Witness

On Tuesday evening Carlos and I went out for drinks in Quito with one of our classmates from IHE. She graduates in a few months and was here doing research, we hadn't seen her since last June. We were in Quito to get my passport, which I didn't get yet, but that's another story (to summarize, the one guy whose signature I needed for the visa to be valid wasn't in that day, maybe sick or something, so sorry, come back next week). So, our friend and her sister dropped us off at our apartment (Carlos's parents have an apartment in Quito, they use it a few times a year but he and his brothers and sisters stay there when they have work). They turned the car around and we waited on the steps to wave goodbye. When they had turned around they rolled down their window and told us that it looked like some guys were stealing a car. We looked over, and yeah, they were right, so we went into our building to tell the guard as our friends drove away.

The guard came outside, stared at the thieves for a minute or so, then told us, no, it doesn't look like a robbery, they probably just lost the keys to their car. So we were chatting on the steps when the car pulled up and stopped in front of us, pulled out a gun, cocked it, aimed it at us, and said the Spanish equivalent of, "You motherfuckers better run before I putta cap in yo ass!" Or something like that. So we ran into the building. We thought we were safe there but one guy followed us so we ran up the stairs and made it safely into the apartment. And they sped off.

No, we didn't call the police. I kept asking to, but Carlos and his brother (who had gotten to the apartment about five minutes before us) said it was useless. The police won't do anything, we didn't see the guys or even the color of the car (it was night, like 8PM, it happened fast). I understand this, but kept on saying that we still should file a report anyway so that the poor guy whose car was stolen would have some idea in the morning why his car was gone and some proof for his insurance. But no, we didn't call. About 5 minutes after the incident Carlos went outside to chat with the guard again and two other guards on the street, who are only armed with sticks and whistles, both of whom saw nothing.

I was scared when it happened, but a few moments later I was sad, I just felt so helpless. I witnessed a crime and did nothing. I couldn't do my moral duty, no one could, the system doesn't allow it. The criminals win (by the way I'm in the middle of reading Atlas Shrugged).

So that's the story. Not quite as bad as the attempted kidnapping in India, but close.