A few days ago, on Wednesday, March 21, 2018, I had an accident, it is a sad episode that has tormented me during these days, but today I want to share it with you. I study two careers: Law and Political Science, in two different universities and quite distant between them. I was leaving the Andres Bello Catholic University, where I study Law, at approximately 12 noon. Take a shortcut down the motorway Valle Coche to get faster to the Central University of Venezuela, where I study Political Science and where that day I had to take an exam at 3pm. I was on the highway, I had already passed the first tunnel when suddenly, a Jeep Grand Cherokee truck that was in front of me suddenly stops, gives me time to react, when I try to change the channel, I see another car coming, so I have no choice but to brake sharply, but it was too late and my car hits the back of the truck that was in front of me. I get off the car and see that it was a multiple crash, the first car was a National Guard vehicle that had been hit by the Jeep Grand Cherokee, and I had impacted the Jeep.
The first vehicle, that of the National Guard, fled, a frequent occurrence in Venezuela; it was the culprits and those who caused the crash, but they left; Leaving me and the driver of the Jeep in the middle of the highway and in a very insecure and dangerous area. After waiting for almost 30 minutes to the traffic authorities, a motorcycle arrives from the traffic police. While we were talking with the transit authorities, they told us that we had to push the car to the accident channel, because we were in the fast channel of the highway. Then other authorities of the National Guard arrive and begin to argue with the police, since they did not know who was going to take the cars. Then I found out, that the presidential caravan was coming and we could not be in that place, so they put the car on a crane and take us to a police module, all that in less than 10 minutes. It is amazing how, under the influence of the public authorities, a clash disappears, altering the fundamental evidence to determine who was the culprit of the traffic accident.
When I was riding on the first crane, on the way to the police station, the driver of the crane told me that he had been lucky not to be robbed, because in that place it is common to steal the injured. After arriving at the police station, the officers took my identification, my driver's license, the documents of the vehicle and I had to wait a little less than 3 hours under the sun, while the officers arrived again to give me the report of the crash that I would have to take the central traffic authorities later to have a file assigned so I could take them to the insurance and they could pay me for the repairs of my car.
After waiting for almost 3 hours for the officers to arrive with my identification papers, they demanded that I pay them so that they could give me the report of the crash, they were asking me in the beginning 15,000,000 bolivares, which would be approximately 60 dollars, but in my country the minimum wage is almost 3 dollars, so the amount they demanded was too big and also considering that what they were doing was illegal; It is sad to see how the police authorities, who are the ones who must guarantee our security, demand money in exchange for a report that is our right by law, that is the reality of the injustices that are experienced in Venezuela.
I was until 5:30 pm trying to negotiate with the officers so that they could give me the report of the crash, indispensable for the file and so that the insurance of the car can pay me all the damages, then they accepted me a little less money in exchange for the report, but placed in the report that it was my fault the accident and in this way, the insurance does not pay the totality of the damage to my vehicle. At about 6pm the officers left and left me alone at the police station, so I had to call another tow truck to get the vehicle to my house, the crane arrived shortly, while some friends who had been there accompanied me. I went to help because the police unit was alone, all the officers had left and by the time it was getting dark and it was dangerous to be there, due to the high rates of crime in the city of Caracas, but even more in that area: Valley.
Police corruption in Venezuela is one of the things that does not allow us to advance as a society, if they had been injured everything would be worse; on the roads and highways of my country when there are accidents with injured people, they always steal their belongings and everything inside the cars, every year there are thousands of Venezuelans who die in traffic accidents and who can not survive because of inefficiency of the police authorities. I had the happiness and the luck of not being so hurt, just a couple of blows, bruises and a neck injury caused by the impact, but if I had been seriously injured, my story would be different, I would probably be in a hospital receiving bad care Doctors and had been stripped of my belongings, or worse, would have died by the imprudence of the National Guard to cause the accident.