South American Bank

   

Aloha all

 

        This photo is of me and a friend who traveled to South America in the countries of Bolivia and Peru, for the solar eclipse of Nov. 3 1994. Classic shot in a Bolivian elevator with a mirror in it.

        Searching the outskirts of major cities in South America we found all walks of life there. Plenty of poverty and lots of people with just the basics to survive daily life. Unlike North America or even Central America, South America, I suspect, is full of places with little or no money for the basics to sustain life at most lower levels. I also saw the banking system while I went to cash a travelers check. The Day at the Bolivian Bank. WOW! Let me tell you what? La Paz, Bolivia, downtown was just as busy as any north american city with out the cleanliness of street sweepers, but with the same bustle of any populous.

         The front door to the Bank of Bolivia was facing the street, just inside the door was two gun toting guards, like going into a night club in L.A..  Past them is another door only it’s glass, bulletproof I suspected. Past those doors the main lobby, and the teller windows with at least 10 people per line and like 8 lines. All the same, men and women with briefcases waiting like cattle to make a transaction. I stood out like a sore north american thumb. Up above the teller windows was the upper level of the bank which had staircases on each side with an arching slope up to it. Armed guards with automatic rifles at the bottom of the stairs and at the top.            

 

        Looking around while in line, which is moving very fast too, the bustle of the day of business going on around me and I am watching all the people in front of me, to the left and right and the same transaction is going on at each window. Set the briefcase on the counter, open it, and what’s inside each one of them I saw when I was close enough to see, was sections of currency. They were trading American greenbacks for Bolivianos. Stacks and stacks of American dollars ($100 bills, 3 inches deep) wrapped in rubber bands, and each person took out one or two stacks at a time and handed them to the teller with a deposit slip and some got back a stack of Bolivian currency or just made a deposit.                          

 

        There were at least 80 customers and 15 guards and they were only letting in so many people at a time. Cameras too. Next in line was me and I just wanted to change 100 bucks with my passport. My transaction was the longest one, I was the monkey wrench in the works. I was being watched the whole time and I could feel the eyes of the guards and the customers, talk about Twilight Zone. I don’t know if the customers were packing or not, but walking around with a briefcase full of cash seems pretty risky in America, but in Bolivia it seems common place. I couldn’t believe it myself and outside the bank was a busy, crowded sidewalk of people like all the pictures I’ve seen of N.Y. city.  When I exited the bank I was behind one of the other customers and I turned to look at the horn honking down the street and when I looked back he was gone, vanished into the crowd, blended into the ocean of people moving along the sidewalk.  

 

        On my way back to the bus station I looked for people walking with briefcases and there were plenty. Point is in a “Third World” country with this level of transactions taking place at the central bank I wondered where the hell was the money coming from. What resource was so lucrative here? I only could guess. One other interaction while walking back to the bus station was with a transplanted local who stopped me to ask me if I was a carpenter and if I could help him build a bathroom in his apartment. We talked for 5 minutes, right in the middle of the sidewalk, and I was taken aback while he explained his situation and asked me about mine. He was an English teacher in Bolivia who’s apartment was so small that he wanted to bootleg a bathroom, because no locals had the experience or time to help him. He stopped me because I looked like an American, obviously. So if you are a plumber there is a job in Bolivia for you...lol!

 

        Now the reason for this little story is to point out that even in what is described as a poor country to Americans, turns out to be a great cover for either millions or trillions of dollars to be exchanged outside America. Now, is this only happening in Bolivia or is it everywhere? If the latter then what amount is being laundered and from what source of income?

         Bolivia has or had copper mines and thats pretty much it next to coca plants. I did buy some Bolivian coffee, very strong, and bitter, but other than that it’s Cocaine! Just walk into any local Bolivian market and next to the checkout counter is a huge burlap bag filled with loose coca leaves. It’s so prevalent there, they are giving it away almost. Yes, coca leaves have an adverse effect, if you chew them, for high altitude sickness, since La Paz, Bolivia is nestled atop a 14,000 foot mountain in the Andes.

    So drugs are the gold mine of American Business. Duh! Bolivian banks full of American cash. America, the hush hush pimp of the planet. Capitalism thrives on illegally drugged, dying American tax payers. Take their money during their life and after they die.        

 

        The sickness of greed never ceases to amaze me.