Old wisdom from anyone who's travelled through Mexico over time - will tell you that from time to time one encounters lawmen who want a mordida, translated literally as "a little bite."
And while Mexico is improving in that regard, sad to say, Belize is only getting worse. And our next story is about a police officer who is accused of taking more than just a bite, he took a mouthful.
Today at the northern border - while getting another story - we ran into Jesus Caraviejo and his two sons, Mexicans from Ciudad Del Carmen who had been vacationing in Belize.
They were heading back to Mexico today after a two day stay - when they came upon a police checkpoint at Carmelia village. When they left the checkpoint, Caraviejo had been taxed a thousand dollars. Here's his account of what is nothing less than highway robbery:..
Jesus Caraviejo
"We were stop for two hours; they took off our clothes and everything looking for money. One of the person's numbers was 442; there were 5 officials. They made us feel bad, they took us out of the vehicle like we were criminals, but we are tourists. It's something that is really bad because we are here to add to the economy - to their economy as well."
Caraviejo is an engineer - travelling with two relatives.
The police press officer today told us that they have commenced an investigation into the allegation even though no formal compliant has been received.
