This is an interesting but hard to follow post by Andy P. If I understand the post, the road in Mexico was closed for a political demonstration and the Russian rider made the mistake of trying to pass the blockade without permission. As a result, demonstrators beat the crap out of him and stole some of his equipment. There is no date in the account of when this happened.

On or about April 21st of this year 2007, at 10am, I was travelling south on Mexico Rt. 185 about 60 kilometers south of Sayula in my pick-up truck. I was pulling a cargo trailer down to my property in Honduras. Traffic came to a stop, with a kilometers worth of cars and trucks stopped in the road. There was a political demonstration up ahead and the road had been blocked off. I was told that the town had been promised money for projects and was protesting because the money had not arrived. There were national police on the scene who were accepting the road closure and demonstration, maintaining order but not opening the road. There was nothing to do but sit it out and wait.

A group of motorcyclists from Guatemala did make it through, but I would assume they asked and received permission. No other motor vehicles passed the blockade in either direction. At 8 pm, ten hours later, the blockade was lifted, and miles of backed up traffic quickly passed through.

So it appears that the moral of these stories is that one must be respectful of such political demonstrations. If, as a motorcyclist, you can get permission to pass, great. But otherwise patience is probably the best tact, unless you can find another route.