My adventure with the tourism police
The first
morning in Cusco I thought it would be a good idea to report the crime to the
Tourism Police for a future insurance claim. Technically my bag was stolen
before the bus left Ayacucho, so I should have gone to the Ayacucho police, but
I had decided to continue the journey to Cusco, because we had to be in time
for the Inca Trail (2 days in advance to complete payment) and we needed some
time to adapt to the altitude of Cusco (3300 m).
At the
police station I decided it would be best to tell them that the bag was stolen
during the bus journey. I figured that would make it more likely that the
police would write out a statement for me. Me and my friend were separated and
a police officer started to question me about the cercumstances of my
stolen bag. He kept on asking questions and in the end I had no choice but to
say that technically, my bag was not stolen during the bus journey, but
a few minutes before the bus left.
He told me
that I had lied and therefore that everything that I had said was a lie. That I
came here with this amazing story and it is all lies. He told me I had insulted
him, the police force and the Peruvian state. I proposed that we could just all
forget it, and I would go out and buy my stuff again and not make a statement,
but it was too late for that now. He told me that he could sent me back, to
Ayacucho or to Lima, to go to a court of justice. In my imagination I saw it all
happen: 30 hours back by bus, the hole vacation ruined, me in a Peruvian
prison...
In the end
I almost literally had to beg him to let me go. I kept telling him it was never
my intention and the rest of the story was completely true. I thought he wanted
me to say that we could work things out (in a corrupt sense of the way) but I
never said so. Who knows what might have happened. After letting me whimpering
for a while he told me that he would forgive me and write down a police
statement. But I also had to give my fingerprint. I couldn’t even read what
they accused me of because it was in Spanish, while the officers spoke
excellent English, but it ended with El delinquento.
The police
gave me a little note that I should bring to the Banco de la Nation, to pay 3,5
soles for my police statement. I did so the next day. I had to wait in line for
half an hour to pay those three soles and go back to the Tourism Police to get
my statement. I really did not want to go back to that building, but I braved
it anyway. Everything went well, though. While we were waiting on the officers
to put about 5 stamps on the paper, there were more tourists in the building.
They were having problems too with the police and almost broke out in a fight.
The Tourism Police is not a place where people get happy.
The Lonely
Planet guide has this to say about it: travelers have written to complain of
corruption scams in which the victims of crimes are actually considered
suspects until proven innocent. Just so.
Now I could
finally play tourist again and enjoy where I was.
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