MP stands for Ministerio
Público in Spanish. It is part
police station, part City Hall and part Circuit Court. It is the catch-all for any crime or
misdemeanor committed, the starting place for reporting everything from a
stolen vehicle, a house invasion or a domestic dispute. It also has to be one of the most inefficient
and disorganized entities known to man.
I knew where the MP was because I had previously helped two
friends when their vehicles were stolen…a 2005 Toyota Sienna minivan in one
case, and a 2003 VW Bug in the other. When
Mayra called me with the dramatic news that she had been robbed, I grabbed the
van papers, some money to whatever, and picked her up. After that we drove directly to the MP.
It took us 6 hours and two days before we were successfully
able to report the vehicle stolen.
Why? Well, first of all, no one
explains the process to you. You sort of
have to figure it out, by trial and error.
Also, everyone who needs attention has to sign in on a large book. After waiting about an hour, someone asked us
if we had signed in. Nope. Oh well, just an hour, right? Turns out we needed to report the theft via
telephone to no less than four different legal entities. Each entity gave us a número de folio, or a case number, which needed to be recorded on
the form that we were given by a less-than-helpful young man behind the
counter. Once we finally figured out the
process, we began calling numbers. The
first number could not be called from a cell phone. Why? I
have no idea. So I went to the only pay
phone in the waiting area. Out of
order. We had some success with the two
other numbers, but the fourth one put us on hold…then cut us off. For about two hours this went on, as I
dutifully fed pre-paid phone cards to my cell phone credit. We finally gave up and went home. In the peacefulness of our house we completed
the remaining calls, and returned the next day, determined to finish the
process.
We returned the next day determined to finish the stolen
vehicle report, and after about two and a half hours did in fact do so. Victory!
During this time a group of people, actually two groups of people, made
their way into the waiting area. After
about 30 minutes, a man entered and communicated something to a group of four women,
all huddled together. They immediately
started screaming and sobbing. No, papá,
this can’t be. I don’t believe it. Papá! Shortly
thereafter, an older woman, probably pushing seventy, came over and tore into a
group of men on the other side of the room, calling them every name in the
book. I’m quite sure we were witnessing
a modern day Mexican Hatfield and McCoy confrontation, with a man’s life lost
in the conflict. It was not the last
colorful happening seen at the MP.
We returned home and I sent an email to the mission
notifying them of the progress we had made with reporting the stolen vehicle,
and making sure that insurance covered theft of the entire vehicle. It did.
We would lose around $6000 due to the robbery, but at least we would not
lose everything. Mayra and I talked
about perhaps driving our 2003 Astro this summer, from here to Colorado to
Michigan to Pennsylvania to New Jersey and back to Mexico. Would it make it? We would see.
We also received some helpful calls and emails from people at our
mission, expressing concern and support for the traumatic experience that Mayra
had gone through. We thank them for that!
Quote of the Day: We want to lower the bar of how church is done and raise the bar of what it means to be a disciple. Neil Cole
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