When people wonder things like “why is Latin America relatively undeveloped?”
Various ideas might come to mind.
Some self-hating gringos and resentful locals might try to blame literally everything on the US and Spain.
Some type to slip and break his knee before crying out loud “PINCHE GRINGO!!”
And, while the influence of outside countries does deserve a mention, these types tend to ignore any behavior from the locals that might influence things.
You know – the folks who actually live down here and run the country.
It’s a topic I wrote about here.
And, in many cases while living down here, you notice that the local police are not always very reliable.
A friend of mine (Blayde) was telling me about something that happened to him and he was thinking of reporting it to the police.
But would the police do anything?
Well, some police do as you can see here.
But, after hearing the story, I remembered another incident that I told him in the moment about some chick I knew who had tough luck getting anything done.
What happened?
Jovi’s Narco Boyfriend
Some odd months ago, I was seeing this one chick named Jovi briefly from time to time for sex.
That was really the extent at which we knew each other.
We never had anything formal and would mostly just fuck around whenever she made the trip to spend the night at my place.
At any rate, I remember one night back when I lived near Copilco area where she came by to visit me.
She showed up in some really nice outfit – some black skirt and some white top that was pretty loose looking and showing a lot of tits.
Who doesn’t like Latinas?
Anyway, after having some fun right away back at my place, I went downstairs to get some food.
Just two sandwiches and some French fries.
Anyway, once I’m back upstairs with the few sandwiches, we begin eating and have a normal conservation about whatever before watching a movie soon.
Somehow, we got onto the topic of cops in justice in Mexico.
I think it’s because she asked me what I like and don’t like about Mexico and I must’ve mentioned my shit experiences with cops down here.
Anyway, that sets her off with a story that she has.
Not really a long story but one that some foreigners might find interesting when it comes to life in Mexico.
Can you trust the police to do their jobs?
Well, a few years prior, Jovi had some issue with an ex-boyfriend.
A literal narco type that is long gone now but was supposedly a shit dude.
Outside of threatening to kill her every so often and whatever else, he also stole from her one time.
That was supposedly the point – perhaps with other things she was fed up with – in which she decided to report him to the police in Mexico City.
She went to the Ministerio Publico where she was asked what time can she come in later.
And they settle for some time in the afternoon for her to come back some odd days later.
Then she came back at that exact time and day.
Was the issue resolved?
No.
Upon arriving, the person at the front desk said something to the effect of “you’re late.”
I’m only guessing what was said exactly because I wasn’t there.
But the person at the front desk – same person as before – is essentially deciding not to cooperate with Jovi on the issue.
“You’re late” being the accusation.
“Should’ve showed up at the right time. Sorry, can’t help you.”
But there’s a solution!
The person then supposedly told her something to the effect of “I can change the time to now if you pay a fee for it.”
How much was the fee?
I have no idea actually – Jovi was supposedly pissed and just left the building not willing to cooperate with them.
Even though they agreed to an exact hour and date for when they would meet, the officer not only lied about the time being different but also demanded a bribe to do their job.
Why is this the case?
Final Thoughts
Well, to be honest, I didn’t think much of the story when I heard it.
It sounded normal.
Actually, I’ve heard other people mention this too that the “Ministerio Publico” is sometimes worthless.
The idea being that the person in question behind the desk simply doesn’t want to do their job and is too lazy.
Other folks will say that it becomes a way for some of them to demand a bribe basically to take on your case.
As I wrote about here, other folks – foreigners and locals – have had stories where they reported a crime to the police like a stolen phone and the officer only did anything when a bribe was offered.
How exactly do you expect to have a functional country when you got to bribe people to do their jobs?
Of course, one could argue that “these folks are so low paid that they are encouraged to be corrupt because of the bad salaries.”
That’s definitely part of the issue.
And, if you offer higher salaries for officials, the theory would be that they’d be less likely to be corrupt asking for bribes out of fear of being exposed and losing a good job.
So a higher pay for officials might help.
I would also argue that it’s part cultural also.
Economics definitely has its play but, in a country like Mexico, you have that whole culture of “quien no tranza no avanza” as you can see here.
Of course, other things could perhaps be done to alleviate the amount of corruption in the country.
These are just a few ideas to put attention on.
And, like I said at the beginning, it’s really just another example of how corrupt practices in the country fuck over Mexico and not just the influence of foreign countries.
After all, Mexico is run by Mexicans obviously and shit like this is done by Mexicans.
How do you have a functioning country when shit like this happens?
When you can’t even go to the god damn police to report something without a reasonable probability that something like this happens?
Though, to be fair, you do got non-corrupt police in Mexico who do their jobs (all 9 of them) and the influence of foreign countries is something to talk about also.
Either way, on a larger scale, I think this is a good example of just how corrupt locals can fuck over the country.
But, on a smaller scale, it makes for a good article to bring light to another detail to living down here for those considering it.
That, if you ever plan on visiting the Ministerio Publico in Mexico City as of 2022, you might find yourself confused after walking into an office and being told that the meeting that you set up at 4 PM “was actually set up for 3 PM.”
I imagine that, for those coming from countries where shit actually works, you might be confused and wonder if the local is retarded or if you misheard them when you set up the meeting.
While either one could be true, just know that, as a tip, you might be talking with someone who is playing around with the idea of getting a bribe out of you to do their job.
Just proceed how you wish with the information at hand.
Finally, I think all of this really backs up a previous point I made in one of my earliest articles in this article here.
That point being that some gringos don't establish big roots down here while others do (buying a house, having kids, starting a business, etc).
And that, with each deeper root established (including just the amount of time you spend down here), the more at risk you put yourself to being exposed to shit that really mostly locals or long term expats encounter.
The life of an expat can often be very different from the typical local and that can shield you from shit you wouldn't have noticed before.
Going back to Blayde, it's still a question of if he'll take his issue to the police but, if he does, then he MIGHT encounter what Jovi did.
Police incompetence and bribe demanding.
In that moment, you're no longer the "expat on a beach by Cancun sipping drinks" but now living a moment some locals and long term expats might encounter.
Either way, that’s all I got to say.
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Thanks for reading.
Best regards,
Matt