Arms and ammunition in border cities are more readily available than the interior because the risk of getting arms and ammunition into the interior is higher.
I always thought that there were checkpoints at set distances (30KM?) inside of Mexico. :smack::o
Yes, that’s true. But once the arms are in the country, it isn’t hard to distribute them within the cartels, which use them most along the border and in Sinaloa. Even if they want to get them to DF, it’s easy to by-pass any check points on the highways.
Since Chihuahua CHIH is ~300km inside, it would seem not, but I’ll double check with them. They did get stopped by the police because the bus driver was filling the bus with gas while it had passengers in it (apparently this is illegal, or at least it was that day), but I don’t think there was any official checkpoint like the skinchecks we have on our side of the border. I’ll ask again.
Originally Posted by Ruken
I know many people from El Paso who have gotten pulled over in Cd. Juárez. Every single one of them paid a bribe.It is my understanding that if you actually get a ticket, the police remove your license plate. You get the plate back when you pay the ticket a few days later. How are you going to drive back to the US?
Originally posted by guizot:
And that was their mistake. (Providing they were innocent.) We were pulled over in Tijuana by cops wanting a bribe, and we just said, “If you think we’ve done something wrong, then take us into the station.” They kept hinting that we could “pay the fine” then and there, but we insisted. Eventually they said, “Okay, follow us to the station.” They drove off and turned onto another road, leaving us free to go back to my step-mother’s beach house in Rosarito.
And that was their mistake. (Providing they were innocent.) We were pulled over in Tijuana by cops wanting a bribe, and we just said, “If you think we’ve done something wrong, then take us into the station.” They kept hinting that we could “pay the fine” then and there, but we insisted. Eventually they said, “Okay, follow us to the station.” They drove off and turned onto another road, leaving us free to go back to my step-mother’s beach house in Rosarito./QUOTE]
I´ve never had much trouble with the cops in border towns (mostly Nuevo Laredo and Matamoros). They aren’t supposed to take your license plates (mostly they do it for parking in the wrong place), but sometimes they try. It’s a good idea to drill some holes in your plate and put in a bunch of stainless steel pop rivets, so they would have to take off your bumper to get the plate, which they aren’t about to do. And don’t get mad and start yelling about your rights as an American, you don’t have any and it just pisses off the cops who are probably already in a bad mood on account of having to drive around all day in border town traffic and smog for a hundred twenty dollars a week and buy their own gun and uniform…They don’t want to waste too much time on a gringo who seems to know his or her way around, so keep smiling and say “Vamos a la Delegación” and usually thay’ll get tired of hassling you and go on about their business. Sometimes it’s less trouble to just give them ten bucks, which is about one twentieth of what you’ll get hit for if you’re driving a car with Texas plates on
I10 in Louisiana.
They aren’t actually military, they’re just Customs and Migration, at 26 Kilometers south of all border entry points. Sometimes there are military checkpoints further down the road, but I drove 2800 miles over Christmas from Oaxaca to Mexico City to Guadalajara to Mazatlan and back and didn’t see any, and anyway the soldiers hardly ever bother tourists. And even the Customs/Migra check is pretty informal; they just want to see that you have your tourist card and car papers, and aren’t carrying large quantities of obvious contraband. I usually tell them I’ve got stuff to declare (you’re allowed fifty bucks worth of imports, if driving) but they always tell me not to worry about it and wave me through.
As **guizot **mentioned, the Calderon administration (party: PAN) has been “cracking down” more than most previous administrations. Many see the current spate of violence as a necessary phase the country needs to endure – that is, it is a direct result of the government’s action, not an indication of suddenly expanded power among drug cartels.