Crime in Venezuela, the Washington Post report

Juan Forero writes a damning article in the Washington Post today. He misses nothing on how violent crime got worse, much, much worse under Chavez.

48 murders per 100 000 people in Venezuela, 5.7 for the US. But 130 in Caracas alone! We even get a graphic on how steadily worse the numbers got even though the government has tried its best to minimize them.

"In fact, for three years now, the government has kept homicide statistics secret, although the data are made public by crime research organizations and criminologists who receive the information surreptitiously from law enforcement sources."

"The Interior and Justice Ministry, now led by Tarek El Aissami, did not respond to requests for an interview". They never accept interviews, unless you come from Prensa Latina or some proven compliant news provider.

"It has also armed citizen militias and radical political groups." Yeah, guess what are these guns used to. Clue: not to defend Venezuela from an US invasion.

"In Caracas, perhaps the biggest problem is the police, who are considered ineffective and brutal and sometimes are directly involved in crime."

Priceless, coming from Forero.

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