Simon Romero piece in NYT (I read it in International Herald Tribune coming back from Ethiopia) on how Venezuela is the murder capital of the world, which means Chavez can't even do authoritarianism well.
Turns out, as the piece argues, that citizens of Baghdad are a lot safer than those of Caracas: same population, with 4600 civilian deaths in Iraq in 2009, but 16,000 murders in Venezuela. Amazingly, even Mexico's drug war is less deadly (murders in Venezuela over the same time period are about 50% higher).
Caracas is without peer: 200 murders per 100k versus 22 in Bogota (Columbia) and 14 in Sao Paulo (Brazil), two cities usually held up as crime-ridden.
Murder rates in Venezuela have now tripled since Chavez took power ini 1998.
Sad state of affairs:
Reasons for the surge are complex and varied, experts say. While many Latin American economies are growing fast, Venezuela’s has continued to shrink. The gap between rich and poor remains wide, despite spending on anti-poverty programs, fueling resentment. Adding to that, the nation is awash in millions of illegal firearms.
Police salaries remain low, sapping motivation. And in a country with the highest inflation rate in the hemisphere, more than 30 percent a year, some officers have turned to supplementing their incomes with crimes like kidnappings.
But some crime specialists say another factor has to be considered: Mr. Chávez’s government itself. The judicial system has grown increasingly politicized, losing independent judges and aligning itself more closely with Mr. Chávez’s political movement. Many experienced state employees have had to leave public service, or even the country.
More than 90 percent of murders go unsolved, without a single arrest, Mr. Briceño-León said. But cases against Mr. Chavez’s critics — including judges, dissident generals and media executives — are increasingly common.
Haven't seen Oliver Stone's paean to Chavez, but I wonder if he covered any of this in his documentary.