to pay were so severe as to threaten your freedom or your life, but others have. I can't fault the victim in such cases as you, from a position of moral superiority, want to do.

Jim

[Celestialsailor]

I think garrobito has the advantage of having Spanish as his primary language. For me...my Thai is better than my Spanish.
And quite correct Jim about a reasonable response since I was carrying a truck bed full of future cruising gear for a pond jump. My immediate goal was to talk the amount down as low as I could without causing too much damage to his ego or my wallet. Bottom line is I will no longer bring a vehicle to Mexico. I'll take the bus as I did the first time returning to the states. Sad really when you consider it hurts tourism in the interior areas.

[Cap Erict3]

Watching my father pay off the New Orleans police in order to keep his bar open prepared me somewhat for the other "taxes" that would be levied upon me by those in power.

Somebody, somewhere said something about "power corrupts absolutely"

Greasing the wheels is one of the costs of doing business.

I do hate extortion though.