Puerto Escondido Part 6: Crime and Fear in Mexico
It’s time to discuss Crime and Fear in Mexico.
Mexico has a rather notorious reputation. Leaving aside the degenerately racist comments once uttered by our then-reality television personality, now-reality television president, many assume that it is violent and dangerous and that one must be on their toes at all times lest you be conned and robbed and murdered.
Here’s my experience.
I walked down dark streets and dark allies at all hours of the night, sober, stoned, and stumbling. I can think of almost no time—save for the potentially problematic prostitute & pimp situation that I have already described (and let’s be honest, that’s a problem we brought on ourselves through our own foolishness)—when I felt unsafe. I brought my expensive guitar to the beach in the middle of the night, alone, and sang and played to my heart’s content. Never was I robbed. I forgot my phone on a bar’s chaise lounge after too many daquiris, and the bar sent people out scouring the beach to find me so that it would be returned.
From my experience, there are no kinder, more generous people than the Mexicans. The Spanish of Granada come close, as do the drunks of New Orleans. But I have never been any place where the people are so open and friendly and patient.
Are there dangerous places in Mexico? Of course, some of the most dangerous places in the world. Are there dangerous places in the United States? Again, of course, and again, these are some of the most dangerous places in the world.
The police in Mexico are most certainly a problem. I would often ask people–in Puerto Escondido then later in Mexico City–what they thought of the police, and the response was always the same. A furrowing of the brows, followed by, “Es muy complicado.”
There are corrupt police who are just trying to get by, they tell me. And, I was told, there are honest police who want to make a difference, and who risk their lives by doing so. Sometimes the police do terrible things. Sometimes they are heroes. Sometimes they are neither good nor bad, merely ineffective.
To me, this sounds like the police in the United States. I have had police bother me in both countries, both with cause and without. I have known good police in the US and I have known police who are violent, criminal thugs who are on the wrong side of the bars. These are not problems that are unique to Mexico. They are unique to a line of work that is closely tied to criminality.
I’ve met many people who visit Mexico and their entire experience is marked by fear. They are constantly on the alert for Something Terrible. They assume every Mexican they see is just waiting for them to turn their back so they can put a knife in it. And I have spoken with Americans who won’t even visit Mexico because they are so afraid. Afraid of Something Terrible.
Here’s one interesting statistic—a higher percentage of Americans fear violent crime than Mexicans. It doesn’t matter where Americans are, we just tend to be a fearful people.
Fear is born of laziness. It’s intellectually dishonest and rarely has any basis in reality. It’s often a projection of our own worst selves. If you’re walking around assuming that everyone is out to get you, what does that say about who you are as a person?
Just as individuals are afflicted with psychology, so are nations. As a nation we project the worst of ourselves onto our neighbor.
They’re violent!, we say, ignoring the fact that our cities are among the most violent in the world.
Narcos!, we accuse, forgetting that we buy the drugs, fund the cartels, fuel the wars.
Criminals!, we declare, neglecting to mention that our economic policies fuel their poverty, that our crime rates are actually on par with theirs and in certain realms are much higher.
Con-artists!, we see in every Mexican we encounter, refusing to face the fact that con-artistry, the “get yours at any cost” mentality, is built into the very fabric of our national identity.
Does Mexico have a problem with crime? Of course. It would be willfully ignorant to say otherwise. But does the United States have a problem with crime, and an overarching tendency to point fingers without recognizing what is true about ourselves? Most certainly, and we are willfully ignorant in doing so.
There’s little you can do to control Crime, but there is much you can do to control Fear. We don’t own more guns than any other country because they prevent crime. The reality is that not only do all those guns do nothing to prevent crime–they actually fuel it.
We own guns because we can’t control our fear.
But right now we’re not talking about The Gun Problem. I’m just bringing them up to illustrate a point. Fear causes irrational decisions, like avoiding all the beauty that Mexico has to offer–from its people to its food to its art to its stunning landscapes–because you are afraid.
All of those beautiful things are very real, while the fear imagined.