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Speaking to Los Federales

I had my first encounter with Mexican federal police today! It was at Navojoa. They were parked at the turn to the Libre to Los Mochis. I passed the turnoff for the Libre, realised that I ‘should’ have turned for Los Mochis, did a legal U-turn when I could, and headed back to the Libre. When it became clear that this was NOT the main road to Los Mochis, I turned back around to return to Mx 15 and a Federale signaled for me to stop. He asked me if I was lost, I replied not anymore, thanked him for his offer of help, and off I went.

I forgot to include that in my post because it was so insignificant, but I just got a comment about corrupt police officers and wanted to share a positive encounter!

8 thoughts on “Speaking to Los Federales”

  1. We have only had 2 bad encounters in 14 years with corrupt federales and we thawted them each time by my pretending to only speak French. It frustrated them. They always let us go in the end. They have been of great help over the years in many difficult situations.

  2. I’ve noticed that people who regularly have issues are people who have attitudes…

    (I once got out of a major fine in Vancouver by speaking my worst English with my thickest québécois accent! :D)

  3. Federales are the elite of Mexican police. They are carefully chosen and well paid. If you ever get lost or in trouble, I would not hesitate to ask a Federali for help. In seven winters in Mexico we have been hassled twice by dishonest cops, both city cops. The first one demanded $500 US dollars and I laughed at him. I would have talked him to death but Norma slipped him 200 pesos and he became our personal motorcycle escort to the turn we were looking for,

    The other time was a city cop in Cancun who accused me of speeding in the MH when I was doing about 20 kph under the speed limit looking for a turn. This time I actually did talk him to death and after 3/4 of an hour he left empyu handed to seek out a dumber gringo. 😉

  4. That’s what I understood about the Federales. Glad to know my info is correct. As for you, LOL.

    Speeding is tricky here. The speed limits are sometimes SUPER low and if I obey them, I risk getting run off the road…

    • They usually prey on expensive vehicles that look like easy pickings. You should slide under their radar.

      On Canadian in a Mazatlan RV park came home feeling quite proud of himself for talking a dishonest cop down from his original demand of $500 US down to $200 US dollars. If he had of insisted on a ticket it probably would have been less than $40 US.

  5. I’ve noticed that most Mexicans have really nice vehicles! Not a lot of junkers. My beloved Moya looks rather trashy!

    That is an awesome story!

    • Mexican banking laws were changed in just the past few years to allow for vehicle loans. In the past Mexicans had to pay cash for vehicles where now they can take out high interest loans. Good or bad?

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