Military stopping cars on the carratera tonight

I just got home from the airport and around the cactusvivero there is a military checkpoint. Men in camouflage stopped the taxi with a red flag . Men looked in the taxi then waved us on. What's up? Anyone know?

Was this at night ?
Did they have green military pick up trucks?

Last week while driving through La Floresta I saw 2 green pickup trucks full of soldiers, at broad daylight, I was relieved to see their presence in the area.

Yes they stopped my taxi last night but they were still there today but were not near the carraterra or stopping anyone. Yes they were army green trucks and men wearing camoflage. Red cones were set up last night - today just by the side of the road.

They were also stopping cars on the careterra just east of restaurant row last week.

They've been in the municipality of Jocotepec.

There was/is some sort of one, looked like maybe police, leaving Chapala just now.

An hour ago i had a nice group of military following me in the streets of Ajijic making rounds
...glad they're here!

From reading this thread you'd think you were all living in a war zone.

Glad they are here and on the street!

Those are some mighty fine gun turret/bunkers they have built at the Joco/Chapala County Line
To bad they are accompanied by Monstorous Sized Topes!!

hockables wrote:Those are some mighty fine gun turret/bunkers they have built at the Joco/Chapala County Line
To bad they are accompanied by Monstorous Sized Topes!!

I understand that is going to be the demarcation line for entering the "green zone".

That is a nice "Don't mess with Chapala" welcome party.

I wondered what that round turret thing is they are building.

The state police have returned.

viajero wrote:From reading this thread you'd think you were all living in a war zone.

We have had that for years. One does get use to smiling and saying our Buenos and for the most
part they smile back and greet us. I don't think we have a dangerous reputation to law enforcement
here other than being obnoxious. One of my greetings LOL is "Nice machine pistol senior".

Z

viajero wrote:From reading this thread you'd think you were all living in a war zone.

As the rainy season starts in mid May in Chiapas and rain is a very serious matter here, we are scheduled to return to Lakeside soon before the annual inundations commence but reading this thread, Dawg wonders if we, after a few months absence while here in San Cristobal de Las Casas, are leaving our Zapatista friends for an armed camp at the lake. On the other hand, I guess an armed camp beats the anarchy that seemed to be taking hold around the area when we left. We are actually quite pleased that the army and perhaps state and federal police will be in charge of law enforcement at Lakeside, at least for now while attempting to manage a situation that threatened to get out of hand.

Interestingly, here in San Cristobal, a historic city of tightly packed row housing, one never sees army troops or state and federal cops in the center of the town of about 130,000 people. In fact, one rarely sees municipal cops or transitos. In six years of living in San Cristobal on and off, I have never seen anyone get a traffic ticket for any infraction. This reinforces my belief that the transitos assigned the Chapala area are a special breed of corrupt opportunists, The only thing we regret about coming back to Lakeside is having to drive amongst these transito guys onjce again but that is really only a minor irritant or was minor when we left anyway.

While one never sees army troops or federal or state cops in San Cristobal proper, the army and federales are certainly well represented on the highways in Chiapas, Oaxaca and other southern states. These guys typically set up retenes along all major and some minor highways, especially on highways coming up from the Guatemala border but also at entrances to urban zones where motorists and commercial vehicle drivers are screened almost constantly. They have no problem with racial profiling in Southern Mexico and darker skinned citizens, residents or Central Americans are more likely to be subject to more intense scrutiny that big white guys in modest automobiles with Jalisco plates. Just for future reference for those of you who might choose to drive to Chiapas, Oaxaca, Tabasco or the Yucatan Peninsula, I advise that you make sure your personal papers are in order since you are not likely to drive any great distance down here without being stopped at a reten manned by the army, federales or customs.

That's right! Hope it happens here too, we need a constant vigilant military presence and checkpoint. Perhaps that's what we will get at El Bajio. ojalá

Good post, HD!

Trailrunner wrote:That's right! Hope it happens here too, we need a constant vigilant military presence and checkpoint.

Maybe the Lakeside realtors could use that as a sales pitch,you know,Worlds Greatest Weather and a heavily armed constant military presence.

lololol