Checkpoints everywhere during Carnival

During Carnival almost all of Panama flees the city and drives to the interior of the country to enjoy Carnival celebrations. Each time on major holidays police is conducting security operations and that means checkpoints. As we were driving towards the district of Chepo we passed through about 4 different checkpoints and at most a police officer wanted to see the drivers license.

But it is not only about having a valid drivers license. Panama has a new system that allows police officers on the street to check online whether the person has some arrest warrant or any other issues. According to the news they are catching people who are wanted for something left and right.

Due to the large number of peopling driving around without a license or without a valid one you can see a lot of tow trucks at each of these checkpoints. Police were inspecting the trunk of most vehicles as well. Not ours ;-) In a Jeep Wrangler there is not enough space - they know that. Plus we don’t look like their usual customer so we usually get to pass with a friendly “Good Morning” or “Good Afternoon”.