I found this video by Fusion fascinating. The outstanding part for me is how the young thug views this like any other job: he simply wants respect, he wants to move up in the ranks, and he is highly committed to his trade.
It’s just that his trade … involves inflicting unspeakable violence on people. Venezuela has become a Mario Puzo novel.
(HT: Moisés Naím)
Caracas Chronicles 
Seems inspired by the example set by the more brazen thugs “running things” in higher places, along with their loyal followers. Those thugs even have a union,
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An infelicitous moniker, Mr. Straw, in the wake of the UK pol Jack Straw’s having been shown to be something of a brazen thug himself!
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Ambitious? Absolutely. He is following the example of his President.
That is not the kind of interview you see every day.
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Exactly Canucklehead,
Maduro kidnaps anyone who does not not show him respect and holds them. Guns and torture-its all there. The police are not only powerless to stop it, the police are the ones doing Maduro’s kidnapping.
Corruption starts at the top. The next Chavista leader will likely have experience in kidnapping.
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On the topic of the authorities and kidnapping, there are two kinds of victims in Venezuela, as there are with the FARC: political targets, and money-makers. The political targets are generally held for very long periods, moved around and are tortured and treated like shit; the money-makers generally meet their fate fairly rapidly and generally are more valuable healthy and intact. So I hear.
In this regard, the Maduro regime has fully internalized the behaviour of a paramilitary organization it previously just engaged in joint ventures with.
What would have been an interesting point of discussion in this unusual interview with this kidnapper, and perhaps worth another beer or two for him, is who he works with, outside his immediate “team”. Every Venezuelan knows the answer to that question, but what the hell, why not ask it anyway?
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Basura andante.
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One can watch a movie about some assholes disemboweling other people for fun, or read a comic where a rapist kills every victim he attacks, or a documentary about some sort of unholy mix of diarrhea with gangrene; it’s not the most pleasing content, they are still about shit and putrefaction, they won’t change anybody’s opinion about them by explaining anything.
It’s the same with the subject in the video, nothing will change the fact that in the first moment he’s caught without his weapon, he’s gonna get the beating of his life, basically what he deserves.
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until 2005 I had a business in Caracas, the final straw that motivated my wife and I to sell and get out was after becoming a victom of secuestro express, taken from the parking lot of the Wendys restaurant in Los Palos Grandes, luckily I survived, the next day I confronted a “Santero” in the metro that was wearing an unmistakeable hat that belonged to me and was in the car. I was tipped off by a Policia De Sucre who that the vehicule was recovered and recuped it before it went to a lot where extorsion for its recovery would be required. 2 weeks later it was stolen from our underground parking. I am not a Venezuelan citizen but had lived in various parts of Venezuela for 20 years, my wife who IS a Caraquena born and bred, was the one who insisted that we get out of Dodge. There is a breaking point for that kind of lawlessness, for others the frog is slowly boiling.
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Like you BBQ,I was fortunate enough to sell my apartment and get out of Dodge last year. The breaking point for me was my neighbor that was kidnapped along with his car. Being a “Gringo” felt that I might be a more visible target….we’re all assumed to be millionaires after all!
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VICE and other Top Quality Journalists always manage to contact kidnappers and all sorts of Underground Peeps, even if the nature of their Deeds puts their job in peril.
I remember the time VICE did an interview of Serial Killer Capitan Carlos inside a Colombian mall in broad daylight.
It was OK though because his face was Pixelated.
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This guy was “trying” to cover his face, however, he might as well be completely uncovered. It’s a simple reflection of what our country has become, a joke, an impunity paradise. For him, this interview is similar to the videos ISIS releases, he proudly shows to the world that he run things, he can do what he wants, and there is nothing we can do about it, no police, bodyguard, or guardian angel can defeat him on his quest to “finish the mission”. Why do we even watch this? I guess we have all turned into masochist, i admit it, I’ve seen plenty of documentaries such as this one. His mission was indeed accomplished, I now fear him, and the dozens or hundreds of guys like him that run my country. I just ask myself, how in a country where they ask for your ID document to even go to a grocery store, and have your fingerprints scanned every other tuesday, because Patria! how can crimes go unpunished? and people like this not be afraid of big brother? then I remember they also run that show, and get even more scared.
That said, I also can’t believe how delusional the victim was, and although I don’t want to blame the victim, everyone knows a Jeep is an expensive car for Venezuelan standards! or am I just too poor for thinking that?
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De pana, a estas alturas yo no sé a que nos oponemos.
¿A una dictadura?
¿A un clan mafioso?
¿A una muchedumbre de psicópatas, desde el presidente hasta el agente de a pie?
¿Pero ustedes vieron el video? el tipo mata al chamo a quemarropa, sin compasión, sabiendo que el resultado será la muerte.
¿La muerte ya no conmueve? ¿Que pasa con los chamos que aparecieron torturados, amarrados y con un tiro en la nuca?.
Esta vaina es horrible. yo creía que era peronismo tropical, pero es el estado islámico de carnavales.
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El peronismo tropical ES esto mismo.
Es la misma mierda que le han echado a los latinoamericanos cada dictador malnacido de izquierda que llega a joder, son todos parte de sus mafias de narcotráfico y secuestro que se montan en el poder para masacrar a la población.
Después de todo, son criminales.
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Crime is a universal enterprise. Scarface shows Hollywood’s rendition of a high caliber criminal. There is a big difference, though, between Scarface and the young thug shown in the video: he barrier to entry.
To become Scarface you have to be special: very intelligent, depth of vision, strategic thinking, and a network of soldier for your criminal army. It is a high barrier to entry. In real life, Pablo Escobar was a genuine genius. He was regarded to have a superior intelligence and an extremely high charisma. His top lieutenant, Popeye, said in an interview that Don Pablo could see very clearly 10 years down the road.
The little thug in the video enters a market with a very low barrier to entry. It’s like becoming a hot dog street vendor. No training, vision, balls required, anyone can do it. What you need for this business model to prosper is high unemployment and lack of education and opportunities.
We don’t have a Pablo Escobar, a Chapo Guzman, an Al Capone. We have tens of thousands of little criminals willing to inflict tremendous harm on their victims because they don’t know anything different. Venezuelan policies have created a mass market of savage criminals preying on a mass market of dis-empowered citizens.
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But you have better arepas than those made with Colombian Harina P.A.N. in the U.S. And you also have the overrated Ávila. More than enough reasons to stay in that shithole.
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How the hell will you want to control this if we have an impunity rate of 93%??????? More than 9 out of 10 crimes goes without punishment, tell me again what is the incentive for not to be a kidnaper?
A anti kidnaping unit will solve this issue? C’mon guys…
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This won’t tell the people here anything that they don’t already know, but I would like to give Uncle Brent a shout-out: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2009/09/more-on-secuestro-express/26455/
There is a good book by Stanley Alpert about his experience as the victim of an express kidnapping in New York City. In his words: “I was a federal prosecutor and I remained calm, was friendly to my captors, and managed to gather clues while blindfolded. The thugs let me go. Forty-eight hours later a major FBI and NYPD investigation brought the perpetrators down. They are now serving substantial sentences in upstate New York. It is true: in this country, a criminal has a genuine risk of life in prison, or death if they kill their victim, and punishment for a kidanpping is often swift and severe.”
It is a very sad statement about the state of affairs in Venezuela that this particular crime is a viable business.
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