Deference to foreigners

June 14, 2009 at 10:09 pm (Intelligence, My Story, Travel)

It’s often amusing how Third World people will sometimes defer to us White folks. This is especially noticeable in Central America where the former Indian subservience to Spanish colonial masters is now manifested toward any White foreigner.

One time I was in downtown Guatemala City and walking by National Police headquarters, a massive fortress that occupies one entire block. There are guards on each street corner surrounding it as well as on the roof. The place is very well guarded and there’s a palpable tension in the zone.

Police and armies in Latin America often have a variety of very old weapons and vehicles, which must be a real nightmare for repairs and obtaining spare parts. One day I was walking the street that faces the entrance to that imposing building, and as I approached the street corner I saw a policeman with a curious weapon I’d never seen before. He saw me eyeballing it and he appeared to be a friendly sort of fellow so I was bold enough to ask him about it.

I’d seen photos of the old US Army Grease Gun but had never handled one nor even seen one before. But this is apparently what this cop was holding. I asked him if it was a .45 caliber and he confirmed that it was. I showed interest and perhaps even fascination with it and asked him if it was indeed the US-made Grease Gun. But he shook his head and said “No, it’s from one of those countries up north, like Panama.” Oops, this guy’s geographical knowledge was evidently deficient, and perhaps his intelligence as well, which was quite dramatically confirmed for me by his next act.

He just reached out and handed me the weapon! Oops again! Sweet Jaysus! I had to quickly take a step backward or his gun would have been in my hands. . . and I’d probably have been in the gunsights of every other cop on the street as well as the roof of the building.

Wow! I mumbled my thanks to him, made a wide arc around him, and got the hell out of that area as fast as I could.