License, Registration… or Ransom? The Dark Side of Roadblocks in Mexico
On Mexico’s highways, every flashing light at a checkpoint is a gamble—guardian of law or predator in disguise—revealing a nation where security and abuse share the same lane.
There’s a particular kind of silence you only hear on a Mexican highway at night. The hum of tires on asphalt, the occasional truck blasting its horn, and then—suddenly—the red-and-blue glare of a checkpoint.
Some drivers roll down their windows with a sigh of relief; others grip the wheel a little tighter, pulse quickening. Is this the police, the National Guard… or someone else entirely? In a country where both criminals and authorities wave people off the road, the answer is not always obvious.
