Posted on 04/21/2006 7:58:03 AM PDT by SmithL
CARACAS -- Victims reach the emergency room soaked in blood and dazed — wheeled in on stretchers, carried in people's arms, some still walking with the last of their strength. An elderly man shot in a robbery, a young man sprayed with gunfire, a woman who took a stray bullet in the head while on her way to church.
Venezuela is among the most violent places in Latin America, and critics of President Hugo Chavez are increasingly accusing him of failing to make crime a priority.
The government says it is making progress on the problem, but a series of particularly heinous murders sparked protests earlier this month by people demanding safer streets, and more rallies are planned for Saturday. While crime has long bedeviled Venezuelans, particularly the poor, some protesters say there's a new element to the danger now — class tensions incited by Chavez himself.
"There has always been crime, but not like this. Now they open fire and that's it," said Freddy Dos Santos, standing beside his father, who lay wounded on a gurney at a public hospital.
Relatives of 89-year-old Rodolfo Dos Santos, who was breathing through an oxygen mask, said he was shot while driving to a construction site to pay his workers. He had just braked at a hilltop when a teenager approached and shouted: "Stop!"
Dos Santos yelled for help. The teenager fired, wounding him in the chest, and then fled.
Dos Santos' son accused Chavez of virtually ignoring crime while also inciting the poor:
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
It is a priority. That's why Chavez is president.
Isn't Hugo one of Sheehan's lovers!?
But, but, I thought it was a peaceful people's paradise.
What could possibly be wrong there?
I bet most of the victims were critical of Chavez and said something aloud in public.
History repeats.
Hugo may not do anything about crime, corruption or the Venezuelan economy, but he's the only thing stopping the evil gringos from invading.
That's why he's trying top pick a fight with the U.S. Like Hitler, he has few real answers, and so must blame external forces for internal woes.
Another Communist/Marxist country with a fruitcake for a dictator going down the tubes of decency.
Hughie's the problem, not the solution.
Hugo said: "The rich are condemned to hell. Christ himself condemned them," Chavez said in a speech Tuesday. "I say it from the heart: to be rich is evil."
The murder rate in Venezeula is 7 times that of the US. Something like 36 per 100,000 compared to 5 per 100,000 in the states.
Yet leftwing twerps like jay bennish, ward churchill, diane feinstein and hitlery klinton still claim that the US is the most violent nation on earth. Venezeula's crime rate is nothing compared to Colombia's.
Violent crime is Porky's friend. He can use it to eliminate enemies.
Telling people that it is O.K. to take what they want from those who have it is always a dangerous message for the government to publish. Hugo is reaping what he sowed. Serves him right.
This steaming pile is certifiable. Hopefully he will shortly receive his just rewards.
I think most of the commie pinkos qualify with something like "industrialized world" or something like that.
Doubtless Venezuelans are packing faster for their trip north.
There were 9,402 homicides reported in 2005, down slightly from 2004
This has been my point since the beginning of the Iraq war. There are situations in this world FAR worse than Iraq. With a population of < 25mil (a little smaller than Iraq) they have this kind of murder rate. That's 25 murders/day, and it comes in ebbs and flows.
I remember reading a newspaper in Venezuela in 1993 when there were ~300 murders over a single weekend! I was shocked that I had never heard of how violent the situation in Venezuela is. But it's a story that happens every day, and nobody in the media outside of Venezuela even cares anymore.
Hugo Chaves has it easy, he could quell an insurrection and mask it as gang violence and nobody would notice.
I guess that's what you get when you ask for a despot. Is there a Venezuela/SA ping list?
Chavez policies are to take from the "haves" and give to the "have nots". This is the essense of communism. One of the results of that is that crime increases. It is working.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.