Roy Chaderton, Venezuela’s Ambassador to the OAS, has always been a curious little beast. A product of Venezuela’s ancien regime, he is one of the few highly-educated diplomats that remained in good standing with Chávez after the Revolution came to power. After the tides turned, many people in top positions turned in their resignations in disgust – Ambassador…
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.…
They say crisis is half opportunity. And, indeed, what you see as an unrelenting crime wave, looks like an opportunity to the bodyguard industry. This week, two dispatches cover the issue and offer an inside look in the world of bodyguards (known here as escoltas) and their personal experiences. First up, Associated Press’ Hannah Dreier meets Julio Delgado, who works…
The ink has not dried on the news that Sucre mayor Carlos Ocariz had been declared “the fourth-best mayor in the world” by the City Mayor Foundation, and we are finding out just what we (and Ocariz in particular) are up against. First off, in a clear act of arson, seven garbage collection trucks were set ablaze…
It’s not easy being a police officer in Venezuela, one of the most violent countries in the world. But how bad is it for those responsible to protect the lives of ordinary people? Reuters’ Andrew Cawthorne and Diego Ore present us with a bleak picture of how easy it is for Venezuelan cops to lose…
Public attention in the last few days has been all about the long, long queues in the country’s supermarkets, and the shortage of food and other basic products. But the other main problem for Venezuelans continues: unabated, relentless crime. Last Thursday afternoon, a burial took place at the local cemetery in the town of Turmero (Aragua State),…
The role of women in Venezuelan society is a topic that is rarely discussed. Our media tends to portray women as either helpless victims, sex objects, or chavista firebrands. Sometimes we see in the choices of poor women the root causes of poverty – just yesterday, we highlighted a 31-year old single mother of five that appears in…
Is violence still rampant in the country? Yes. Is homicide such a problem that it must be considered as an epidemic? Absolutely. So, what’s the central government doing about it? They tried their hand at a new attempt of police reform. The catch is that this one flew under the radar. Last month, Nicolas Maduro signed the Police…
Think there’s nothing politicians can do to clamp down on crime in Latin America? Think again.
Of all the disasters Venezuelans currently face, crime is by far the most pressing. Yet for all its seriousness, how well do we understand the nature of the problem? If we are honest, are we ready to make the sacrifices necessary to defeat this threat? I’ve spent the past few days holed up in a…
Earlier this week there was a shootout between two rival criminal bands in a farm located near Altagracia de Orituco (in central Guárico State), leaving eleven people dead. The two gangs, named El Picure and El Juvenal, were fighting over territorial control. When I read this news, I got the sense of déjà vu. Surprise,…
Last Sunday was a dark day for Venezuelan football: there were violent clashes between the fans of Portuguesa F.C. and C.D. Lara inside and outside the José Antonio Páez Stadium in the city of Acarigua, leaving one person dead and fifty injured. The game was delayed for half an hour but was eventually completed. Lara won 4-0.…
It has been almost a month since the voluntary disarmament plan I wrote about last week was first announced by Nicolas Maduro, and finally we have an official number from Interior Minister Miguel Rodríguez Torres. 800 guns collected. That’s it. To say unimpressive would be an understatement. But the government isn’t worried and will do a special…
The central government has tried over and over again to present itself as proactive in tackling crime. As usual, reality has gotten in its way. Violence in Venezuela is once again in the international media because of both the grizzly murder of Chavista MP Robert Serra and his assistant earlier this month, followed just days later…
In my latest piece for Transitions, I make the case for foreign intervention in Venezuela’s domestic affairs – namely, that the crime wave has gotten so out of hand, and the government has shown itself so clueless, neighboring countries need to intervene. The headliner: “In 2009, the U.N. Secretary General provided a blueprint for applying this…
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