Venezuela murder-rate quadrupled under Chavez -NGO

[warm regards]

Source: Reuters

CARACAS, March 11 (Reuters) - Homicides in Venezuela have quadrupled during President Hugo Chavez's 11 years in power, with two people murdered every hour, according to new figures from a non-governmental organization.

The Venezuelan Observatory of Violence (OVV), whose data is widely followed in the absence of official statistics, said the South American nation has one of the highest crime rates on the continent, with 54 homicides per 100,000 citizens in 2009.

That rate is only surpassed in Latin America by El Salvador where 70 in every 100,000 citizens were murdered last year, the OVV said, citing official statistics from that country.

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N11226112.htm

---

Perhaps this is an elaborate plot by the CIA to make this loser look bad.

[LoZoccolo]

1. Or maybe they'll say that it's the right-wing media over there and call for more shut-downs. n/t

[Better Today]

2. Those thoughts crossed my mind, but a google of

Venezuelan Observatory of Violence (OVV) shows surprisingly little as to their origins, their organization, their influences.

That seems strange to me. I'll keep googling to try to fine tune in some way to actually get information on this org. Till then, I will hold my judgments regarding this issue.

Oh, and Alternet = Reuters, I think that is right-wing media, so any claim in that direction would be hard to refute. I don't see the point to making that claim since so many on both sides want Chavez demonized.

[Dr.Phool]

7. That's Alertnet, not Alternet.

[Wilms]

22. Funny. Isn't that.

I can't find a website for them, but their name in quotes, got 11,000 hits. Pretty good I'd say.

Article says "the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence (OVV), whose data is widely followed in the absence of official statistics...".

Wow. By who? And how?

[fasttense]

59. I did the same thing.

Strange that we haven't heard from this group until now. Suddenly they come out with how awful Venezuela has become under Chavez. Seems very strange and very GOP, RepubliCON, Rove like.

[Better Today]

3. Well, my googling skills are not up to the task. I guess trying to google an org

on the day an article goes worldwide is nearly impossible. I can find out nothing about this org except references to today's news and a similar report a few years ago relating to kidnappings.

I'd sure like to know how they come up with their data since it is "in the absence of official statistics."

I have no doubt that crime and murder is an issue in Venezula, that part seems clear.

[Truth2Tell]

17. seems to be funded by

the Inter-American Development Bank...

according to this translated page...

http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&sl=es&tl=en&u=http://www.lacso.org.ve/index_investigaciones.htm&rurl=translate.google.com&usg=ALkJrhh3MGgd0Lag4U53B13cShSaJk17Yw

Wikipedia on IADB:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-American_Development_Bank

pretty clear interests.

I think the chances of the murder rate quadrupling in such a short time are a bit low. In any country.

Smells like bullshit.

[fasttense]

60. Sounds like a free trade front group.

Inter-American Development Bank is "headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, in 1959 to support Latin American and Caribbean economic and social development and regional integration by lending mainly to governments and government agencies, including State corporations."

Exactly what is a State Corporation? Is it Bank of America? Fox News? GE? Sounds very Fascistic to me.

[Arctic Dave]

4. All the murders in the US are Obamas fault. He must be a loser.

Short on details so this means little.

[warm regards]

11. The murder rate has not quadrupled under Obama.

[Arctic Dave]

41. It hasn't gone down either. Which makes it still very high.

So Obama must be a loser.

Are all these homicides being carried out by Chavez? The report has jack for details so it has little meaning.

[AlphaCentauri]

43. Hate groups do

[warm regards]

51. "Hate groups do"...do what...?

You know of course, that hate is a word that is so over used that its meaning is diluted.

[Dr.Phool]

5. It's still safer than a lot of US cities.

[warm regards]

10. Not a lot--just one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_cities_by_crime_rate

[On the Road]

6. I'm Not Contesting the Numbers, But it is Curious

It would be more helpful if there were some suggestion as to the causes. Perhaps it has to do with teh recession and higher unemployment, or perhaps the underclass is no longer being repressed and taking advantage of the opportunity to commit crimes. It sucks to be arrested by a military dictatorship, but they do tend to keep crime down.

I keep hearing these statistics about Venezuela, particularly Caracas, and it doesn't square with my experience. I walked all over Caracas and other cities in 2005, sometimes at night. Some neighborhoods were a little seedy, but the people all seemed neat, dignified, and friendly.

[ConcernedCanuk]

8. Anyone consider that more information may be available under Hugo's government?

.
.
.

Not that the USA's coup-mongering crowd would distort the truth . . .

something to ponder

:freak:

[warm regards]

12. Well, that the crux of the matter--accurate "official" information is hard to come by

in a closed, overbearing and corrupt society.

[ConcernedCanuk]

13. "a closed, overbearing and corrupt society"

.
.
.

GEE

sounds just like a country very close to me

[warm regards]

16. Really...are you that close to Russia?

[Chemical Bill]

39. +1

[bitchkitty]

19. Straight out of your ass. n/t

[Robb]

15. Is there anything we don't monger any more?

...Coup-mongering? :rofl:

[ConcernedCanuk]

18. Coup-mongering? - HEY - it just slipped off me ole Canuck tung

.
.
.

Is there anything we don't monger any more?

good question

thanks for the chuckle - - anyhoo

hmmm

"a-mongering we will go"

hmm

:freak:

[Robb]

21. "Sheee wahz a coup-monger, and shore 'twas ne wondahr..."

"...For so war har fathur end muther before...!" :D

[ConcernedCanuk]

53. As a guitar player, and a fan of SOME country music

.
.
.

I think I get it . . .

[mbperrin]

9. That settles it! Chavez cannot be a dictator. Under Mussolini,

the trains ran on time, and under Vlad Dracul, no crime at all occurred.

[warm regards]

37. Under Chavez, people are starving, they have no electricity, and

they are being murdered in record numbers.

Sounds like a Marxist utopia to me.

[mbperrin]

42. Sounds like New Orleans after Katrina to me.

Or some places with less than $5000 per capita income, right down to less than $2,000

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_poorest_places_in_the_United_States

Or for murder:

Homicide
The US homicide rate, which has declined substantially since 1991, is still among the highest in the industrialized world. Only the homicide rate of Northern Ireland in the early 1990s compares to that of the United States today. There were 17,034 murders in the United States in 2006<33> (666,160 murders from 1960 to 1996).<34> In 2004, there were 5.5 homicides for every 100,000 persons, roughly three times as high as Canada (1.9) and five times as high as Germany (1.0).<35><36> Most industrialized countries had homicide rates below the 2.5 mark. Overall the homicide rate in the United States was similar to that of some lesser developed Eastern European countries.<37><38><39>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States

No electricity:
1.6 billion people — a quarter of humanity — live without electricity:

Breaking that down further:

Number of people living without electricity
Region Millions without electricity
South Asia 706
Sub-Saharan Africa 547
East Asia 224
Other 101

http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats


That darned Chavez! He's running and ruining big portions of the world! Dang him!

[warm regards]

50. New Orleans is a good analogy. Except this disaster is man-made.

[mbperrin]

52. The worst parts of the aftermath of Katrina were man made as well.

[Unvanguard]

14. There'd have to be some kind of good causal explanation for this

for me to accept Chavez's responsibility. I don't see one.

[rabs]

20. Out of curiosity, checked the Reuters version in Spanish

and first thing that leaped out were a couple of contradictions and omissions in the English version.

-----------------

(Translation and caps mine)

Paragraph in English version:

-- Crime repeatedly comes first on Venezuelans' list of worries. It has also begun to drag on Chavez's traditionally high approval ratings as well as scare tourists who come to Venezuela.

Same paragraph in Spanish

-- Analistas coinciden en que la criminalidad es el problema que más preocupa a los venezolanos, pero aun así la popularidad del izquierdista Chávez se ha mantenido protegida por sus programas sociales de educación, salud y alimentación.


-- Analysts coincide in that criminality is the problem that most worries Venezuelans, BUT EVEN THEN THE POPULARITY OF THE LEFTISH CHAVEZ HAS BEEN PROTECTED BY HIS SOCIAL PROGRAMS IN EDCATION, HEALTH AND THE FOOD (INDUSTRY).
----------------------
Paragraph (omitted in English version)

Spanish

Funcionarios dicen que la "sensación de inseguridad" en el país ha sido acentuada por los medios privados de comunicación contrarios al Gobierno, que a su vez ha lanzado esporádicos operativos de seguridad en zonas populares. Continuación...

Officials say that the "sensation of insecurity" in the nation HAS BEEN ACCENTED BY THE PRIVATE MEDIA OPPOSED TO THE GOVERNMENT, which on its part has carried out sporatic security operations in poorer zones.

--------------

This is why I have learned not to trust Reuters, the AP and other English-language media when they report out of Caracas.

(edit to insert dropped word)

[devilgrrl]

24. You mean the same English-language media that sold us the war on terror?

They couldn't possibly be trying to sell another war here? Chavez is the DEVIL! He must be destroyed!

:sarcasm:

[Binka]

26. Our Buddy Is At It Again Grrl

Surprised? LOL!

[devilgrrl]

32. Not at all!

;-)

[troubledamerican]

25. +1 .... You rock.

[Wilms]

29. Wow. Thanks for researching that.

It's really worthy of it's own thread.

[rabs]

34. Thanks and you saw the part of the tourists being scared away

there was nothing in the Spanish version about tourists. Guess some editor in London decided on his own to throw that in.

Besides, the biggest tourist attraction in Venezuela, the former Angel Falls (now called Kerepakupai-Merú after Chavez scraped the anglo name) is running dry.


A normal year


It's Chavez's fault, he made the El Nino current heat up the Pacific and cause the most severe drought in Venezuela in the past 50 years ...

:sarcasm: (just in case)

[ronnie624]

35. Thanks for posting.

Those omissions are quite fascinating. They seem to speak to a political agenda by the corporate media establishment.

[Judi Lynn]

38. I've seen this same thing happening other times, too! They remove the material which doesn't fit

the agenda of our corporate media routinely.

Thank you for investing the time to point out this missing paragraph. :thumbsup:

[Chemical Bill]

40. Muchas gracias. n/t

[fascisthunter]

46. funny how warm regards missed this post of yours

gee... I wonder why?

[Binka]

48. The coward is as transparent as glass

He must be busy eating navel lint.

[fascisthunter]

49. lol

[The Straight Story]

23. Chavez is Jesus - and only non-believers would post negative stories about him

You need to be converted to the one true way, soon you will follow a real leader who has no faults. Zero. Zip. And if anyone posts a news story that faults him it is from a RW source or some other biased sourced.

He is god. There is nothing wrong and his country is perfect.

Rinse. Repeat.

[troubledamerican]

27. You sound just like the Tea Party attacks on "Obamabots": Setting up strawmen

[unkachuck]

57. I totally agree....

....with you, that Hugo definitely deserves our respect....I'm personally convinced that most of the increase in Venezuelan homicides are caused by ultra-right-wing fascist death squads working for foreign corporations and governments....

[Judi Lynn]

58. Just as it happens in Colombia! It surely makes sense, unkachuck.

We've already learned the large Venezuelan estate owners hire paras from Colombia to murder bothersome campesinos in their areas, and this has been going on for years.

I'm SURE time will reveal you are right. Thanks for posting it.

[New Dawn]

28. Reuters also lied and said that Iraq had WMD.

[warm regards]

36. Surely, that must be it.

Since this story shines an unfavorable light on the loser, it must be a lie.

[SOS]

54. The rate is lower than New Orleans and about the same as St. Louis

Who do we blame for that?

[citizen snips]

30. Any takers on moving to Venezuela?

Electricity shortages, high inflation, and high murder rates. Sounds like a great place to live!

[EFerrari]

44. Sounds like San Francisco.

:)

So, did you ever find out who the source of this study is and if it's been replicated anywhere? I mean, aside from the obvious disinfo in the Reuter's article?

[fascisthunter]

45. if you choose to believe the garbage you've read about Venezuela

[devilgrrl]

47. sounds like parts of the Unites States!!!!

I so have to move there!

[kktk5950]

31. awful

[Name removed]

33. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Jkid]

55. Most of the murders are restricted to the barrios.

And despite the fact the the Chavez administration is dealing with the criminal justice system, what he is doing about crime is to prevent it in the first place via his socialist programs. But he needs to concentrate on the current crime problem, preventing it is just one aspect.

[classysassy]

56. Yes we believe the lying right wing

press.They print what they are told to print,there are no lies too small or too large when we are out to get Chavez,

[warm regards]

62. "They print what they are told to print" Yes, in Venezuela they print what Chavez says to print.

The portly one controls Venezuelan media by means of coercion or by simply nationalizing media outlets that report the truth.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124717745352519889.html

CARACAS -- President Hugo Chavez's administration is moving to tighten its grip over Venezuela's media industry by expanding its oversight of private broadcasters, pledging to take off the air 154 FM radio stations and threatening to shut down cable-television providers.

And...this is what the State Department has to say about crime in Venezuela.

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1059.html

SAFETY AND SECURITY: Violent crime in Venezuela is pervasive, both in the capital, Caracas, and in the interior. The country’s overall per capita murder rate is cited as one of the top five in the world. The Venezuelan National Counter Kidnapping Commission was created in 2006, and since then, official statistics have shown alarming increases in reported kidnappings throughout the country. In fact, kidnappings in 2009 have increased anywhere from 40-60 percent from the previous year. Surveys show that the overwhelming majority of kidnappings and other major crimes are not reported to the police. Armed robberies take place throughout the city, including areas generally presumed safe and frequented by tourists. Well-armed criminal gangs operate widely, often setting up fake police checkpoints. Only a very small percentage of crimes result in trials and convictions.

[jobwithout]

61. You must be a troll for posting Anti-Chavez tripe

Don't you know that Hugo the saint is the hero of the world. Just the sight of him would cure all that ills you. He can and will do nothing wrong. And hes one of those 15 dimensional chess players.

[dipsydoodle]

63. If they keep it up then

they might just catch up with Louisiana. :sarcasm:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_cities_by_crime_rate