One of these days I'm going to tire of you T.H., but not just yet. I'm still amused by your little jibes, even though you really aren't a worthy foe.

You yourself are an internet tough guy. Were you not going to beat some poster up a few months ago? I seem to recall that. What does that make you? Hypocrite? Internet tough guy? Hmm.

Internet tough guys are little old men who are empowered by their anonymity. They are also often great ladies men or great athletes or college professors or other such things. The amusement I take from it is the complete insanity of it all. For all you know your fellow poster could be a 256 pound woman in Boise. On the contrary, the person you threaten to beat to a pulp could be a mean mofo who can bench 700 pounds. It's insane.

Personally, I try to never make posts on the internet that I would not say directly to someone's face. Sometimes I stray from this, but not often. I do what I say and say what I do, unlike the majority.

-Superman-

C'on gent. let ends this discussion!!! Anyways,
Red, Aardvark, Chargers, ElFuego, Tmoney, Milkman, Hippie, Porker, ExplorerXXX, Superman, Contraband, Sr. RickFeliz, and Powerslave PLEASE swing by AB then CC this Sat. night (9/8) for a drink. It's my Bday!!! Please...please...come by since I'm such a loner and I need you guys to help me hit on the chick...thanks

Sakebomb.

Happy Birthday Bro! I won't be heading south for another 3 weeks. But I'll help you then.

Damn, sakebomb, id love too, but I must conserve valuable brain cells to destroy sunday as the Redskins destroy the Chargers. Sorry

No need to get personal!!!

HA! lol

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...you know my initials...you probably even know my name. The difference between you and I is that I really don't care because I have never and will never hide behind anything. Many know me and even in the eco-system of the zona I stand out so get back into bed with Lakers and maybe he'll point me out to you on my next visit (probably the second week in October if you want to check your calendar

You're nothing but a punk who seems to do his only damage with a computer. Be tired of me already and do your worst!

Powerslave, You wanna put some money on that? Where are you going to watch the game. Sakebomb, I'll be there tonight. What do you look like, how do I know it's you?

tmoney

bet
i will buy the drinks all noche if the chargers win

if the skins win you buy the drinks all night deal ?

oh and if you win there is a limit of 1 drink
thanks

milkster

Tmoney: Where am I going to watch it from? The stadium, of course. Look for the obnoxious Redskins fan driving a car with DC licence plates.

Oh my God!!! I just noticed that Redongdo agreed with RickFeliz on something. San Diego is probably not the only place that is getting cold right now.

When I first started coming to TJ, I was able to see that the girls were very much like the topless dancers I had worked with and dated in the states. I quickly became clued in. I then discovered that a lot of what I thought was wrong. So, I had been a little hasty in thinking I was clued in, but I now had things straight. A few months later I discovered that I was still not entirely correct, and that some of the people I considered friends were actually just very skilled at using people, and some people who I had not known so well were actually great people. Now I have it. I am sure that I am now completely clued in. Oh wait, I have learned a few new things in the last couple of weeks. NOW I am clued in. Right?

POWERSLAVE
Any more NFL tip for week no 2???
Did you really expect to come to town and beat revamped Chargers?
30-3 Scoreboard baby!!!
My only tip for happy feet Redskins, Quincy Carter may beat the Redskins in big D. this year. But 2 weeks from now, Chargers will win in Dallas.

Hippie,

Got a hold of some good shit eh?

No, but I sure have been reading a lot of it.

hippie

classic post

there have been some great one liners on this board

yours should be retired and framed

milky

Thanks, but today it seems even more accurate and a lot less funny.

Crime-Muggings:

I use a passive defense system. I'm poor - and I look it. I don't usually stay in Tijuana after dark, one of my fears is that in that dark, the rateros won't be able to see how poor I appear, but ......

1.About 8:30 PM Saturday night (10-6) I was walking north on Constitucion (it's really lit up brightly, I think) between Articulo 123 (1st) & Callejon Coahuila ("The Alley"). Claudia (a SG that I very seldom patronize - and who therefore has little reason to protect me) warned me very sternly that I would get mugged. (I assured her that I was OK.)

2.About 9:00 PM the same night, I asked a Tijuana veteran - I won't name him - which route I should use to walk back to my hotel. He advised me, and added that He'd been in Tijuana 40 years and had gotten mugged last week (on Articulo 123 {1st} between Revolucion & Constitucion {one of the known ratero areas} ). This guy, although old, is a big guy.

I guess this means life is still dangerous.... Ten Cuidado, amigos.

The subject came up on the discussion board about how to handle "TJ's Finest" who seem to be much more of a threat (at least in volume of incidents) than choke hold muggers. I got so fired up replying thought I'd post it here. The question was what to do if la policia stop you and try to shake you down..

Any other ideas appreciated. Here's my 2 centavos:
*************************************************
Don't claim to have the total solution but a few things that come to mind are:
* Try to get a badge # or name. This is very difficult as they don't display them. Get a car # check the time, description of the "cops", etc.

* Carry a dummy/decoy wallet with $20 or less. Keep the big $$ in a plastic credit card envelope slipped inside your shoe, under the sock in the in step.

* Pick up a biz card from the little tourism bldg. I carry one from the Secretaria de Tourismo. You can pull it out and ask if they know "my amigo". The rules are to NEVER give polica $$ and they damn well know it.

* Report the incident to:

paisano@turismobc.gob.mx

(that's the last email address I have for the dept of tourism)

These BASTARDS are no better than fucking TERROISTS and we need to make fucking war on them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just my observation, but I spend a lot of time driving on the streets of Tijuana often between 8 am and 9am. Sometimes I just go to buy a San Diego paper and while I am out I like to go by the zona and see some of the street girls.

This weekend I saw more cops than I have ever seen out at that time. I saw at least 10 motorcyles in my 15 minute drive. Also I saw about 8 police cars and lots of cars with the red lights going on.

When I drove back to the Villa Zaragoza I counted five motorcyles all stopped at Ricardos probably having breakfast on the money they had gotten in bribes.

El Cochino,

FYI I made a post in the "news and events" folder under the topic coooooops about this. A story in the Union Trib said TJ was enforcing some new laws. Here's a little bit from my post.

TIJUANA -- Beginning tomorrow, anyone speeding or driving drunk in the city faces fines double the current amount.

And for the first time, those driving without car seats for infant passengers or talking while holding a cellular phone will be cited.

These are some of the 72 amendments to the municipal code made recently by the City Council. The goal is to reduce the number of accidents and the human and material damage they cause when drivers ignore stop signs, follow too closely, speed or drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs.


Just a small part of the story.

El Cochino, I drove by Ricardos and counted 6 cop motorcycles lined up at about 9:30 this morning. I had a strong urge to test the domino effect but came to my senses...

With credit to Innocent.


Advice for walking the streets of TJ. In response to a post about walking to the New Body massage joint.

I've walked them a "million" times,in the day time and occassionaly at night.

JUST KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN. Not just then but allways. Being streetwise is best if learned since your a kid but it's never to late to start.

Simple things like regularly looking over your shoulder, walking in the street, chewing gum or a tooth pick and emanating a "come on make my day attitude" are essential.

I have been followed more than once by ratero's and it's almost always been when I've been walking on the side walk.

I've usually done a sharp turn out into the street and that was all that was required.

If being followed in the street, I will turn around a couple of times with "the look' and just increase my stride.

Do not, I repeat do not stop and talk to ANYONE you do not know in the street.

Do not walk close to corners of buildings, drive ways, hallways or parked vehicles that you cannot get a good view of.

Years ago I worked construction in New York. Some of the biggest guys on job would show up in the morning after leaving a late overtime job all fucked up. The famous story was getting hit in the face with a bat as they came around a corner.

They never knew what hit them and some where lucky to be alive.

It all ways helps to be big and or in pretty good shape with some martial arts experience. If you don't have any, again, it's never to late to start. Especially Aikido or certain forms of Qi Gong or Kung Fu. It's a great work out and IMHO can actually make your dick harder too, maybe.

Mostly use your head, the big one, so you can use the little one later.

Oh one other thing is getting wasted down there is bad for many reasons. I used to in the "old days" but these days I don't drink at all or at most have one or maybe two beers.

Keeping your shit together can be fun and should be a way of life, even in sunny southern California.

PS: One note on the dreaded from behind chokehold that is so popular and effective among the rateros.

If you are unfortunate to find yourself in this situation the best move is 1)deep breath in, extend(throw) your arms out in front of you. While quickly bending the knees drop to about a 45 degree bend in the knees.

2) Throw left then right elbows back to the ratero's ribs and imagine that you are aiming for the spine. Don't throw the elbow wide. It should be right along side your body for maximum impact. Hit as though your life depended on it. It might.

3) Immediately slide your heel up the shin of the ratero, come down scraping the front shin hard with your heel and come down as hard as possible on top of the arch of the foot.

Visualize going through the foot to let's say China.

After you initially loosen the hold, this "shin scrape" and blow to the foot is excruciating actually pretty easy to execute and the attack will usually be over because you will have broken several of the metatarsals in the foot and probably a rib or two.

I have a friend who used to work out with Steven Segal. One thing I always remembered that he told me was that Segal once said something like "you can forget all the fancy shit, if you can grab one or two fingers and the same wrist, bend/break until well done you win the fight."

Hope this helps and I hope you never need it.

If you look back, and feel uncomfortable with someone coming in from behind you, the best thing to do is 'eyeball' him. You don't need to confront the 'attacker'. Just let them know that you know that he is there. At this point, you are no longer an 'easy' mark. Just be sure that you are aware of everyone else around you, too.

Eyeball the 'aggressor' and be sure to clear the area around you of any other potential 'aggressors'. It's all about situational awareness.

More often than not, if you simply face a mugger in TJ, they will abort their plan against you, and find someone else to target. The most common MO is to 'blind side' the victim. If you take away that MO, you're not a good target.


StrikeEagle

"Zone of Economic Interest"

Thanks to the collective wisdom I've accumulated over the years from reading these boards, last night I just automatically handled a potential problem without really thinking about it. I happened to notice what I was doing and am passing it on in case someone else might find it useful.

As I was walking down the alley, a guy started following me a little too close and trying to interest me in something. I just automatically turned into the first store entrance I saw and HE DIDN'T FOLLOW ME INTO THE STORE. There seems to be some sort of cultural thing that the streets are a free-fire zone and the insides of business are off limits for the rateros. I remember standing in front of Las Chavelas during the daytime and this guy came up with a wild, intense look in his eye and started aggressively asking for money. I simple walked into Las Chavelas and HE DIDN'T FOLLOW ME INTO THE BAR.

Whenever I want to observe the passing street scene and feel particularly safe. I stand with my back to the wall near the entrance to one of the major bars near the doorman, barkers, waiters, etc in their "Zone of Economic Interest". It seems to be a physical space around the door that the rateros don't enter as if there was an "invisible, protective shield" that stops them. The clubs don't want their customers being bothered and have the "weight" to see that they aren't.

As a quick rule of thumb the Zone of Economic Interest seems to be the area of the sidewalk around the door that the club mops. My observation is that it's one of the safer places on the street and a quick sanctuary when needed.

Regards,
RickFeliz

Sr. Happy,

I agree with your concept and observations as far as the bigger clubs and most stores go.

However, I'm a little reticent about using the "little stores" as refuge. At least in all cases, I'd be cautious about doing this. In some cases, the rateros hang out in some of the stores. Based on reports, this is mostly on Constitution, near Art. 123. (1st Street) But, for someone who is not very familiar with La Zona....... They might pick the 'wrong' store or a store in the wrong area.

Personally, I'd suggest that a ducking into a club would be my first choice. Damn few clubs, or club patrons, are okay with anyone getting mugged. We have to remember that the rateros prey upon the locals as much as they do gringos.

As a personal aside, I'd again suggest that it is 'good form' to be 'friendly' with some of the locals. We've all read the posts from people who've been befriended by talecharos, cabbies, SGs or the guy who runs a taco stand. If you frequent a taco stand, be sure to be nice, chat and tip on occasion. (Let the guy keep the $.25 change for the taco) If you use the same group of taxis, get to know the drivers by chatting with them. (You'd be amazed by what you can learn from these guys) Granted, this works best for those who visit with some regularity, but being nice to people on the street IS in your best interest.


StrikeEagle

THIS IS FUCKING CLASSIC. WHAT A DISGRACE...


In Mexico, Justice at a Price
Inmate Couldn't Buy What He Needed -- His Name
_____News From Mexico_____


By Mary Jordan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, March 25, 2002; Page A01


TIJUANA, Mexico -- The cop looked Jimmy Salguero in the eyes and asked the question that would change his life.

"What's your name?" he said.

"Jimmy Salguero," said Jimmy Salguero.

The officer clicked a few keys on his computer keyboard.

"No, you're Jaime Garcia," he said.

"No I'm not," he insisted.

But it was no use. It was a Friday night, and the police would look good ending the week with a prize arrest. So a Guatemalan painter named Jimmy Salguero became Tijuana robber Jaime Garcia.

Telling the story later, Salguero, 32, said that he had been just another face in Tijuana, living in a Salvation Army shelter and trying to scheme his way across the border into the United States.

To pick up some cash, he had taken a job painting apartments. As he left work that evening in May 2000, the police stopped him and four Mexican painters and asked for their identification. The others produced ID cards. Salguero had none.

The officers whispered among themselves, then hauled him to the station, gave him a new name and sent him to La Mesa, one of the most notorious prisons in Latin America.

When Salguero protested, the cops punched him. They told him to shut up.

Behind bars, month after month, everyone called him Jaime.

Learning the Hard Way


The presumption of innocence and the right to see an attorney have long been written into Mexican law. But in practice those protections are often available only to those who can afford them.

President Vicente Fox, who took office nearly 16 months ago promising to spread democratic protections to all, has sought to end government abuse of individuals, and in particular to end a tradition of arbitrary, sloppy and corrupt police practices.

But injustice has deep roots in Mexico's justice system. There are still two legal systems in the country: one for those with money and connections, and one for the poor.

Salguero said he saw that up close on the ride to the police station, when one of the officers offered him the opportunity to buy his way out of trouble.

"I hear it costs about $1,500 to $2,000 to cross the border," the officer said slyly, Salguero recalled, referring to the going rate for a smuggler to guide immigrants into the United States. Salguero said he understood the deal being offered: Turn over your travel money and you can go home. But he had no cash.

"I just asked, 'How long will I be in this place?' " Salguero said. When the police officers realized they were squeezing an empty wallet, they turned cold. "They told me, 'It will be one to three months before the judge sees you.' "

As an undocumented migrant, Salguero was particularly vulnerable to police abuse. But he figured one person could surely help him: his older sister Ericka, a successful office clerk who lives in Rockville, Md.

He placed a collect phone call from the station. To his relief, she answered. He was certain that his sister, an 18-year resident of the United States with legal status there, could convince the Tijuana police that he was Guatemalan.

Salguero handed the phone to the officer on duty. "Please talk to my sister," he said.

The officer grabbed the phone and hung up.

"The line just cut off," his sister recalled. "They just didn't care who he was."

Still, she figured the police would correct their mistake: "You take someone's fingerprints and you find out who he is, or who he is not. How hard is that?"

But everything got harder.

'You Pay for Everything'


At first, Salguero didn't have a bed in prison. He needed cash for that. In La Mesa, as in many Mexican prisons, inmates pay for their accommodations. How well you sleep, eat and live depends on how much money you have. The divide between rich and poor so prevalent in Latin America is exaggerated inside that giant cage.

The night Salguero arrived in the spring of 2000, he was broke. In La Mesa, penniless can mean homeless. Night after night, he joined other poor inmates searching for a patch of hard ground on the basketball court. "There was no mattress, but somehow I got a blanket," Salguero said.

He soon learned that the thin blanket was one of the rare comforts provided free of charge. Even visiting rights and toilet paper would cost him.

From his concrete bed, Salguero could see the prison's version of luxury. The central section of the prison was filled with more than 400 small wooden houses, many with windows, balconies and stereos. The richer inmates live there.

The warden, Carlos Lugo Felix, said it was his understanding that the top price for one of the little houses was $1,500. But inmates and human rights advocates, including Cesar Barros Leal, a Brazilian law professor who visited La Mesa in December, said the black market price is as high as $30,000 for the finest homes. Middle-class prisoners sleep in relatively uncrowded cells, sharing one with perhaps six others. And the poorest sleep on the ground, Barros said.

Prison officials, trying to squeeze 5,500 inmates into a space built with a tiny budget for 2,800, allowed prisoners to build their own tiny houses years ago. Officials also allowed inmates to open kiosks, where they sell shrimp cocktails, hamburgers, tacos and burritos, and even rent videos. Inmates without cash do without.

Family is a kind of wealth here, too. By long-established custom in Mexico, prisons do not provide all of an inmate's food and supplies. An inmate's family is expected to make frequent visits and provide milk, meat, shampoo, jeans, shirts and medicine -- or the money to buy them.

Five days a week, Salguero watched a parade of more than 2,000 visitors enter La Mesa, lugging bags of supplies. Some men around him ate as well as they would at home, with enchiladas one day and fried chicken the next. But Salguero, with no family in Mexico, survived mainly on the gruel that was wheeled around the prison in vats.

All around him, families spent nights together: More than 500 wives and several hundred children spend at least a few nights a week inside the prison. But nobody visited Salguero, and no one threw anything over the wall for him at night in what is known as the "rain of objects."

With the guards paid off to look the other way, family members and friends tossed packages over the prison wall, often at times and places arranged on smuggled cell phones. Even cocaine and heroin stuffed inside soccer balls were thrown over the wall.

Salguero's thoughts were consumed by earning money. He needed to eat and to bribe guards. So he worked for other inmates who ran shoeshining and laundry businesses. And he carved wooden ships and picture frames and sold them to inmates and visitors.

"You pay for everything, even for water," he said. "To not have money in prison is like being out on the street without anything, with nothing to wear, no way to bathe yourself."

Inmates have even divided the territory inside the prison and set up what amounts to a system of tollbooths. When Salguero wanted to use a pay phone, he paid a gatekeeper about five cents in pesos. When he wanted to go into the visitors' area to try to talk to someone else's attorney, he forked over 20 cents.

What really drained his finances was the roll-call bribe. Every night, when the prisoners lined up to be counted, Salguero had to slip a guard 50 cents to be marked present on the attendance sheet. The days inmates spend in prison are recorded only when they are marked present; missing roll call means spending more time in prison. Guards have turned that into a big moneymaker. With more than 5,000 inmates in La Mesa, the total take from the shakedown could reach $2,500 or more a day.

Salguero paid his 50 cents nearly every night. Each time he did, Jaime Garcia got credit for another day in prison. Garcia, a convicted robber, was being sought for violating parole when Salguero was arrested. Now Salguero was serving out the remainder of Garcia's five-year term.

The injustice tore at him.

"I kept saying 'I want to see a judge or a lawyer,' " he said. "But nobody paid any attention to me."

"Other guys in jail said to me, 'Welcome to Mexico. That's how justice is.' "

'Invisible' Inmates


Salguero was not the only inmate serving time unjustly in Mexico. Human rights advocates and Mexican law enforcement officials said there have been many cases in which the wrong person has served time. Record-keeping has been so sloppy in prisons that officials have not even known the actual identities of inmates, or how many there are. Most prisons lack computerized databases of criminals' fingerprints or mug shots.

Some inmates who cannot afford a lawyer have been kept in prison beyond their sentences. And fugitives wanted for serious crimes have been discovered in prison serving time for petty offenses under assumed names.

A spokesman for the state police in Tijuana said he was unaware of Salguero's case and could not comment on it. Lugo, the warden, said that since he took over four months ago, he has established new procedures for registering and tracking inmates.

Salguero, a quiet, serious man, became withdrawn as time passed. On good days he dreamed of getting out and going back to school to learn automobile engineering. He wanted to build cars in the United States. He had only finished primary school in Puerto Barrios, his home town in Guatemala, 2,600 miles southeast of here.

He joined a Bible study group. His new friends got him off the ground and into a bunk. They paid for his new quarters and later, when he had money, they charged him a small fee each week. But they offered no hope.

"Even my brothers in the Christian group told me, 'You will be here for a long time.' I asked their visitors to help me but they didn't. Maybe they were scared or maybe they thought I was lying. Even a pastor told me I was paying for some debt I probably owed."

Christmas 2000 came and went.

"In my solitude, I would read the Bible," he said. "It was the only thing that consoled me. I felt invisible."

Dispatching Help


In Rockville, Ericka Salguero was frantic. With three small children, a new mortgage and a demanding job, she couldn't afford the 2,800-mile trip to Tijuana. Her pleas for help from the Guatemalan embassies in the United States and Mexico went nowhere. She arranged for a relative in Los Angeles to take the three-hour bus trip across the border to give Salguero money and new clothes. She was worried because when she had last spoken to her brother he had said: "Send money so I won't get beaten."

Ericka's mother-in-law arrived at La Mesa and waited nervously in the long visitors' line. The sight of police in bulletproof vests on the roof made her jittery; the smell of sewage and the picture of too many people behind chain-link fences made her sad.

When she finally arrived at the visitors' window, she asked to see Salguero -- using the name Jaime Garcia. She didn't know it, but she had just fallen into another moneymaking racket. The inmates who control the visitors' area charge a fee to find the inmate being summoned. And often, they charge the inmates for the "privilege" of seeing their visitors.

She didn't know that she was supposed to pay. Salguero never appeared. The inmates persuaded her to leave the package of clothes and money with them; they said they would deliver it. But Salguero said he never received the package or a message that a visitor had come.

"I wanted to scream. I wanted to say, 'I am not this person,' " he said. But complaints earned him a beating or, from the gentler guards, these words: "Then prove it."

Salguero couldn't. So he carved boats. When he had the extra pesos, he paid to get into the visitors' area to beg a few words with other inmates' visitors and attorneys. No one took him seriously.

Finally, one visitor gave him what turned out to be a golden brushoff. If you think you have a real gripe, call the human rights office in Tijuana, he said. The man passed him the phone number.

Salguero was excited about the new lead, but he needed $3 for a phone card to pursue it. He worked and saved, ate less, and finally bought a shiny new phone card.

It had been more than a year since his arrest.

He slipped the card into a phone, dialed the number, and Luis Hernandez picked up.

Finding a Way Out


Hernandez, a 22-year-old lawyer, had been working in the human rights office for four months. He was fielding five or six calls a day from prisoners in La Mesa, all with horror stories. On May 25, 2001, he visited Salguero. After they talked, Hernandez went to the court to see the file of Jaime Garcia.

"I was stunned," he said.

The man in the photo in Garcia's file was obviously not Salguero. He was older, taller and fatter. He had dark skin and curly hair, not the fair skin and straight hair of the man Hernandez had just visited. And he had drug needle marks running up and down his arms; Salguero did not.

Hernandez wrote to the judge in Garcia's case.

On June 5, as Jimmy Salguero neared the end of his 13th month in prison, he was summoned to the office of the deputy prison director.

"Are you Jaime Garcia?" the man asked.

"That is what they call me here. My real name is Jimmy Salguero. I am not Mexican."

The official, who, along with other top management has since left the prison, was quiet. He told him to wait. An hour later he returned and said only this: "I have good news. You are free to leave."

In minutes Salguero was on the street.

He raced to find Hernandez.

"Jimmy walked in and was in disbelief. His face was blank. No one told him why they released him," said the lawyer, reached in Spain, where he is now studying for a doctorate in human rights. He said he believed Salguero should sue the Tijuana police.

Ericka Salguero said he should receive an apology, at least. "They stole a year of his life, and it is not good enough to say, 'Bye, bye,' as if nothing happened," she said.

But Salguero's thoughts are already in Canada. They make cars there, too, and since Sept. 11, it's easier to go there than to the United States. He spends his days painting cars in Tijuana, saving his money.

Researcher Laurie Freeman contributed to this report.


© 2002 The Washington Post Company

Powerslave: In Jimmy's case, thank God for Luis Hernandez...Mexico needs an army of guys just like him...

As it is, all too often no one gets called on anything, and every one looks the other way...

Despite Fox's best intentions, stories like this are a reminder of the overwhelming nature of the task in front of him...

YoungBrig

A Mexican friend told me a few days ago that "coyotes" have staked out the Zona Norte as their territory and have muscled out the "banditos" and therefore the number of muggings has gone way down. Can any of you verify this information?

hEY pOp!

E-mail me !

the Captain is going to the Zona on Wed for a day of cervesa and entertainment

Capt'n Crunch

Hi Pop,

Don't know if you remember me. I used to post as BushPilot at RedSnake. I have noticed a decrease in the number of posted muggings over the last year. There is also a much stronger police presence on Articulo 1-2-3 and Constitution. I suspect these may be the banditos who have muscled out the rateros of years gone buy.

La policía seem to focus more on young toughs, drug suspects, and potential migra violations. Fav has told me of several sweeps within the Zona over the last six months, but none recently. I'm sure that the rateros have not completely retired and TJ is still TJ, but the walk in seems a little safer in general these days.

Also from talking to a few friends, I have heard that coyote fees, related rip offs, and the general danger level of undocumented travel have increased considerably since last September. This seems to be true from Guatemala to San Ysidro.

que le vaya bien,
Gitano

Gitano,

Outside of a fairly recent report that someone was victim to an attempted mugging about 3-4 weeks ago (maybe more) at the stairway leading to the pedestrian bridge in broad daylight it has been slower.

It may be because of the reasons cited but I think the stronger presence of the boys in the grey uniforms and machine guns have something to do with it.

BTW I can't find your e-mail addy....shoot it to me again when you get a chance!

I have just completed an oddessy throught the Mexican justice system. Yesterday, on the free road from Tecate, I passed a slow vehicle over a solid yellow line. A PFP (Federal Highway Police) car happened to see this and pulled me over. Luckily I was able to stash the beer out of sight. The cop told me I would have to get a ticket, and that he was keeping my driver's licence until it was paid. He wrote me a ticket and gave it to me, with instructions on where to go to pay it. As I was already planning on calling in sick to my job today, I was not too stressed out about this.
This morning at 9 AM I went to PFP headquarters just south of the Airport, like the cop told me to do. There was a sign in the parking lot telling people paying fines not to park there, but to go to the SCT building half a mile down the road. So I did. I presented myself as wanting to pay my fine, and was told that I was in the wrong place, as fines have to be paid in the "tesoria" in the palacio municipal in Zona Rio. So, I got back into my car and went to the palacio municipal. Inside I found the tesoria, and anounced I wanted to pay a fine. No, I was told, first I had to go to the office for federal fines and get a bill. So I did. Then I went back to the payment window and payed 253 pesos. Then I went to the copy window and bought 3 copies. Then I went back to the federal fine window and had everything stamped. After all this, I got back into my car and drove back to the SCT offices, where they looked at my paperwork and agreed that I indeed had paid my fine. The only problem was they did not yet have my drivers licence, as the PFP had not delivered the weekends haul of confiscated licences to them yet. So, pissed, I went back to the PFP headquarters where I convinced them I had paid my fine and they went and found my licence and gave it back to me. The total process took about 3 hours, cost about 26 bucks and involved driving about 35 miles total.
For me this was no BFD, I had already planned to use today as drunk leave from work, and I speak fluent Spanish. And I live in Tijuana, so this did not entail crossing back and forth across the border. For any ordinary person, this would have been a nightmare. No one I dealt with seemed to speak English. The offices are only open from 8 to 1 PM, Mon to Fri, and if you do not know your way around tijuana, you will NOT find the PFP headquarters.
I head home next week, and while there I am going to report my DL lost and get a duplicate. If this happens again, they can wipe their asses with my licence for all I care.

That sounds like a complete pain in the ass. If they KEEP your license, could that potentially cause problems for you? I am just wondering if it could come back to haunt you in some way.

Typical
Sorry you went through this.
Like you said can you imagine if a typical whitey had to go through this ?

Glad you came out of it ok

Milky

As far as I know the regular garden variety Tijuana traffic cop does not have the authority to take your license so I wonder if what happened to you can only occur driving outside of Tijuana.

Reytj

It is only the federal police who do this. They do it to Mexican Citizens too.

Powerslave, living in Mexico you should know the all mighty "Mordida" is very handy. Didn't you try to bride him?

Sometimes, Federales are a little harder, but they mostly come around.

200 or 300 pesos would have put a smile on his face and avoided you all that time wasted.

Also, as far as I am concerned, (I always give mordida), all cops take your license for traffic violations or speeding. They consider that as coladural for your payment.

Bull Shitter, If they wipe their ass with your license, their is no way they will track you down in the future. If it's a mexican license, the next time you re-new your license plate, the fine will show up and you'll have to pay it then plus intrest. You being a Gringo, I don't believe you be "re-newing" any licenses or plates in the near future, so Poweslave's idea of having a duplicate is a very good one for you guys.

"BENDITA LA MORDIDA FOREVER"

Masterater

i've gotten two tickets in the last two months in tj, but no one confiscated my license. when i told one guy i'd go to the station with him he kept my license, but returned it when we got there.

Masterator, I do not bribe on principle. A DUI situation would be the only exception. At NO point in the process did I get the impression that anyone was looking for a bribe. Sampson, the local cops will do that sometimes, but you are right, you get it right back.

I am glad to see your principles don't make you stupid.

Mordida is not always bad, if you think you might find yourself in the Tijuana jail.

Guys, you can say what you want. The fucked up legal and police system in MX is one major reason for me not to move south of the border.
I am quasi living with a Mexicana and it would be convientent to some degree to live in TJ, but the city, the shitty infra-structure and the fact the our rights are worthless for MX police and other scum, makes me wanna stay in the good old USA!

Powerslave,

I have a duplicate liscense for the very purpose that you mention. Fortunately, I have never had to use it. But living in TJ, I know the odds are on getting nailed for something eventually.

Robertx, Its not as bad living here as you think.
5 years steady residence in Mexico( Guadalajara, Mexico City, Chetumal, TJ) I have been stopped by the police exactly twice.

One time I refused to pay a mordida, refused to follow the guy to the station, and insisted he give me the ticket that I would then pay the next day. He let me go( I was speeding).

The other time because of the circumstance and timing I paid a bribe( only the second bribe paid in 5 years). Its not as bad as you may think. But as someone else recently said, its not Kansas either. I dont reccomend it unless you speak fair Spanish.

batster

fellas,
this incident may not level to criminality. simply can't find a better category. help me out. it's about 'conspiracy'. it's serious they even make movies out of it. from where i came from it is punishable. Let me start. last saturday went with 'big paul or bp' to adelita. bp wants me to do the talking. my spanol is worst like my english but can get by. as we stride near the hotty central there were about 5 or 6 mujeres congested giggling with all smiles. we returned the smiles, the usual hola and some words. they came closer and closer especially to bp being a ladies-man. bp hinted to explore the east wing near the bathroom so we struggled to unlesh ourselves. in short, bp came back from upstairs. from very lonely to a happy bp. for me, just nurished 5 cervezas afford at the bar. in summary, we crossed the border and to our apartment where the conspiracy was discovered. the conspiracy we're talking here is about bubble gums in my front shirt pocket. 3 of them. yes 3 as in red, green, gray. it had to be from 3 different mouth. this is conspiracy. an insult of the highest degree to my pockets for it is solemly reserved for pipe, glasses, and the blue pill. since i don't know who did it, i ask if i should go back to adelita and start nose-punching every one who is chewing, only mujeres of course. at least i'll be right on 3 of them. astm31

I think they were just having a little fun at your expense.
In very poor taste, but just some bored whores who probably don't like gringo's(Gee I don't know why)and thought it would be fun. Nothing against you personally, but against all of us gringo's.

The positive out of this is you/me need to always be alert to chicas and what they are doing with their gums.

ALMOST ROBBED AND KNIFED IN TJ BY A GIRL!!!!!
Tuesday nite 8:30 walking up the first ramp of the bridge then I came to the stairway and two girls about 18 to 20? they looked young asked me for a dollar I said no and kept walking made it to the top of the second ramp and she runs up past me and saying give me a dollar I said no, then I see up her sleeve a knife she says a dollar I said no. Im thinking this not really happening i'm not scared yet. Then she shows the knife its 18" long and gets in front of me and stops me, the other girl is standing a few feet from us. she again says a dollar but I now know she means all my money. I started to realize whats going on and got scared. I start running and she does too then I stop and run the other way and shes right on my ass. I stop(becuase I dont want my back to her) and she does too and I start laughing and so does she. Right then I grabbed her hand and tell her to let go she wont,( for some stupid reason I didnt want to hurt her?) so I use a kung fu move and put her down and take away the knife. During this shes yelling for her friend to help her. friend starts to kick my leg but it dont faze me. There was atleast four of them the other two were boys, one kid was yelling at me to stop and was waiting where I was about 13? The other boy 16? at the top of the bridge watching but did nothing. So after I got the knife way the 2 girls started to run away like I was going to knife them. But I just calmly walked up the bridge and had the big ass knife in my hand. I was going to throw it in the river but I thought if a cop sees me with the knife I would be shot, so just 15 feet from me was the little cop booth at the top of the bridge I noticed the window was open and threw it in there. I was still calm when got to the other side of the bridge but did not see a cop WTF? I noticed I had a small cut on my left pinky it was bleeding like a bad paper cut. Walked to the second taco place and got a coke and 3 carne tacos and told hefe what happened. I was pumped up by now and shaking a little. It was sinking in what had just happened. I know it was a girl but the F***N knife was huge! I then went to aztec and relaxed then walked to pulgas to peep in, a few people there. Then walked back to the border stopped at the cop station by the bikes and told them what happened. The cops were nice and put a report out on the banditos he asked me if I wanted to go with him to the seen, He then said he really couldn't do anything becuase I was not hurt or robbed. ok? I told him where the knife was and said thanks for helping he said no, thank you and shook my hand. I told him that I hope no one gets hurt is way I came to him.
You may ask why I didn't just hand over my money? I was going to but instincts took over and I felt that I could still get shanked. I studied with chuck norris when I was a kid. (another story) I have only written twice here street bums and crime lol. I will write one on the massage parlor I found this night in another report. bobmenow SOBE_iT

So, how big was the knife? -jk

Just because it was a girl doesn't make her less dangerous. Years ago I had a friend that was put in the hospital by a fifteen year old with a pipe. I remember him being mostly upset/embarrassed with the fact that it was a girl that had done this to him.

if i could share a little rule of thumb that we use when visiting our neighbors to the south:

"never walk across the g*dd**n bridge after dark."

there is a history of violent things happening to gringos in that particular location if i am not mistaken, including at least one murder, maybe two or three right at or on the bridge.

slicey

Slicey,

Very good advice which I have been preaching for years.

A very dangerous place to be at night is that bridge and can be completely avoided for $5.

Bobmenow,

I am happy to see you are alright.

I would have had to go into that paying bano place near the taco stand and changed my pampers if that had happened to me. Chuck Norris (from Ryan, Oklahoma) would have been proud.

I'm glad it worked out OK for you. I almost went down there last night and would have been on that bridge about that time. I usually keep an watch out for the youngsters but I don't think I would expect it from a chica. I walk that bridge allot at night. It is much safer these days than in the past but I still pay close attention to my circumstances when walking through there. I imagine I would have fought a girl too, knife or not. I hope she learned a lesson. I will probably cross that bridge tonight around 8:30 and return around midnight as is my routine. Thanks for the heads up, I will now pay more attention to the girls too. But here is the important question. Did the girls clothes get torn in any way during the fight? I mean, if a woman attacks you with a knife that is at least justification to tear her blouse off.