Residents in Venezuela shift routines as crime spreads

Crime has become a rampant problem in Venezuela, where murders, robberies and kidnappings are spreading through all sectors of society. Many citizens lack faith in the police, and are now taking measures to protect themselves and their families. Rachel Jones reports:

TRANSCRIPT:

It’s Saturday evening in Caracas, and Antonio Distefano is drinking coffee with a female friend at an upscale mall. The 59-year-old pilot says his choice of destination was an easy one. Since gunmen blocked his car on a highway five years ago, taking him hostage and threatening to kill him, shopping centers are one of the few places he feels safe:

“They had me from five in the morning until 11:15 at night, going around in my car. The thieves had my credit cards and were taking cash out of the ATMs and buying things. They left me on a main avenue, naked, at 11.15 at night. Since then, I’ve been terrified to walk the streets. So we came here because we have no other place to go.”

Distefano says that he lost his Toyota Corolla and some $16,000 that day, but he feels lucky to have escaped with his life. Now, he makes an effort to deflect attention. He’s bought a modest Chevrolet Aveo, and has traded his Rolex in for a plastic watch.

Crime is on the rise in Venezuela. President Hugo Chavez’s government hasn’t released official murder statistics since 2004, but nongovernmental organizations say there are now roughly 16,000 murders a year – one of the highest per capita rates on the continent.

Sociologist Luis Cedeño of Paz Activa has been following criminal activity in Venezuela for the past decade. He says the failures of Venezuela’s justice system, police forces and other institutions mean that most murders aren’t prosecuted.

CEDEŇO: In Venezuela there’s an epidemic of violence. An epidemic that has been growing little by little over the years, and every year we see a rise in the number of homicides, a rise in general crime, a rise in kidnappings, a rise in fraud. The impunity is nearly absolute for all crimes, and the most serious crimes are very rarely punished. For example, the impunity in the case of homicides is nearly 97 or 98 percent. So this shows us that the justice system is really failing to fulfill its role of punishing criminals.

President Chavez says he’s working hard to fight crime, and has unveiled a new national police force. But Venezuelans still lack confidence in the government’s ability to protect them.

Pollster Alfredo Keller says concerns about crime, along with problems such as inflation and water shortages, have dragged the president’s approval ratings down to below 50 percent.

KELLER: When we’ve asked people what is the most serious problem in the zone where they live, 51 percent of the population says that it’s crime. You have to realize that the second biggest problem is water shortages and that’s only 16 percent. So you see the extent of the problem.

Venezuela’s dramatic murder rates are largely confined to poor, urban neighborhoods, where gunfights between gangs are common.

Auramarina Ortiz sells coffee near the subway station in Petare, one of Latin America’s largest slums. She says she’s seen a handful of people killed during the 16 years she’s worked there, and that she fears for her four children.

ORTIZ: I see how the streets are because I work in the streets. How the crime is, how they kill people. I’m afraid to have my children in the streets. I tell them, look- at 8 p.m. you have to be inside, because you know how these neighborhoods are these days.”

More recently, crimes such as kidnappings and robberies have spread beyond poor neighborhoods to engulf all sectors of the population. A Spanish restaurant in central Caracas called Casa Farruco has begun closing its doors two hours earlier. Manager Manuel Deponte says that there are fewer clients, partly due to safety concerns. He says that incidents have been sporadic, but last year, some customers were mugged while leaving the restaurant.

DEPONTE: The clients didn’t come back for some months and then later they returned, but not walking – they called a taxi, and took a taxi from the door. People are afraid of the insecurity, and often people don’t come because of the lack of a police presence. Of course it affects us a lot because one makes a living from one’s clients. The costs are the same, and if the clients don’t come, we don’t have any income.

Even when the police are present, many Venezuelans find it difficult to trust officers who could be themselves involved in criminal activity. Government officials have said that some 20 percent of violent crimes are committed by corrupt police. Having lost faith in the police and other institutions, citizens such as Rosa Degomez don’t even bother to file a report when they’re robbed.

DEGOMEZ: You know that if you go to the police headquarters saying you’ve been robbed, they fill out a form and sign it, and they don’t do anything else. It’s a waste of time.

Government officials have made sporadic allegations that crime rates are falling, but have only released incomplete statistics that fail to back their claims. Meanwhile, critics allege that the government is withholding the information because it fears a political backlash. The government may be taking the wrong approach. Some experts say that as long as such figures remain a mystery, Venezuelans will consider crime their number one concern.

Rachel Jones, FSRN, Caracas.

Photo: Outside a restaurant, Caracas, Venezuela

Photo credit: Marcio Cabral de Mora