Bolivians scramble to exchange banknotes after money plane crash

LA PAZ, Bolivia – Thousands of Bolivians rushed to banks on March 3 to exchange banknotes at risk of being mistaken for money stolen from a military plane that crashed at the weekend, AFP reporters said.

A Bolivian Air Force C-130 Hercules transport plane crashed after landing at El Alto International Airport on Feb 27, killing 24 people and showering the ground with banknotes.

The aircraft was carrying 17.1 million notes of various denominations totalling 423 million bolivianos (S$78.2 million), destined for the Central Bank of Bolivia (BCB).

Bystanders rushed to the wreckage to grab the spilt cash, prompting police to use tear gas to repel them.

Around 30 per cent of the money was looted, according to the government.

The BCB has cancelled all the banknotes transported on the flight, which belonged to a series containing the letter B.

But Bolivians fear the money will remain in circulation and end up being worthless while it is still in their wallets.

Meanwhile, traders are no longer accepting banknotes from earlier batches that also contain the letter B, even though they have not been cancelled.

Thousands of people lined up outside the BCB and banks in La Paz and the neighboring city of El Alto on Tuesday to exchange their money.

“A person selling bread wouldn’t take” one of my banknotes, 77-year-old Serapio Mayta, a retiree, told AFP, after waiting for two hours to exchange his money.

Also waiting was 78-year-old Blanca Molina, a housewife, who said her cash savings were also affected.

BCB president David Espinoza appealed to the public for understanding, urging them to accept legal tender.

The BCB has set up a search tool on its website, which Bolivians can use to verify the validity of their cash.

The investigation into the cause of the crash is still ongoing.

The surviving pilot told investigators that there was ice on the runway and that the aircraft’s brakes failed, his lawyer said. AFP