This short story is fresh out of my mind, it just happened to me.

I was walking in downtown Mexico from my place to a metro station, when a police car pull over in front of me an started talking to me as fast as hell in Spanish. I speak a very little Spanish ans I couldn't understand any single word. After a quick argument I realized that they accused me of pissing in the street. They eventually asked me to get up in the car and I realized that one of these son of a bitch was actually trying to make me pay him money. This greedy weasel wouldn't accept 200 pesos, which I said from the beginning was everything I had. I eventually pulled out of my pocket almost 300 more pesos and this bastard took 200 for him in his two other co-racketeers back. The argument he had all the way was give 500 or you'll pay 1000 at the precinct.

As a conclusion I didn't really like police so far, now I hate them. The most annoying thing is that there is nothing you can do, because the country is so corrupt. When the state own the violence monopoly, no one is safe.

In the state of Chihuahua, Mexico the government now controls what you can, or can’t name your child, and the spelling or even approved names!  It is not a new law, but one they are just starting to enforce, it is meant to “keep children from being ridiculed, and having future legal trouble with their name."

Under the law, any ‘foreign sounding’ first names must be followed be traditional Spanish middle names, names that are not considered ‘proper’ (such as Azul, meaning Blue, or Lluvia meaning Rain) are not approved.  The ‘common spelling’ must also be used, for example the common spelling of my name is Zach (or preferably Zack) so my name Xaq would be banned.

Viva La Name Game!!

Mexican President Vicente Fox has refused to sign the bill that would have decrinalized small amounts of drugs for personal use saying "[Congress needed to]  make it absolutely clear in our country, the possession of drugs and their consumption are, and will continue to be, a criminal offense,"  His refusal cam very shortly after US officials claimed this law would lead to 'Drug Tourism' from the US.  read more »

In a bold move to fight larger drug dealers and cartels, Mexico is legalizing consumer carriage of "small amounts" of formerly illegal drugs.

Under the legislation, police will not penalize people for possessing up to 5 grams of marijuana, 5 grams of opium, 25 milligrams of heroin or 500 milligrams of cocaine.

People caught with larger quantities of drugs will be treated as narcotics dealers and face increased jail terms under the plan.

It's not really a great solution, or anywhere near a complete one, but I wonder what people's thoughts are on this and, specifically, how this would work in the U.S.?

UPDATE »  read more »

President Vicente Fox paused for a long moment before answering a question on how long it would take Mexico to reach a stage where citizens no longer want to cross the U.S. border to seek work.

Well, they finally asked the right question, but his answer was bullshit.  

"Generations," he finally said.

That's kind of odd, China's living standard seems to be rising pretty damned fast ($100 per capita per year, according to some estimates).  It's not taking THEM generations.  

Mexican experts say that the rival immigration reform bills now being debated in the United States will have limited effect as long as income disparity remains as deep as it is now.

Well no shit!  

Said Jorge Chabat, of Mexico City's Center for Economic Investigation and Teaching (CIDE): "There are two ways to tackle the migration problem: improve the (Mexican) economy or introduce a more flexible (U.S.) border policy, more toward an open border."

Hmm, that's an idea, let's improve the economy, and maybe everybody won't leave!  After all, why spend three days wandering the desert to get a job, when you could make the same money at home!  Believe it or not, Mexico is the third largest oil producer on earth, but they don't seem to be enjoying anything near the prosperity of the other big producers right now.  Why is that, I wonder?  Oh yeah, Petróleos Mexicanos is state-owned!  This company is the largest oil and gas exploration firm in the Western Hemisphere, but Mexico isn't rolling in cash?  Perhaps privatization is in order, eh?

The Zapatistas have left the jungles of southern Mexico for the first time and are launching a six month tour of Mexico, aimed at "reshaping the nation's politics".  From the article:

Standing in front of a mural of Mexican revolutionary hero Emiliano Zapata the rebel group's namesake Marcos said Sunday the enemy "has many faces but one name: capitalism."  read more »

"Anti-capitalists" engaging in capitalism, "environmentalists" damaging the environment, what the heck is going on down here?

Since the start of the WTO protests, Bureaucrash cameramen have uncovered consistent inconsistencies among leftists. One Mexican protestor Bureaucrash told Bureaucrash that he intensely dislikes capitalism, but had to confess a deep desire for coca-cola and pizza hut. This does not come as a surprise, since most protesters sport brand names and sleep in Coleman brand tents. They also consistently speak out against the Mexican government. Most shocking is how poorly some of the leftists are treating Cancun itself, as well as it's native population. Local Mexicans have appealed to the leftists to respect their homes and businesses, but Bureaucrash cameramen have discovered that these pleas have been ignored. Though they claim to be protecting workers, leftists have littered the city with garbage. Graffiti covers local shops and parks, and many businesses were even forced to close early out of fear of vandalism and destruction.

Today's the big day for the protesters.  I wasn't too sure what to expect, since it seems that there have been so few people here during the other protest events.  Today was the exception, though - protesters came in from all over the country (Mexico), to march down one of the main streets and up to the barricades that prevented them from reaching the convention center, where the WTO meetings were being held.  
 

Our plan for today was risky:  We set up a stand along the main traffic circle in downtown Cancun, where many of the protesters had been camping out for the previous week.  It was about 400 yards from the barricade, where the protesters were planning to end their march.  We operated under the guise of offering sodas & bottled water for sale at either a free trade price (50 pesos), or a "fair trade" price (200 pesos), which covered such things as a living wage, health insurance, and child care for our employees, as well as union dues and government tariffs.  
 
The timing couldn't have been better.  Its been really really hot the whole time we've been here, and today was no exception.  The humidity was even worse than I ever remember it being when I lived in Florida, and our whole group had grown accustomed to walking around in clothing drenched with sweat.   
 
The results of the sale were about what we expected:  about 75% sold for the free trade price, while the remainder sold at the "fair trade" price - evidence that even in a free-market system, people who understand the benefits will voluntarily pay more for a product, regardless of a less-expensive alternative.     
 
However, this was not the purpose of our operation.  In fact, Starchild only thought about keeping track of the sale once it was already underway.  What we were looking for was the reaction to our sale...and it was really entertaining.  Tom and I set up in locations to the front and rear of the stand with video cameras, as if we were documenting the protest march.  We concealed a microphone on Louis, and another on the table so we could record the interactions.  
 
At first, the passers-by were sort-of confused.  Many stopped to read the sign, and stood there with perplexed looks on their faces.  You could almost see the reality of the situation set in, as people realized that this "fair trade" thing they were promoting was going to make things cost them a lot more.    
 
...and then came the crowds.  Thousands of people marched over the hill, many of them dressed up in home-made body armor and shields, carrying all sorts of makeshift weapons, wearing gas masks and army boots.  One American protestor, a rarity among the crowd, came over to confront Louis about the sale, and explain that "this isn't what fair trade is all about".  She insisted that fair trade referred to fair treatment of the _producers_ of goods, and not the people selling them.  She was really upset about the fact that we were selling Coca-Cola products, since Coca-Cola is a giant multi-national corporation that epitomized everything the protesters were against.  I got a nice close-up shot of the Sony video camera that she was holding in her left hand, while making angry gestures to Louis with her right.  
 
The march was the largest that we'd seen since we arrived in Cancun.  There were plenty of so-called "anarchists" on hand, who firmly believe that private property must be destroyed (both in practice, and in concept), in order to promote liberty.  At one point, a group of them, all armed, encircled Louis & our stand, holding hands to form a human chain around it.  Others motioned to one another, preparing to deface our set-up with cans of black spray-paint.  We decided that perhaps it was time to pack up & go. I radioed the others.
 
We regrouped, and, after Louis changed clothes to change his appearance slightly, returned to the crowd to document the action.  The protestors ended up pulling apart the barricade, piece by piece, in order to try and confront the wall of Federales in riot gear on the other side.  I'm not sure whether such a confrontation ever took place; if it did, it must have been pretty small, as I never did see any real commotion.  The crowd was pretty large, and pressed tight against the remainder of the barricade.
 
Despite the crowd's size, the media still made up a substantial percentage of those present.  I took the opportunity to hand out press releases (discretely) to about 15 news crews, and talked to several of them for quite a while.  
 
One crew (actually two brothers from London) were there working on a documentary film.  I handed one of them (Thom??) a press release, still folded from my pocket.  He opened it, and seeing the Bureaucrash logo on top, said, "Oh, you're with the free trade guys who are here."  I responded, "If you've heard of us, then we must be doing our job pretty well."  He concurred, and told me that "people are talking" about us, though I gathered from his tone, that it wasn't in a good way.  No matter.
 
I gave one interview to a reporter for the NPR syndicated show, Voice of America.  Keep your ears open for me.

Today was the "big march" against the WTO in Cancun so when the big government cheerleaders walked over the hill, Crashers greeted them with our "Fair Trade" Soda Stand. We offered thirty protestors two prices for Cokes, Sprites or Bottled Waters: fifty cents or two dollars depending on whether or not they wanted to pay the free trade or fair trade price. Not surprisingly, 2/3rds chose the less expensive free trade price making it the choice of this generation. A group of anarchists formed a human chain around the Crashers because, like governments, they wanted to limit the peaceful trade between individuals. Or maybe the were tired of their fellow protestors looking like fools. Later a Mexican vendor set up shop in the exact same spot so his supply could meet their demand.