Tuesday, January 10, 2006
The enemy of my friend is my enemy - part 2
Paola and Coco returned after several hours. Upon returning, she gave me a copy of the laws regarding treatment of foreigners (Law no. 703, 5-Nov-1991). The police who came to the house violated at least three separate sections Title 7, Chapter 13 regarding the conduct of officials in their treatment of foreigners. First, section Article 70 paragraph A says that they must "identify themselves." They refused to show proof of identity. Second, paragraph B, "treat with respect and courtesy...Providing information, orientation and protection." They were belligerent and threatening - without cause. Article 71, "arbitrary intervention, citation, arrest or detention of a foreigner will be punished according to Law." For that reason I left a power of attorney with Paola so she can denounce these thugs.
Paola then told us what happened at the police station. The consul had told me to contact captain Edwin Perez Capichawa. When Paola asked for him, he was visiblely scared and hardly spoke a word. On the other hand, a group of thugish policemen came out and belligerently insisted that she give them my name. Paola refused. First, she didn't know my full name, and second, she wasn't about to give that information to them without properly legal cause. Paola insisted that she wanted to know why they were looking for this unnamed foreigner. Finally, one of the cops blurted out that they had received a call from Lima saying that I was living illegally in Paty's house, essentially, that I had overstayed my allowed time. The other cops screamed at him to shut up; clearly they didn't want this piece of information to see daylight- because it clearly identifies who is responsible. (With regard to the allowed time, according to Title 3, Chapter 7 of the same law regarding foreigners, a tourist is allowed a stay of 90 days, and can apply for an extension for an additional 90 days within the calendar year. Paola explained that I had arrived three weeks ago, and therefore was not in violation of any law.) Finally, after about two hours, she and Coco left.
The consul had asked me to go to Lima to meet with him. He wanted to personally inspect my immigration papers. He made copies of my papers and the summons for his files. Then he called Edwin Perez Capichawa and told him that he had inspected my papers, that everything is in order, and that he has no cause to harass me. The call further put the fear of God in this little tyrant. Clearly he understood that he was not just messing with a foreigner, but that he was messing with the US government, and that his illegal acts could have unfortunate consequences for his career.
After carefully analyzing the situation I decided to return to Huancayo the following night. With the local police on notice that they were treading on dangerous ground, it was very unlikely that they would put their own careers at risk by committing more abuses of power.
I took advantage of my day in Lima to do some shopping with my brother in law. We went to a street in downtown Lima where very shop is optometrists. For 140 soles (about $43) I had my prescription reviewed, and had the lenses in two pairs of glasses replaced with scratch-resistant anti-glare plastic.
Since we had to wait two hours for them to grind the lenses, we caught a cab to go buy my bus ticket. Our driver, Carlos Alfredo, age 62, a former chemical engineer of Chinese ancestry, drove us to the bus station
to buy my ticket, then back to the optometrist, and finally back to the apartment. Carlos told me that he has been driving cab for six years, and prior to that he had his own business. When the government devalued the currency, he lost everything. So, although he is a chemical engineer, he prefers to drive cab to avoid the boredom of retirement. Since we were riding around for at least two hours, we had long conversations about the war in Iraq and many other subjects. He said that it is clear that the press in Peru only presents half the story about Iraq - the half that makes the US look like the villain. (I heard this from many people.) We had a good time, and ultimately the entire journey, including about 30 minutes of wait time, cost us 20 soles.
After returning to the apartment, I packed my things for the return trip. The bus was to leave at 11:30 PM, so I took advantage of the time to go to a nearby store, Pink Dust to by movies and music. There is another store, Blue Dust in downtown Lima. In Pink Dust there are dozens of booths where they sell everything from electronics and clothing to pirated music, videos and software.
To be continued...
Paola then told us what happened at the police station. The consul had told me to contact captain Edwin Perez Capichawa. When Paola asked for him, he was visiblely scared and hardly spoke a word. On the other hand, a group of thugish policemen came out and belligerently insisted that she give them my name. Paola refused. First, she didn't know my full name, and second, she wasn't about to give that information to them without properly legal cause. Paola insisted that she wanted to know why they were looking for this unnamed foreigner. Finally, one of the cops blurted out that they had received a call from Lima saying that I was living illegally in Paty's house, essentially, that I had overstayed my allowed time. The other cops screamed at him to shut up; clearly they didn't want this piece of information to see daylight- because it clearly identifies who is responsible. (With regard to the allowed time, according to Title 3, Chapter 7 of the same law regarding foreigners, a tourist is allowed a stay of 90 days, and can apply for an extension for an additional 90 days within the calendar year. Paola explained that I had arrived three weeks ago, and therefore was not in violation of any law.) Finally, after about two hours, she and Coco left.
The consul had asked me to go to Lima to meet with him. He wanted to personally inspect my immigration papers. He made copies of my papers and the summons for his files. Then he called Edwin Perez Capichawa and told him that he had inspected my papers, that everything is in order, and that he has no cause to harass me. The call further put the fear of God in this little tyrant. Clearly he understood that he was not just messing with a foreigner, but that he was messing with the US government, and that his illegal acts could have unfortunate consequences for his career.
After carefully analyzing the situation I decided to return to Huancayo the following night. With the local police on notice that they were treading on dangerous ground, it was very unlikely that they would put their own careers at risk by committing more abuses of power.
I took advantage of my day in Lima to do some shopping with my brother in law. We went to a street in downtown Lima where very shop is optometrists. For 140 soles (about $43) I had my prescription reviewed, and had the lenses in two pairs of glasses replaced with scratch-resistant anti-glare plastic.
Since we had to wait two hours for them to grind the lenses, we caught a cab to go buy my bus ticket. Our driver, Carlos Alfredo, age 62, a former chemical engineer of Chinese ancestry, drove us to the bus station
to buy my ticket, then back to the optometrist, and finally back to the apartment. Carlos told me that he has been driving cab for six years, and prior to that he had his own business. When the government devalued the currency, he lost everything. So, although he is a chemical engineer, he prefers to drive cab to avoid the boredom of retirement. Since we were riding around for at least two hours, we had long conversations about the war in Iraq and many other subjects. He said that it is clear that the press in Peru only presents half the story about Iraq - the half that makes the US look like the villain. (I heard this from many people.) We had a good time, and ultimately the entire journey, including about 30 minutes of wait time, cost us 20 soles.After returning to the apartment, I packed my things for the return trip. The bus was to leave at 11:30 PM, so I took advantage of the time to go to a nearby store, Pink Dust to by movies and music. There is another store, Blue Dust in downtown Lima. In Pink Dust there are dozens of booths where they sell everything from electronics and clothing to pirated music, videos and software.
To be continued...
// posted by Jason y Paty @ 8:33 AM 
