We got off at the subway station called Chacaito right in the city center and had 4 or 5 blocks to cross before arriving in his uncle´s house, the place where we'd spend the night.

We were walking along the main street and took a left at the second crossroad. There was a little office of police with two officers at the entrance. We over-passed them but halfway through saw the police on a motorbike come right in front of us. They stopped as soon as they had us in their sight. Two policemen got down and approached us. Daniel recognized them from their uniforms and told me that they belonged to the "Policia Metropolitana." They were wearing bulletproof jackets under which they had the traditional blue police uniform. They were also wearing helmets and some very clean black rangers at their feet.

The two officers were almost the same size, so a head taller than Daniel and I. Immediately, they started to check our belongings in a way that made me believe they were looking for illegal narcotics. They also had a glance at our identity cards. One of them took a closer look at my my laptop and my external hard drive. I didn´t panic at all because I had already been patrolled hundreds of times this journey and this one just seemed to be part of the routine. I knew what to do, so I waited and tried to be helpful.

One of the two cops started eyeing at the cellphone of my friend Daniel. This is also something I've seen as well so didn't think much of it. However, I found it strange that this same policeman was counting how much money my friend had in his wallet. This was definitely something I hadn't witnessed before. Daniel had 80 American dollars and told to the police that it belonging to me because (as you may already know) it is forbidden for a Venezuelan to own foreign currencies without the authorization of Chavez's government. Me being there with him legitimates the fact of possessing foreign currency.

Then, the two cops took their guns out and pointed them at us. I could properly see his silver weapon pointing directly at my legs while I became quite nervous. The other policeman informed us in Spanish, while aiming at Daniel's belly, that they were robbing us.

They took everything valuable then left towards their motorbike. However, Daniel was furious and went chasing after them. I had to stop him while he  was reaching to grab the back of one of the cops. I frantically reminded him that we were just mugged with guns and that they could potentially use their weapons to kill us. He listened and surrendered. Good thing too because that day I really didn´t feel ready to help Caracas gain another statistic and improve it's standing as the murder capital of the world.

The police attacked us and robbed us, plain and simple. I lost my computer and my external hard drive. They stole 80 dollars from Daniel along with his cellphone. The police in Venezuela get a weapon to protect the citizens, but instead use them to attack and plunder. Unbelievable!

We went to the police station to report the incident, a mere 50 meters from the spot of the crime. They told us that they couldn't help unless we had the license plate of the motorbike, but I'm also pretty sure they really didn't care in the first place. They continued saying, "You're alive, that's all you should be thankful for at the moment."

Later, they finally let us out in front of Daniel's uncle's apartment. His uncle was of course sorry for us. During the conversation that evening, he told us that the same exact thing happened to him four times and confirmed that it wasn´t just gangsters with police uniforms. It really was the police completly covered by the judiciary system that doesn't do anything to stop them.

I won´t go any further with the police. Who do you want me to accuse? The police? It seems a little difficult to be a victim in front of the guilties. But this is Venezuela, a new Venezuela of eight stars, not seven like before...