Bloggings by boz

From today's Miami Herald:

Caracas' crime rate has traditionally rivaled those of the toughest cities in Latin America, and corruption among law-enforcement officers was commonplace. But in the last five years, the situation has markedly worsened, criminologists and security analysts say.

Estimates vary, but most analysts agree that since 2001, kidnappings have increased at least fourfold and now number close to 300 a year, while homicides almost doubled.

"Caracas is the most dangerous city in Latin America right now," said Marcos Tarre Briceño, a newspaper columnist, novelist and longtime crime analyst. "Crime prevention is the weakest area of the government."...

...Last August, for instance, the attorney general's office reported that 5,997 police officers had been investigated for questionable killings in the line of duty between January 2000 and July 2005, but that only 88 were found guilty of any wrongdoing.

Crime is on the rise throughout the region. This isn't isolated to Caracas, but Venezuela's capital is definitely among the hardest hit in Latin America.