Juan Pablo Bellandi

The Tale Nobody Tells

[ EPF 2018 SHORTLIST ]

My job as a Photographer of the pólice in Venezuela for more than two years has taught me through crude lessons to see myself as a policeman, with the particularity that I possess a camera.

Venezuela faces an extremely deep crisis; absurd and improbable situations occur. In a collective language we constantly repeat to ourselves and to others: how can one live like this?

More than 450 cops were killed in 2016 by the hands of delinquency , 13 October night was not an exception, the officer Rivera received multiple shots. with an altar in every comando all colleagues remember him.

Anibal Peña 47 years old, with 25 years of service to the police of Merida – Venezuela in 2003 was seriously injured with one FN FAL assault rifle during a robbery in one bank of the city, Anibal lost his left lung and still continued serving the police with passion. Now 13 years later he is asking for his resignation due to the low salary danger and few benefits of being part of this tropical madness that we live.

But Venezuelan reality has other shores, tales that nobody tells. It is very difficult for the police to maintain public order. The government has diminished to almost zero all the supplies for the proper functioning of the department. There aren’t working tools, protective equipment, basic goods or spare parts for their vehicles. There aren’t any police cars or motorcycles for tracking and surveillance.

In addition, the poor salaries of the police officers worsen the situation, promoting a vicious cycle of corruption. Therefore, extracting money from citizens through non-legal practices becomes more profitable and necessary for police officers to achieve their survival and to provide for their families. This is considering a country where a day of work is not worth a single dollar, when converting to our currency.

The Police officer Henry Araque has three childrens and his wife Helen is now waiting for his fourth daughter isabella. Araque always tells how difficult it is being a cop these days and advance with his salary , always says how difficult is coming back home safe from danger, Araque it is also mechanic because he need another income to go on with his life .In the picture the Baby shower of Helen in Chama Slum on December 2016 Merida State, Almost all essays conclude with a funeral, while I will close off mine celebrating a new life a hope.

On december 9th 2016 66 students graduated as Police Officers in Merida State , in 2015 there were almost 200 and in 2014 450, little by little the situation with the police become more dramatic, nobody feels respect towards police forces because they are related with corruption and government. In the picture the recent graduates clap to the governor Alexis Ramirez one of the strong and millionares of Nicolas Maduro group and Venezuela.

After documenting crime on a daily basis, which is one of the main problems of my country I realized that there is a background story to which I have belonged and to which I owe as a photographer. It is the story of the uniformed people who stay behind the conflict, who are often called guilty, who have a life that we do not know and that are a fundamental part of the disaster in which we find ourselves.

What does it mean to be a policeman in a country as Venezuela? A country with a comatose economy, a destroyed health system and a sunken education system. Bluntly a country living a humanitarian crisis. Families, pressures, obligations, acting evilly, stealing, saving or not saving their own lives.

Short Bio

Juan Pablo Bellandi born in Mérida, Venezuela in 1990. Studying photography at the Escuela Argentina de Fotografía in Buenos Aires, majored in photojournalism. The political situation in his homeland is the theme of his long-term projects: ‘En la Intimidad con el Levantamiento’ (Intimate with the Uprising) documents the demonstrations of Venezuelans against their government. The serie was short-listed for the 2015 Ian Parry Scholarship, and was exhibited in London. In 2016 Juan Pablo was one of the 12 photographers as a finalist in the Leica Oskar Barnack Award with his work Chasing HAMPA. Also he won the mentorship grant of the first masterclass organized by MeMo Agency. In 2017 have been a nominee for the Joop Swart Masterclass of World Press Photo,his work have been published by The Sunday Times Magazine, Photonews Germany, Lensculture, LFI, Doc!Photomagazine, Sueddeutsche Zeitung among others..

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The Emerging Photographer Fund is supported by generous donors to the Magnum Foundation