Los Pacos

So basically the Bolivian police system is the most corrupt thing that I have seen...ever. As of right now,  police officers are making very little, about 1326.74Bs per month, that is equivalent to $195 PER MONTH! It is outrageously low even for Bolivian standards. As a result, all police officers in all of Bolivia have gone on strike. In La Paz and the capital ,Sucre, things have been getting progressively worse, the other day there was a march of about 300 officers up to the doors of the presidential palace. Military forces were called in to help calm things down; when the military is involved in Bolivia it usually means that there is a big issue.
Santa Cruz has seen the effects of the strike as well. Although there are not riots, protests or marches (yet), all of the police officers, security guards and officials have refused to go to work and instead are doing a lock in at the various police stations and training facilities. Due to the lack of security and protection, all of the banks in Santa Cruz ,and I believe all of Bolivia as well, are shut down to the public until the strike stops. Also the streets have become way more dangerous, especially at night! Hopefully to put peoples minds at ease, the police strikes have not had a huge effect on me nor my life here. Just that it is a little inconvenient that the banks are closed, but thats what ATM's are for! :) I am fine and for the moment the strikes are having no effect on me! In Fact the strikes are kinda helping!
Because the police make so little in their salary, they are very super extra corrupt. Pretty much every night after 8PM there is a roadblock somewhere in the city. These are no ordinary road blocks, they are designed by the police in order to get as many people fined as possible! Here's the catch though, usually all it takes to get out of these fines is slipping the police officer 100Bs and it is like nothing ever happened.
A few weeks ago, I was driving home with one of my friends when we had to go through a road block, the paco (cop) asked for his licence and all that and it was all good until he asked to see our Carnets (Bolivian ID). My friend gave him his and I handed over my Canadian ID, immediately the cop started asking to see my visas and passport and legal documents and was pretty much trying to make it look like I was some illegal immigrant. I didnt have any of my papers with me and he started threatening to call immigration and to have me deported and I started to panic, my friend was way calm in the situation and just casually handed over 50Bs. Instantly it was like nothing had ever happened, we got to leave with no problems and the cop even told us to have a good night. Gota love the way this counrty works :P