Local Foreign Residents Complicit in Corruption

I have lived in Mexico, both at Lakeside and in Highland Chiapas, for some ten years now so very few things surprise me anymore; however, a thread on another local Chapala forum entitled "Kissing Cop´s Birthday" is one for the books. In that thread, several forum members of that normally sanctimonious web site openly brag about bribing a well-known local transit cop who, by the way, works for the state of Jalisco which strictly forbids bribery of its transit cops and considers bribery of its officials an unlawful act on the parts of both the person rendering and the person accepting the bribe. I am not only astonished that forum members over there would admit in writing to openly bribing this fellow but that that forum´s normally holier-than-thou and pious management would allow a thread to continue ad nauseum that openly advises of its members´ complicity in encouraging the open corruption of at least one transit cop assigned to the Chapala Municipality with their "contributions", ahem, excuse me, gifts, personally delivered to this fellow´s reportedly posh digs at Lakeside in exchange for an invitation to one of his periodic parties in exchange for invitations or even without invitations to whatever personal celebratory event he can conjure up on that occasion for fund raising purposes.

I find it amazing that certain members of the Lakeside foreign community would openly brag about their participation in encouraging local corruption just as the state and federal governments are endeavoring to clean up past openly corrupt practices that stained the nation´s reputation and made clean and transparent governance difficult at best. Paradoxically, down here in the old colonial city of San Cristóbal de Las Casas in the poorest and one of the most corrupt states in Mexico, such participation in encouraging graft by the city´s few foreign residents would be considered an affront to the local community and might even result in any such foreign resident being openly reprimanded by local barrio officials. In fact, when we moved here in 2006, we were told by the barrio president, who represents our barrio at city hall, that all of the local cops were corrupt and were not allowed to roam about the barrio´s streets aimlessly unless they had specific business here as approved by barrio officials and initiated at their invitation. As a result of this community diligence, we have never even witnessed a hint that a bride was being solicited in our neighborhood.

It is one thing to consider paying mordida to some gun toting cop in the middle of the Lacandon Forest kilometers from civilization, it is quite another thing to openly and voluntarily pay a fee for anticipated inclusion in some traffic cop´s private "gringo" suck-up club in anticipation of certain "club" benefits while driving about on public thoroughfares.

And, yes, I have been invited to this guy´s parties and solicited for Chistmas gifts but I politely declined those invitations.

Deleted by Dawg because Dawg is tired of :

He sounds like a fine fellow...

CanuckBob wrote:Hehe......well when in Rome.

In Canada they make you stand in a line up for 30 to 90 minutes watching some over paid DOT employee work at a pace that would rival a snail in Alaska. Then they have the audacity to charge you $75.00 to take a picture and send you a renewed license. I wish I could pay 20 bucks to forgo this act of utter inefficiency..........

In fact, one of the local DOT employees was busted a few years ago for selling licenses to some our our fresh Asian imports for 10K. Sounds like a better deal in Chapala.

It looks like the moral would be that there are dishonest people all over the world, so why would it be any different in Mexico.

They are "tips" and like "tips" encourage waiters to give service, they encourage underpaid public servants to do so in Mexico. Those who are cheap or don't understand the arrangement must wait longer for things. It is the extra motivational payment that gets you to the front of the line. If you have all the time in the world then ok, some who have connections and friends don't pay but most gringos don't fall into that category.

Some of the mealymouthed excuses posted on this and the other forum by presumably respectable members of the foreign community at Lakeside openly supporting ongoing, blatant corruption in the Lakeside community remind me of an interview with the ex-police chief of Rio de Janeiro supplied as a special feature on the DVD of the movie City of God which was filmed in one of the worst and most violence ridden favelas of that city infamous for having promoted civility in more affluent neighborhoods by herding the desperately poor into surrounding favellas and ignoring the terrible violence that consequently became rampant in those slums. Those more affluent citizens only became concerned with violence if it were allowed to permeate their sacred leafy neighborhoods so as long as the local police kept the violence limited to the confines of the favelas, more affluent and influential citizens could not have cared less about what happened among the poor.

In that interview, he noted that the well-to-do in Rio were infamous for demanding strict law enforcement in their neighborhoods and places of employment but, at the same time, insisted in general that law enforcement never applied to to their own corrupt practices that were unlawful. He asserted that, as long as "respectable" and influential citizens insisted that their own corruption was above the law, corruption would never be mitigated much less eliminated.

As long as local foreign residents hide behind their gates and pay ongoing mordida disguised as party favors as a sort of insurance for the privilege of driving about public streets without having to pay spot mordida per incident while going about their business in the community, continued corruption is assured. Locals in my barrio in San Cristóbal stopped this by confronting corruption but, based on the responses to this issue posted hereabouts, that ain´t gonna happen at Lakeside. No skin off my back.

CanuckBob wrote:On the other hand...........if it's a great party with free booze and food I wouldn't mind donating a few peso's to the host. I couldn't imagine the guy would even remember who gave him what if there were 100's of gringos there.

I can't imagine going to a party with 100's of gringos

Dawg it appears you're fighting a battle against the NIMBY's. Is it possible that the same people who decry the corruption in general occurring in Mexico are some of the first to stand in line to corrupt "their" policeman? Of course it is! Small minds, small world ~ just big enough for a fiesta of "hundreds"....

Didn't what Dog deleted say something about paying to get a license in Riberas?

BTW, I've never paid a bribe.

I doubt many here have paid bribes... personally I like to get something for my money...

It's been said over & over... take the ticket... it's cheaper

So, why the preaching? It's not even Sunday

Carry Bean wrote:Didn't what Dog deleted say something about paying to get a license in Riberas?

BTW, I've never paid a bribe.

Yes, indeed, Carry Bean:

This same infamous cop these other folks are paying homage to pulled this trick on me way back in 2006 before the city of Chapala caught on and insisted that all fees for license procurement at Riberas (or should that be "robbereras") be paid in Chapala. In those days, the written test for a Jalisco driver´s license was given in English and was the essence of simplicity. One could pass that test bindfolded and only speaking Lithuanian. In those days, this despicable cop was noted for soliciting bribes from all applicants when they first appeared for information as to how to apply for a license but I had not made any preliminary appearance thus had not paid any preliminary mordida. Rather, I simply showed up on test day and took the test Elmer Fudd could have passed after having had a stroke. In those days, an old guy whose primary function seemed to be having had been there, pretended to score the tests which were hand scored on test papers answered in pencil and graded in a back room so there was no way to double-check the reported results.

This crooked cop came out of the back room and asserted that all of us who had not already paid a bribe at an earlier date had failed the test but that he had "fixed" the scores so that we had appeared to pass and that would be a $200 Peso fee which was "...not for his benefit...." but the benefit of a community cause unspecified but worthy. When he told me that I had two choices. Go without a driver´s license and leave there with my dignity intact but no driver´s license or pay the fee (AKA bribe) and walk out of there with a driver´s license during a period of time when the Riberas traffic cops were in a feeding frenzy against Lakeside foreign residents and using us as a recurring fund raising source. I paid the mordida and left there with a license.

I am reminded of the time in 1956 that my father, a most decent man and no racist, joined the White Citizen´s Council in our South Alabama town in order to save his business because of the indecent pressure put on him by other caucasion citizens of that community. You can bow to and rationalize improper acts as long as you wish but you cannot hide from the shame any decent person must feel after having paid off some scumbag for safe passage on a public thoroughfare.

You do what you have to do but buying transito insurance on the instalment plan and calling it a gift to a disingenuous host at some social function he has defined? Get serious.

Intercasa wrote:They are "tips" and like "tips" encourage waiters to give service, they encourage underpaid public servants to do so in Mexico. Those who are cheap or don't understand the arrangement must wait longer for things. It is the extra motivational payment that gets you to the front of the line. If you have all the time in the world then ok, some who have connections and friends don't pay but most gringos don't fall into that category.

Let´s explore this proposition.

First of all, the waiter "tip" analogy is flawed as waiters are only tipped after having displayed servicing skills and having provided same to the waitee. If the waiter has proven adept at providing service, he/she is rewarded with a tip after the meal has been finished; not as a "bribe" proffered by the client in order to induce the waiter to provide good or exceptional service before the meal has been served.

As for "...underpaid public servants...." or even underpaid employees of private enterprises, there is nothing wrong with expressing one´s gratitude for good or exceptional service by the proffering of a "tip" but this notion of a voluntary recompense for duties well performed takes on another nature when the person performing the service is in a position of power over the recipient of that service. Thus, the priest encouraging a youth to perform involuntary sexual acts or the cop accepting monetary bribes from motorists in exchange for a multa or the teacher willing to provide an upgrade to a level evidencing a student´s academic performance in exchange for unearned academic achievement because of blatant "apple-polishing", is an affront to human dignity such as it is.

There is nothing that degrades civility more than innocuous bribes proffered in lieu of achievement and bribe acceptance in lieu of insistence on true performance and we, today, see the results of this desultory interraction that degrades us all.

I, for one, do, however, find Intercasa's input entertaining.

Another example of morons contributing to Mexico's lack of progress towards a more progressive and democratic society for their own selfish needs to be met.

It is good that many encounters with the law can be settled at the scene. I always regarded "going downtown" physically or administratively to be taking matters to the next level and is best avioded when possible.

I really am not looking forward to the day when Mexico becomes so "anal" about the letter of the law as the US so as to lie in wait for any slight transgression. Legal systems anywhere are voracious self-feeding monsters whose numbers need be controlled.

Justice serves those who serve themselves.

This post is a lot of blah...blah....blah....useless bullsh*t.

Who gives a rats arse if some cop accepts "donations" to come to his parties for a good time. And the people who have willingly given these donations have not done anything immoral or illegal.

johninajijic wrote:This post is a lot of blah...blah....blah....useless bullsh*t.

Who gives a rats arse if some cop accepts "donations" to come to his parties for a good time. And the people who have willingly given these donations have not done anything immoral or illegal.

I encourage thinking contributors to this forum to carefully contemplate what they read here. JohninAjijic has just defined the proposition upon which evil is constructed and as Martin Luther King said many years ago (as interpreted by Dawg); the worst sin is committed by
seemingly decent people who take no note of or ignore the moral degradation in their midst. In that sense, John is worse that those he ignores. Not my problem. Nobody has as of yet crossed Dawg.

One must remember that John grew up in an isolated and deprived metropolitan area noted for its racism and corruption and then retired to a place even more isolated and filled with undiscerning folks. What do you expect?

"Who gives a rats arse if some cop accepts "donations" to come to his parties for a good time." Perhaps the few decent people left in this sadly jaded community.

Who gave a damn when Idi Amin stole the businesses of East Indian merchants in Kampala and bequeathed them to corrupt associates? Who gave a damn when African Americans in Alabama were deprived of their right to vote? Who gave a damn when corrupt Boston cops bashed heads to protect the territorial imperatives of Southies?

You, John, are sick and I regret that but that is your horse to ride.

johninajijic wrote:This post is a lot of blah...blah....blah....useless bullsh*t.

Who gives a rats arse if some cop accepts "donations" to come to his parties for a good time. And the people who have willingly given these donations have not done anything immoral or illegal.

The people willingly but possibly unknowingly/unconsciously participating are acting immorally and illegally. Condoning behavior doesn't legitimize behavior.

Peter wrote:It is good that many encounters with the law can be settled at the scene. I always regarded "going downtown" physically or administratively to be taking matters to the next level and is best avioded when possible.

I really am not looking forward to the day when Mexico becomes so "anal" about the letter of the law as the US so as to lie in wait for any slight transgression. Legal systems anywhere are voracious self-feeding monsters whose numbers need be controlled.

Justice serves those who serve themselves.

Peter and Dawg are more or less the same age. Dawg finds Peter an amusing fellow and enjoys the repartee. Dawg also enjoys the ease of administering justice at curbside versus the necessity of taking squabbles regarding the law and its enforcement downtown no matter whether one is in Mexico or Alabama or Ouagadougou. The time-honored notion that one can avoid going downtown to adjudicate controversies has been carried to a new level by the Chapala stationed con man known locally as the "Kissing Cop" when he came up with the gimmick of issuing informal insurance to gullible and spineless "gringos" by selling them safe passage on local thoroughfares by collecting annual or semi-annual dues (informal insurance payments) in the form of "gifts" proferred as intrance fees to festivities he sponsors to events he has contrived to mark various celebratory occasions whether of true note or simply pulled from his hat to fit the moment. That way, the "Kissing Cop" enjoys a steady cash flow unimpeded by the need to patrol the streets and go through the unpleasant activity of pulling over velicles driven by these moronic foreigners and engaging in "mordida" negotiations and those foreigners avoid the need of having to have been pulled over and explaining to this jerk that they "gave at the office". Of course, since he has openly contrived these fund raising phony "causes" over the years in full view of his corrupt bosses, it seems safe to assume that the powers that be who control his untoward activities sanction these activities so why not simply accept this repulsive corruption as part of the cost of living at Lakeside successfully?

Dawg is reminded of having been raised in South Alabama in the 1940s and 1950s before the completion of the interstate highway system that more-or-less precluded the practice, when local buffoons like the "Kissing Cop" routinely set up speed traps in small towns all over the south to ticket strangers (preferably yankees and, even better, black folks with Michigan or Illiinois license plates) at that point where the speed limit went from 65 MPH to 10 MPH for no reason other than that was where the town´s "police jurisdiction" started out in the middle of nowhere and the city coffers could be replenished with funds extracted from other than the impoverished local tax payers . Local, highly respected citizens ignored these practices since they only had to simply look the other way for a while until those victimized by such corrupt practices moved on south to their Florida beach destinations.

Peter´s notion of the efficacy of settling scores on the highway is understandable but if you, dear reader, as John and others rationalizing this corruption, sanction these institutionalized illicit practices openly and shamelessly milking local wannabee retards and find them amusing, then you are of the same mold that rendered upon us that "Kissing Cop" and his transito superiors who tolerate his behavior. That is not to say that Dawg is above mordida but I sure as hell don´t believe for a minute that there are no consquences to such behavior that compromises the integity of the community as a whole.

Those of you who willingly pay your "gringo tax" have my sympathy as I, at times, pay that tax as well. But, please don´t brag about being a spineless scofflaw if you pay to be invited to a party to mingle with other unpleasant types of like disposition.