Peruvian Police
I would be lying if I didn’t tell you about some of the downsides of Peru so I will get to them in the next few stories. While I love the people and places, there are some real problems here. The police are very friendly here. I see that they are pretty well liked by the residents. But I have also seen three disturbing incidents. None of them are unique to Peru, but three ugly scenes in a month seems excessive to me. It seems like the police are real cool until they lose it and then they lose it big…
The night before Corso when my taxi was taking me out to the hotel on the outskirts of Cajamarca, we came across some vehicles parked in the street. There were dozens of people on the side of the road flowing out from a nightclub (“nightclub” in Latin America is a place where you drink and watch strippers and other “things” go on). In front of the cars in front of us we watched about a dozen police beating about six guys. And I do mean BEATING with billy clubs. The police had a large SUV and they proceeded to pick up each one of the “criminals” and launch them through the air into the back of the SUV. They were piled up like dead bodies when they finished and we drove by. My guess is that something happened in the nightclub and punishment was doled out right there in the street. Rodney King had it easy compared to those poor fools.
There was one ugly scene during Corso that played out in front of us across the street. It is an image that I will also never forget no matter how many great images I retain from that day. Everyone staked out their turf before the parade started and most of these were seats that you paid for (someone brings chairs or builds bleachers and then sells you the right to sit there for the day). Well, apparently some indigenous families decided that they would squeeze in on the curb in front of paying people. It seemed quite innocent to me especially since they were below the paying customers and there was enough room. I know there are Peruvians who have racist views towards the Indians and I am sure what I witnessed was exactly that. The police came over to the families and told them to leave right before the start of the parade. The Indians refused. These “criminals” were almost one hundred percent women and children. The police pulled out the billy clubs (thankfully, none of the police were armed with guns during the parade) and starting to totally beat on the women. The children were screaming. There are no tougher people on this planet than the indigenous women of the Andes. They put up quite a fight with the police which just made the whole situation that much uglier. They were eventually beaten into submission and took their children and belongings and went somewhere else. The Peruvians witnessing this melee didn’t bat an eyelash and continued to eat their popcorn as if nothing was going on. Nothing was said, but I was absolutely convinced that this was a battle played out many times before and it showed a real divide between the Peruvian Latinos and the Peruvian Indians. Something like “those crazy Indians are at it again”. Peruvian society has some disease, too.
The other night here in Arequipa, I saw an old man who was either mentally ill or drunk or both. He was hanging out in front of a business. I’m sure he was causing a problem. I’m sure this “criminal” did need to be removed. The police showed up with a pickup with a cage in the back. Uh oh. The police talked to him or at him for a couple of minutes before a number of them picked him up the same as I witnessed in Cajamarca and launched him into the cage. They shut the door on the cage before driving him off. As he was lying there like an animal in the zoo, passersby stared at him (“look at the criminal/animal, Mommy”) and he snarled at them.
The moral of the story here in Peru as with everywhere else on this planet is don’t screw with the police. They will beat you and lock you up without hesitation. They don’t care who has the video camera running here. And their definition of what constitutes a “criminal” is quite broad. While they seem nice and friendly especially to the tourists, I don’t take my eyes off of them.
Tags: peru, south america, Travel
vagabondrick
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