"While this is strictly speaking corruption, it is a very democratic form of corruption."
If the police are for sale, then they are for sale to the highest bidder. If the prices seem reasonable to you, it's only because your aren't being outbid by someone significantly wealthier.
"just look at our crime rates that are well below the region."
Crime is lower. The few gangs that are here don't really spread outside their barrios like they do in just about every other country in Central America.
You say: "If the prices seem reasonable to you, it's only because your aren't being outbid by someone significantly wealthier."
Thats not what Nicaragua is like. It's not the wild west. It's a pretty quiet traditional country with a fair amount of trust. Again compared to other countries in the region, not with say Denmark or Sweden.
There was recently a police killing of an innocent family in a botched drug raid. It became a really big deal and the police, president bowed over to try to make things better. Not that that excuses things, but it's a hell of a lot better than what happens in the US.
It is very difficult to view normal life in the second poorest country in the western hemisphere with the moral compass or glasses of middle-class US. Things are very different here.
>It is very difficult to view normal life in the second poorest country in the western hemisphere with the moral compass or glasses of middle-class US. Things are very different here.
Perhaps. But tolerance of "low-level" corruption is one of those things which causes Nigaragua to be the second-poorest country in the western hemisphere. The values of the middle-class US are a big part part of what made the US the richest country in the western hemisphere.
There are many things that keeps Nicaragua poor, this is hardly the most important one. Similar low level corruption is found all over Latin America except for perhaps Chile. It disappears once countries have been middle class for a while.
If the police are for sale, then they are for sale to the highest bidder. If the prices seem reasonable to you, it's only because your aren't being outbid by someone significantly wealthier.
"just look at our crime rates that are well below the region."
Is crime lower, or just the reporting?