Dear Sir,
At 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 24, I was driving home to Ajijic after visiting friends. I live in the heart of the village. As I turned down a local street, I saw a full-sized white pick-up truck in the middle of the road, blocking my way. I slowed down and noticed a man standing next to the driver’s side door. He looked in my direction and then turned toward me. When he did I saw an automatic weapon in his hand.
The week before there was an ambush by a narco gang here in town and my first thought was that it was another ambush and I was in the middle of if. I stopped and started to back up. When I did the man started running towards me, pointing the weapon at me as he ran. I backed up to the corner, turned, and continued toward the plaza. I turned down another street only to see the same pick-up driving rapidly at me. There was nothing I could do so I stopped and held my hands up to the windshield so they could see I didn’t have a weapon. The same individual came running up to my window with his weapon aimed at my head. I immediately started talking English asking what was going on. He asked me why I had run and I told him, “Because you were pointing a weapon at me.”
He was waved off by someone and soon I could see others in police uniforms.
This was my first indication that this was a police operation, as the pick-up did not have any markings and the police lights inside of it were not on. Apparently the individual with the weapon was working undercover, or just hadn’t bothered putting a uniform on. The police apologized to me and went on their way.
If the recent kidnappings and killings happened in the United States or Canada there would be outrage on an epic scale, followed up by a swift and overwhelming presence by various police entities. But what’s being done about this here in Mexico? Other than having more police riding around in the back of their pick-up trucks not much. It appears that gangs operate here with impunity and the police do little to prevent the violence. The effects are being felt economically and things will continue to deteriorate unless something decisive happens. I hope the local and state governments take this situation seriously and initiate action immediately.
David Knauer