Anyway... Some of my buddies and I hired a cab driver for the day to take us around. As we were passing by a bank, we all started staring. It was surrounded by dozens of guards w/ assault rifles and had a frickin' sandbagged machine gun nest on the roof. Asking our driver what the deal was, he replied "Banditos. Today is payday".
Later during the visit, my buddies and I decided we needed some more cash to waste so went and found an ATM. There was an armed guard outside (again w/ an assault rifle). As we took turns getting our money, I saw the guard was looking at us and talking on a radio. "Crap" I thought. "We're going to die". Instead, when we left the building, about every 30' or so was ANOTHER guard that had shown up to make sure we got away w/ our money and DIDN'T get robbed and killed before we could dump it into the local economy.
This was near 20 years ago, before things got REALLY bad.
When I start seeing machinegun nests at the local bank and Blackwater teams around ATM's, THEN I'll start taking Anti's claims of 'spiraling gun violence' seriously. I have no plan, however, to let myself be as vulnerable as the Mexican people though.
5 comments:
Damn I knew going to ATMs was dangerous but that's something else. Just wonder what it cost them to try and provide that kind of protection because of the rampant crime.
Excellent perspective. Thank you
My perspective on crime changed when my wife and I visited Jamaica for the first time. Watching the local news channel there was a bit of a shock. Here in the states, we typically see the usual 7-11 hold-ups, domestic assaults, and whatnots. There, it was " Johnny Lewis's head was found on the front porch of his family's home today. Police still searching for the body. Now back to Rasta hour."
The anti's would benefit from a field trip there to see what REAL "blood in the streets"(tm) is all about.
Many years ago in the Philippines, a bunch of Marines changing dollars to Pesos out in the 'ville, a kid about 12 runs by and grabbed some cash. The Philippine police cut him down, picked up the cash, handed it back to the Marine. Most of us went back to the ship. Other countries have a totally different take and solution to crime, and it is usually very harsh, and often fatally permanent.
Armed guards in Latin American banks are the norm, even in a quasi-stable country like Costa Rica.
Not too surprised about the MG nest on the roof. To quote Dillinger, "...because that's where the money is."
What breaks my heart is what this is doing to the people of Mexico. They deserve better than this.
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