Today, violence and crime are one of the most serious problems in Caracas and if it was a city not formerly known to most of the world, it was recently put on the map as “Murder Capital of the World” with an alarming 510 murders in December 2009.[1] Venezuelans constantly say security is their top concern, even more important than inflation, which increased to 36 percent last September[2]. According to a survey by the Caracas-based polling company Datanalisis, 80 percent of respondents report being unsatisfied with how the president has handled crime.[2] This will not help the Chavistas in future elections because all classes of people feel the effects of crime. In fact it is likely that Chavez supporters—the poor—feel the effects of violent crime the worst. Both white collar and common crime are rampant and the government is impotent insofar as, the system does not work and corruption reigns.[3] The common and organized criminals pay the police and political officials to continue doing their illegal acts; this is a business in itself.
Unlike other countries in Latin America such as El Slavador or Columbia, Venezuela is not known to suffer from intense and ongoing political conflict. Yet, the murder rate in its Capital, Caracas, the murder rate is astonishing. Of the countries in Latin America Venezuela ranks as high on the list for murder at 31 murders per 100,000 people; if we scale down to just Caracas the murder rate goes up to 52 murders per 100,000 people (2000).[4] The higher murder rate in Caracas is likely, founded upon the extreme class stratification in and surrounding the city. In the backdrop of the class chasms, common crime, drug trafficking and emotional conflicts are amplified in a city where violence has become the routine way of settling disputes.[5] Urban poverty in Caracas leads the poor and oppressed to drastic measures; they vote for Chavez, kill people and commit crimes because these are the only ways they are able to improve their lives. Out of options, some of the poor resort to drug trafficking. It is likely that many people involved in this underworld trade are not criminals when they first start out trafficking drugs, rather, they are the poorest of the poor with no way to feed themselves or their families—would you not do the same? But, drug trafficking is a rough life with filled with sketchy people; it is the nature of the trade that one gets their hands bloody if they stay in it long enough. Once that happens, then they are truly criminals because they are no longer just feeding their families. Poverty is a natural factor for crime. The immense scale of poverty in Caracas is expected to create a certain amount of crime. However, the reason deaths result from common crime and emotional conflicts is because of two general factors that link to each other. Firstly, in a country that is plagued by the drug trade, life becomes cheap because of the way the drug trade treats people as disposable entities. Secondly, this idea—that violence is a routine thing and human life is disposable--works its way into the ethos of the culture where the norm becomes extreme violence during emotional conflicts and common crime and leads to a rise in murders.
Consider Tony Montana from Scarface while reading this: “A youth who sells drugs in Caracas said proudly during an interview in a juvenile detention center that he earns on a single Friday night more than his neighbors do carrying packages for a month. And he added petulantly that he was not born to be poor, because as the Mexican song says, he likes the good life ("Yo no nací pa' pobre, me gusta todo lo bueno...").”[6] This is an example of the contradiction of living in Caracas. If the boy were to follow society’s rules—hard work and savings--he would not obtain the end he wants; however, if he resorts to crime and violence he can obtain the ends he wants, which he could not have done in the formal economy. Just like when Tony Montana realizes he will not have the “good life” working in a legitimate business so he turns to crime, this boy at the beginning of the paragraph has a feeling of what he wants to have—probably from billboards and television—however, society does not provide the means to attain what it advertizes. This tension between the means and the ends in the Caracas is a primary driving force for crime. The population is advertized to, but the economy does not provide a legitimate way for the majority of the population to attain what the advertisements tell them they need to have. The resulting effects of a situation like this are crime, violence and drug trafficking.
Traditionally a city is considered the place of law where rights are upheld and respected and it is the countryside that is dangerous. However, this is not the case in Caracas. Since Chavez was elected in 1998, the murder rate in Caracas has increased more than twice, to 130 murders per 100,000 people.[7] A very high rate, which is actually higher because it omits people killed when “resisting arrest” or prison related killings.[8] This homicide rate even overshadows Columbia’s where there has been a decades long armed civil war and drug trafficking is rampant. The police force of Caracas—an institution charged to uphold the laws of a city and rights of its citizens—has become increasingly ill trained and poorly equipped since Chavez nationalized the city’s police force in 2002.[9] However, the problem has become much bigger over the years and simply rebuilding the police force would not be enough. A stronger police force would only create fiercer standoffs, which is never good, especially when a fraction of the murder count is due to police brutality.[10] There needs to be a major change from the top down; not just policy changes, but also, and more importantly, there needs to be a change in government discourse. Currently the Chavez administration’s discourse is: "…if you are lacking something it is because of injustice. Then look for it, take it away from those who have it. You can obtain justice with your own hands."[11] No matter what state society is in, a discourse of this nature only perpetuates the culture of violence and legitimates criminal acts. In the tangible realm i.e. in regard to the tools used to carry out actions within this discourse, the government is partly responsible for the number of weapons on the streets in Caracas because there is no gun control and gun permits are not required. These programs would at least restrict firearm movement in the country and hold owners accountable to their weapons. Once this happened, the country would be taking its first major step towards reducing the number of firearm related deaths.
When a city, like Caracas, has so many murders—if we think back to December 2009 when there were 510; that is 16.5 deaths per day—the lack of resources and a possible lack of skill in the Caracas police department is just not able to thoroughly investigate each case. In this type of situation fear of consequences for ones actions is not likely, killers are able to get away with murder, and they know it. The anonymity provided by the size of Caracas allows killers to mix in to the population and evade investigations. This is in contrast to the countryside where people know everyone in their vicinity by name. In fact, even with little to no police force, the mere fact that, in the countryside, everyone knows your identity and neighbors look out for neighbors, are likely reasons less crime is committed in rural areas with smaller populations.[12] Furthermore, in the countryside the tension between advertizing and not having the means to acquire advertized goods is taken away because advertising is not a heavy part of rural life, thus motivation for crime and violence is lessened. Judging by the crime rate, the Caracas police force does not effectively protect its citizens or uphold the law except for when upholding the law in the interest of Chavez i.e. repression of protest and opposition—in this, they have been effectual.
RECENT NEWS:
Despite the alarming murder and crime rates in Caracas, Chavez recently earmarked 1 billion dollars to fund the formation of civilian leadership groups that will be ordered to solve community problems from a grass roots perspective.[13] You, the reader, may think: “what do you mean ‘despite the alarming murder and crime rates’, the groups sound like a good thing? You would be right to ask that because it does sound great; until you read the following: the newly formed civilian groups will “…train in their own neighborhoods and will be equipped with any arms - guns, grenades, knifes - the community can provide. We have a right to defend ourselves, like the UK has, and be sure we'll do it." (Gen Alberto Mueller on April 16, 2010).[14] Chavez intends to hand out weapons to civilians in a society where the culture is mired with violence? To the average North American this is Lunacy! However, from Chavez’ perspective, this plan may be intended to create more violence towards capitalists and the wealthy to aid his Bolivarian revolution.
At the beginning of this blog, it was stated that, relative to other countries in Latin America, Venezuela is not known for having intense and ongoing political conflict; these recently announced armed civilian groups may be the beginning of such a scenario. The groups Chavez intends to form are voluntary and unlike the military, Chavez appoints the group leaders and decides on the allocation of funding.[15] This translates into Chavista groups poised for violence, most likely made up of the uneducated and poor and under the control of Chavez. It is likely that these groups will be used to repress political dissent. The middle and upper class must be very scared at the thought of armed socialist groups running around Caracas, training in broad daylight. This dangerous situation resembles that of the Red Guard during the Cultural Revolution in China of which, the results and numbers of deaths resulting from it were not favorable…further updates to come.
[1] Arthur Brice, "No surprise Caracas named 'murder capital of world'." CNN.com, December 31, 2008. http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/12/31/Venezuela.murder.capital/(accessed March 28, 2010).
[2] Sara Miller Llana, "Will Venezuela's murder rate hurt Chávez?" Christian Science Monitor, December 3, 2008. http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2008/1203/p06s01-woam.html (accessed April 15, 2010).
[3] Ibid.
[4] Arthur Brice.
[5] Ibid.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Arthur Brice.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Alfonso Daniels, "Chávez arms community groups as he anticipates US invasion." Telegraph.co.uk, April 22, 2007. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1549349/Chavez-arms-community-groups-as-he-anticipates-US-invasion.html (accessed April 19, 2010).
[14] Ibid.
[15] Ibid.
Image source: AFP/Getty, Unamed, Stock Photos, Caravas, Venezuela http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/12/31/Venezuela.murder.capital/index.html (accessed April 18, 2010).
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