La Mordida

La mordida, “the bite,” is a bribe in Mexico. While we were waiting for the ferry in Topolobampo, an American couple in line behind us told their story of being stopped by a municipal transit policeman between Los Mochis and Topolobampo. The policeman read a prepared text about their violation of the 60 kilometer/hour (km/h) speed limit. He showed them a radar gun displaying 80 km/h and said they were speeding. The driver, a recently-retired federal contractor, said that he was moving along with traffic, implying that everyone was speeding. The transit policeman told them that the place where they had to pay the fine was closed until the following morning. In the end, the couple gave MX$1,500 (pesos), about US$120, to the policeman so they could catch the ferry. La Mordida.

Several years ago, Rande and I were stopped returning to the US through Tecate from a trip to Bahia Kino and Los Alamos. The route through Tecate to the international border crossing, which was obscured by a large concrete wall, was poorly marked. I found the wall, but not a way around it. At one point, I made a U-turn on a wide residential street. We were immediately pulled over by a policeman on a motorcycle who said I was going the wrong way on a one-way street (although I saw no signs marking the street as one-way). He asked if we had US$100 to pay the fine; I said we did and suggested that we go to the police station to pay it. We repeated this exchange a couple more times before he gave me what I think was a warning, got on his motorcycle and rode away.

Whether we are driving our own vehicles or rental cars (with agency logos on the trunk), gringos are obvious and occasionally the target of corrupt transit police. Often we're in a hurry (trying to catch a ferry, for example) or we're new to the country and fearful when a policeman stops us. Here’s the advice of Robin Blind, a writer for the Gringo Gazette (www.gringogazette.com):

…after being stopped probably 60 times in 19 years of living down here [Cabo San Lucas], this writer has only been given one ticket, and that was by a woman…Every man who ever pulled a traffic stop just tried to extract a bribe. When told no, they lose interest and drive away…Now if we could just convince the foreign community to just say no, all this nonsense would be done with and they would stop picking on us...(Vol. 19, Ed. 3, Oct. 7, 2013)

And from Mexicomatters, a website for foreign investors (www.mexicomatters.net/):

…If your [sic] traveling in Mexico and a cop stops you for an alleged traffic violation offer to accompany him to the police station to pay the ticket. Most often he will not want to spend the time and let you go. If you do pay the fine it will most likely be considerably less than the bribe…