Un güevón…
This is how we do Microcredit, Barlovento style…
El viceministro de Política Interior, José Vicente Rangel Ávalos, anunció el 7 de septiembre esa instalación y dijo que tres bandas delictivas depusieron sus armas y “cambiaron su estilo de vida”.
Ciertamente lo cambiaron, pues una de ellas, que hace vida en el caserío El Delirio (San José de Barlovento), recibió un micro crédito del Gobierno Nacional una vez que entregaron sus armas. Canjearon algunos revólveres y armas automáticas por “beneficios”.
Con el dinero, según indicaron fuentes policiales, los maleantes compraron siete fusiles AK-45 [sic] y una camioneta.
Ahora se dedican a la industria del secuestro en el eje de Barlovento y ciudades cercanas. Incluso han llegado a Caracas, dijeron los efectivos.
Somehow, “el viceministro de Política Interior, José Vicente Rangel Ávalos” isn’t even the most upsetting part of that extract…
[Hat tip: @josegarban]
Caracas Chronicles 
Completely ineffective policies, unless your goal all along was to give public money to kidnappers without *actually* giving them money (wink wink). In that case, the policy works brilliantly.
LikeLike
This was entirely predictable. Give violent thug bands with no jobs except the job of being criminals good money for their weapons without no supervised rehabilitation and new jobs, and you get this. However, coming this from the government I am not suprise; whhich infuriates me most is stupid hippies who comieron demasiadas flores campaigning for this nonsense disarming campaign now shutting up their traps. AK-47s? geez, I thought I had enough with my Level IIIA Kevlar. Guess i’ll be buying some balistic plates, though they weight like hell.
LikeLike
Goodness no, they’re AK-45s
I shudder at the thought of people like them getting their hands on AK-47s
LikeLike
Barlovento, Barlovento tierra ardiente del tambor… tierra de las fulías y negras finas… que se van de fiesta… su cintura aprietan…
LikeLike
Correction, LOL! su cintura *prieta*, al son de la curbeta y el taki ti taki de la mina…
LikeLike
jajaja another exotic idea from the chavismo! http://www.elconfidencial.com/mundo/2013-11-04/el-ministerio-de-la-suprema-felicidad-y-otras-exoticas-ideas-del-chavismo_49855/
LikeLike
Some things cannot be made up.
LikeLike
Poor Superman:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/what-did-i-do-wrong-why-the-banker-who-helped-millions-of-bangladeshis-out-of-poverty-became-his-countrys-enemy-number-one-8899838.html
LikeLike
And, of course, those weapons the thugs turned in… Well, you don’t actually think they were destroyed, do you?
All in all, it was a win for the politicians and the thugs. Who are the losers? Everyone else; el pueblo.
LikeLike
How much money can the government give, so these guys can purchase these kind of weapons???? The first time I heard about this, I thought it was another exageration some people tend to do (I think I still do)
LikeLike
Exactly how much do you think you need to buy ak 47s? there is a reason it is the most common military weapon in the world. Unfortunately, that is one area where inflation has been modest.
LikeLike
Well, assault rifles are expensive here in the black market too, even being the most popular and most abundant assault rifle in the world. Maybe nothing at international prices (AK’s run about 50$ a piece). Ammo however would be cheap since its being produced locally by Venezuelan military…
LikeLike
Actually, I didn’t looked it up in amazon. But 50$ a gun? Damn, I think this explains in a good deal what is wrong with this world…
LikeLike
In the legal market (say US, amazon) a Romanian AK which aint even fullly auto AND it’s a legal import, or a pre-ban AK, could run easily about 500$-1000$. You can even buy AK-103 rifles for about 1500$. HOWEVER black market AK’s which usually are ex-soviet republic production runs, surpluss rifles with 50+ years on the market or chinese made copies can run for as low as 50$ in african countries. Sold by the bulk. You could easily tell 100$ a piece. You can arm a couple of guerilla platoons with AK’s, magazines, ammunition and chi-com rigs (chinese communist, surpluss gear) comfortably for 30.000$… Mostly here in Venezuela AK rifles in criminal hands come from colombian arms deals through the border. FN-FAL rifles run cheap for bvious reasons and the military makes good business with them
LikeLike
That’s a good one. I saw a similar situation the last time I went to Mochima. PDVSA gave the locals motorboats for artisanal fishing. It was all done with great pomp and a TV address, I remember it well. But what I learned there on the coast was that the locals were using the motorboats to patrol the quiet beaches that foreigners preferred (for nookie, skinny dipping or just snorkeling) and were then landing on the beaches, robbing people of all their belongings, and leaving them there on the beach. Piratería subsidiada por el estado — that’s innovation!
LikeLike
Suck on that, Somalia!
LikeLike
Well, if Maduro, Cabello, Giordani et al. are a bunch of unscrupulous criminals themselves, what do you expect is gonna happen down the chain? A government of criminals will give rise to a country controlled by criminals. If you don’t believe me, read some history.
LikeLike