Caracas has become the deadliest city in the world

[Bacchus39]

http://english.eluniversal.com/2010/08/25/en_pol_esp_caracas-has-become-t_25A4380891.shtml

Caracas has become the deadliest city in the world
The National Statistics Institute reported that Caracas had 233 murders per 100,000 inhabitants in 2009

Venezuelans consider that insecurity is the most worrying issue in the country, according to the report entitled Perception of Violence released by the Institute for Research on Coexistence and Citizen Security (Incosec) (Photo: Fernando Sánchez)

Caracas has now the world's highest murder rate. According to official figures reported by a survey on victimization carried out by the National Statistics Institute (INE), the Venezuelan capital has become the deadliest city in the world. A total of 7,676 people were killed in the Metropolitan Area of Caracas in 2009, that is, about one murder every hour and a half.

According to this survey, the murder rate in the Venezuelan capital was 233 per 100,000 inhabitants.

Last year, based on a study carried out in 2009 by the Mexican NGOs Citizen's Council for Public Security (CCSP) and the White Movement, Caracas had 94 murders per 100,000 inhabitants and ranked fourth in the world.

The results of the survey carried out by INE, which was requested by Venezuela's Vice Presidency, shows that Caracas had 233 murders per 100,000 inhabitants instead of the 94 murders per 100,000 inhabitants reported by the Mexican NGOs, that is, a difference of 139 crimes.

According to the survey carried out by INE, 5,878 homicides out of the total (7,676 cases) were reported in 2009. Meanwhile, in 1,891 cases no complaints were filed in any state security body, that is, although in those cases an investigation was initiated by the enforcement agencies, the relatives did not formalize a complaint.

Comparative figures
The Mexican security watchdogs ranked the deadliest cities in the word earlier this year.

According to the study, Mexico's border city of Ciudad Juárez has the world's highest murder rate: 191 murders per 100,000 inhabitants.

San Pedro Sula (Honduras) ranked second with 119 murders per 100,000 inhabitants; San Salvador (El Salvador), had 95 murders; Caracas (94) and Guatemala (Guatemala) had 86 murders per 100,000 inhabitants.

The figures released by the National Statistics Institute show that reality has changed.

The survey was made between August 16 and November 16, 2009. A total of 20,055 households were surveyed throughout the country.

[naaman fletcher]

1. I posted something like this a few weeks ago,

and the response by the coffee shop revolutionaries was that it is teabaggers causing the violence to undermine chavez. really.

[bherrera]

2. Interesting idea

Maybe they can blame the crime wave on aliens from outer space. What is their obsession with these tea baggers? I thought it was a minor group of disenfranchised white persons in the USA< who are unhappy because the Republicans lost the elections.

[Bacchus39]

3. yeah, I saw that, its a recurring theme. both the violence and the blame of "tea baggers"

the violence is real, that its the fault of Venezuelan tea baggers is rather dubious.

I was in South America actually for a little while. just got back Tuesday.

[naaman fletcher]

4. how was your trip?

I'm in Africa at the moment.

[Bacchus39]

5. sweet, went to Ecuador

didn't even make it to the coast, this time. did the mountain area and jungle thing. stayed in the rain forest in one of the most amazing experiences of a life time.

next trip just might be to the land of cocaina, paras, and rebels. my goodness!!!! the horror.

Africa, sweet. would love to do a wildlife adventure there.

[Zorro]

6. Just got back from Ecuador last Thursday myself

It's always an adventure.

[ProgressiveMajority]

15. No, we were pointing out that the US (previous RW administration) supported destabilization..

Destabilization efforts, the kind of thing that would lead to these sorts of murders. A high murder rate in Venezuela is a great way to undermine Chavez.

Also, have you ever stopped to think who it is that has an obsession with guns and gun ownership? Tea-bagger types. Guns from the US sold by tea bagger types, those guns are probably fueling the murder rate down in Venezuela, just as it is in Mexico.

EDIT: Also, the murders in Venezuela are probably the fault of right wing paramilitary ("Militia") types down there.

[ChangoLoa]

16. It's common criminality in the barrios, similar to Brazil

Very few murders are politically motivated in Venezuela and there are no significant "militias" besides the State's Popular Militias.

You're transposing a US trend/logic to a very different country and it doesn't work.

There are around 15,000 murders per year in Venezuela. If what you're saying was true, you would be able to find tons of articles and UN/AI reports on that situation, mass graves, etc., like in Colombia. The only reports you'll find on that field concern the crimes committed by the Colombian paras and the FARC in the Venezuelan border. But the violence in the border is very marginal in Venezuela. The red zones are the cities near the Caribbean coast where the murders are suffered by common citizens, not by politicians/militants.

[naaman fletcher]

17. Delusional

You think there are right wing paramiltaries operating in the Venezuela slums? Please. The worst neighborhoods are Chavez strongholds.

[social_critic]

19. Very interesting theories

Are you being sarcastic too?

[killbotfactory]

7. What do you think Venezuelans should do about it?

And explain why you think the current government is to blame?

[naaman fletcher]

8. I think Venezuelans

Should elect leaders who put crime first. The number one function of the state is to protect the rights of its citizens. You read these headlines here. Chavez spends a hell of a lot of time on money on everything else.

Why do I think he is to blame? Isn't there any point where a guy who has been in office for 12 years should be responsible for any of the bad conditions? The answer of course is that maybe there is some possible way that he is not to blame, but one can only give him the benefit of the doubt if he spends more time worrying about crime and less time digging up the dead.

[Wilms]

9. Fail.

Plus if Venezuelans, by some strange occurrence, put the presidency to the oligarchs, you better believe they'll "put crime first".

Looters with lawyers.

[naaman fletcher]

10. So you beleive..

That the president of the country in no way bear any responsibility for soaring crime over 12 years?


More importantly, why must the choice be Venezuela or the oligarchs? Why not a progressive socialist like Lula?

[Wilms]

11. So now it's "in no way".

Serve up the candidate.

[naaman fletcher]

13. huh? Please review our discussions

and please try a proper response the first time, to where I speak logically and you don't answer.

[bherrera]

14. They do not answer

The crime wave is evidently the responsibility of a government which has been in power for so many years, and has had access to a huge windfall of cash due to very high oil prices. The typical moves to reduce the crime rate require an efficient and credible criminal justice system, decent jails, control of the guns, employment opportunities for youth, and efficient police. None of these conditions are seen in Venezuela, and none of them have been improved by the current government, which has evolved into a corrupt, autocratic neo-fascist type of government.

[ChangoLoa]

12. Dead end discussion

Unfortunately, it's a dead end discussion: we, the symbolic people of Venezuela, have only the choice between putrid oligarchs and glorious revolutionaries. In our early stage of civilization, we have no space for subtleties.

[social_critic]

18. It has been in power 11 years

The current government has been in power for 11 years. Crime has increased steadily over that time period, even though per capita GDP has also increased (largely due to much higher oil prices). If the government isn't liable for its poor performance, whom do you think the Venezuelans should blame?