Mexico

By Larry Habegger | Permalink | No Comments | November 30th, 2004 | Trackback

The border city of Reynosa in the state of Tamaulipas across from McAllen, Texas has seen numerous cases of police shakedowns of Americans. Usually the harassment is simply a means to extract money from visitors but there have been cases of kidnapping until bank accounts have been emptied at ATMs, and rape. Complaints to the American consul general in the state were numerous enough that he issued a travel warning to Americans and asked the attorney general to investigate. Now authorities are cracking down, firing or prosecuting the offenders, but the root of the problem, apart from there being some bad cops, has not been addressed. It is widely acknowledged that police are not paid a living wage, so the temptation is great to extort money from foreigners to make ends meet.

In other news, violent car thefts in Sonora state increased some 63 percent over the previous year. From Sept. 2002 through Sept. 2003 there were 756 auto thefts and 32 carjackings; from Sept. 2003 through Sept. 2004 there were 1,281 general auto thefts and 51 carjackings, totaling 1,332 registered auto thefts.

Home » North America, Mexico, Scams/Crime

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