[58], In 2008, the U.S. Department of Treasury accused two senior Venezuelan government officials and one former official of providing material assistance for drug-trafficking operations carried out by the FARC guerrilla group in Colombia. 25 Years Population Growth Rate 1.44% Sex Ratio 0-14 Years - male/female 1.04 Sex Ratio 15-24 Years - male/female 1.01 Sex Ratio 25-54 Years - male/female . Venezuela crime soars amid declining poverty. a 63-year-old carpenter living in a "barrio" or slum in Caracas told Al . Within the embassy community, Venezuelan employees fall victim to crime far more frequently than their American employee colleagues. [66][67] Due to the fact that the "sobrinos" (nephews in Spanish) of Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were arrested for narcotics trafficking, the media described the nephews as the narcosobrinos. [34][35] Attorney General Luisa Ortega Daz stated to the United Nations that the rate was 62 per 100,000 for 2014, nearly twice as high as claimed in 2013. More than 330 police officers were murdered across Venezuela last year, . note 1: the country lies on major sea and air routes linking North and South America note 2: Venezuela has some of the most unique geology in the world; tepuis are massive table-top mountains of the western Guiana Highlands that tend to be isolated and thus support unique endemic plant and animal species; their sheer cliffsides account for some of the most spectacular . The ideal entry-level account for individual users. As of 2022, the US Department of State recommends that Americans avoid traveling to Venezuela especially due to its high rate of violent crime such as homicide. The government each year lumps several thousands of deaths into these categories to lower the official homicide rate. [50] According to Anthony Daqun, former adviser to the Minister of Interior and Justice of Venezuela, "[s]taff of the Directorate of Military Counterintelligence and SEBIN (Bolivarian National Intelligence Service) operate these bands kidnapping and extortion". Subsequently, these areas are difficult to police. [69][70][71][72][73][74], According to the Trafficking in Persons Report 2014 by the State Department of the United States, "Venezuela is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor". [40][41] It was also reported that police would intercept the families of the victims and take them to the library of the University Institute of the Scientific Police (IUPOLC) where authorities offered families ways to "streamline procedures and advise them not to give information to the press in return for their aid". If the experts are right, for the year 2009 there was an alarming 9.2 incidents of kidnapping per 100,000 inhabitants in Venezuela. Nigeria - 34.52. Venezuela crisis in brief. Therefore, it is common practice in Caracas to never resist an attempted robbery. The violent crime of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter increased 0.3 percent in 2019 when compared with the 2018 . [81] Some weapons given to the groups include assault rifles, submachine guns and grenades. Areas of Caracas suffer from extreme poverty which provides gangs and criminal elements with an environment that is conducive to crime. Express kidnappings (secuestro express) have become more common than traditional kidnappings. "The perception of petroleum as the cause of Venezuela's corruption had become widespread during this period." Home invasions have occurred in buildings where U.S. Embassy employees reside. Many people are victimized by crime because of fear and the perceived inability of Venezuela's criminal justice system to prevent crime. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS Their 5-year-old daughter, Maya, suffered a bullet wound to the leg but survived. And, Qatar is the country with the least crime rate with 12.29 people per 100,000. the country has a murder rate of about 67 per 100,000 inhabitants. In one incident involving a crashed truck, hundreds of men, women and children looted the vehicle. 10 Facts about Violence in Venezuela. Investigation of all crime is haphazard and ineffective. [22], Escalating violent crime, especially murder, had been called "perhaps the biggest concern" of Venezuelans during the nationwide crisis. Venezuela has 1.5 police officers per 1,000 residents, while U.S. cities average 3.8 per 1,000. ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. [122][123][124], Days after the replacement of the plan's creator Miguel Rodrguez Torres by Carmen Melndez as Minister of the Popular Power for Interior, Justice and Peace,[125] Melendez announced that the Venezuelan government would relaunch Plan Patria Segura for a second time. The incidents of kidnappings in Caracas doubled in 2009 from previous years. Due to the Venezuelan government not complying to the standards of stopping human trafficking, the State Department placed Venezuelan on its "black list" as a Tier 3 country, which opened the possibility of Venezuela facing sanctions. While reported incidents of murder in Venezuela decreased slightly to almost 14,000, the number of reported murders in the State of Miranda (which encompasses the greater Caracas area) increased. [133] According to the Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons (OVP), from 1999 to 2015, there were 22,998 violent incidents, with 16,417 injured and 6,581 inmates killed. Crime rates in Venezuela. 18 December 2020. . Statista. Venezuela has been in an economic crisis since the election of Hugo Chavez in 1998 when the country's oil-based socialist economy began to rapidly decline. In 2015, 17,778 people were murdered in Venezuela; however, the VOV revealed that those numbers were as high as 27,875. 5. In 2019, the murder rate declined significantly to 60.3. In 2009 reported kidnappings more than doubled from the previous year. There have been several high profile kidnappings that have resulted in murder, including the killings of three minor Canadian brothers, a wealthy Italo-Venezuelan businessman, and the daughter of a senior Venezuelan military commander. Murder rate: Homicide rate per year per 100,000 inhabitants in various countries. statistic alerts) please log in with your personal account. But the Venezuelan Violence Observatory, a nongovernmental group, estimated that there were 27,875 murders that year, which would make Venezuela's homicide rate one of the highest in the world . [40][41] The cover ups were possibly performed following an El Nacional cover story showing piles of corpses scattered throughout a morgue in Venezuela. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. In the case of high-profile killings, the authorities quickly round up suspects, but rarely produce evidence linking these individuals to the crime. [41][46][47] According to the leaked INE report, only 1,332 investigations for kidnappings were opened or about 7% of the total kidnapping cases, with 90% of the kidnappings happening away from rural areas, 80% of all being express kidnappings and the most common victim being lower-middle or middle class Venezuelans and middle-aged men. [5] This introduced to the Venezuelan population the notion of not following the societal rules and using violence to achieve goals, such as widespread looting during the Caracazo or by attempting to commit undemocratic coups such as in 1992. Rates of crime rapidly began to increase during the presidency of Hugo Chvez due to the institutional instability of his Bolivarian government, underfunding of police resources, and severe inequality. Venezuela. [22], Venezuela is especially dangerous toward foreign travelers and investors who are visiting. Venezuelan authorities claimed the incident was an escape attempt by inmates, while the Venezuelan Prison Observatory noted the inmates were angry over insufficient food and water and called for an investigation. [27][28] Recently, the murder rate in Venezuela is the subject of some dispute according to the Associated Press, since Bolivarian government slowly denied access to homicide statistics. There is a high threat from violent crime and kidnapping throughout Venezuela, which has one of the highest murder rates in the world. [40][41] At that time, they would advise families not to speak to report the murder of their family member to the media in exchange to have the process of recovering the victims body in an expedited manner. [45] Both the rich and poor are victims of kidnapping and criminals even fear being kidnapped by more powerful gangs. Crime in Venezuela. The majority of violent crimes in Venezuela take place in impoverished areas. [132], Carlos Nieto, head of Window to Freedom, alleges that heads of gangs acquire military weapons from the state saying, They have the types of weapons that can only be obtained by the country's armed forces. By the end of 2019, there was an increase in the number of predatory crimes again as well as extortion by criminal elements and government officials. [96], Corruption in Venezuela is high by world standards, and has been for much of the 20th century. [1], While Venezuelans were suffering from shortages in Venezuela, the occasional looting of trucks full of goods became more common in the country with the robberies being committed by criminal gangs. US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, International Crime Statistics Program, Territories Financial Support Center (TFSC), Tribal Financial Management Center (TFMC). [15] The U.S. Bureau of Diplomatic Security stated that there were 73 daily violent deaths in 2018. [63], In September 2013, an incident involving men from the Venezuelan National Guard placing 31 suitcases containing 1.3 tons of cocaine on a Paris flight astonished French authorities. Lots of frustration, little hope. In an interview with Prison Minister Iris Varela, the minister explained how all prisons were under her control and that there was no anarchy. [46] Wealthy Venezuelans invest in armored vehicles and bodyguards, while middle class Venezuelans change routes to work frequently, refrain from wearing jewelry in public, and never travel on foot alone. [102][103] A 2013 Gallup study showed that only 26% of Venezuelans have faith in their local police. In 2020, the country had a crime rate of 99.7 per 100,000 people. Those injured had to be assisted by a church in the area. Under his administration, extrajudicial killings rose dramatically with over 8,000 Venezuelans being killed by state authorities between 2015 and 2017. InSight Crime. [37] OVV data has 23,047 homicides committed in Venezuela in 2018, a rate of 81.4 per 100,000 people, with the decline being attributed to emigration. [3] According to the Venezuelan government, the homicide rate in 2013 dropped from 50 to 39 per 100,000. Use Ask Statista Research Service. Citing government figures, a prominent opposition leader in Venezuela has said the country's impunity rate hovers at about 98 percent, an assertion that will likely feed rising perceptions of insecurity. [52], Many kidnappings are not reported to police in Venezuela since they are not trusted. It is estimated that Venezuela's population will reach its peak of 35.57 million by 2063. Directly accessible data for 170 industries from 50 countries and over 1 million facts: Get quick analyses with our professional research service. [89], Colectivos sometimes provide protection from crime in some neighborhoods they are committed to,[90] though some neighborhoods report that colectivos attack neighbors themselves. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. According to United Nations, the homicides rate in Venezuela was 53.7 murders per 100,000 persons in 2012; that's higher than figures for many other Latin American countries, including Colombia . [140][141], Edgardo Lander, a sociologist and professor at the Central University of Venezuela with a PhD in sociology from Harvard University explained that Venezuelan prisons are "practically a school for criminals" since young inmates come out "more sort of trained and hardened than when they went in". [63] Venezuelan officials have also been allegedly working with Mexican drug cartels. A non-government organisation says Venezuela has the world's highest murder rate - many of them extrajudicial killings by police.And an elite special forces . Official websites use .gov VENEZUELA. ", "Armed civilian bands in Venezuela prop up unpopular president", "Political Divisions Fuel Venezuela's Most Violent Year", "US pulls all staff from Venezuela as Maduro blames blackout on 'demonic' Trump plot", "Venezuela: Maduro calls on armed groups to keep order amid electricity rationing", "Venezuela's Maduro announces power rationing amid outages", "The World Is Getting More Corrupt, and These Are the 5 Worst Offenders", "Pro-Government Motorcycle Militias Terrorize Venezuela", "Venezuela: Police corruption blamed for kidnapping epidemic", "How videos of supermarket raids show what life is like in Venezuela", "Venezuelan city under effective curfew after mass looting", "Venezuelan soap star Monica Spear, ex-husband murdered", "German tourist, 76, shot dead on Venezuelan island", "La reforma policial en Venezuela, tarea inconclusa del chavismo", "Crmenes brutales en Venezuela: Ejecuciones extrajudiciales dejan ms de ocho mil muertos", "Hoy comienza el Plan Patria Segura: "La Fanb sale a la calle a proteger el pueblo" (+video)", "Colectivos le dicen NO al plan de desarme del gobierno bolivariano", "Former Miss Venezuela Murdered In Roadside Attack", "Diciembre fue el mes ms violento del 2014, 500 muertos solo en Caracas", "Denuncian aumento de homicidios en Zulia durante 2014", "Presin de colectivos incidi en salida de Rodrguez Torres", "Relanzado Plan Patria Segura este sbado en todo el territorio nacional (+Fotos)", "Caracas: Cabo Vadillo Temporada 1; Programa 2", "Corruption by Country / Territory: Venezuela", "La situacin de las crceles venezolanas es una tragedia, dice la ONU", "Violence eases at overcrowded Venezuelan jail", "OVP: Venezuela minti en Examen Peridico Universal de Derechos Humanos", http://prisonstudies.org/country/united-states-america, "De verdad, Iris Varela? [4][12] Most crime in Venezuela remains unpunished according to Venezuela's Prosecutor General's Office, as 98% of crimes in Venezuela do not result in prosecution. [75][76][77], There was little history of organized crime in Venezuela until the start of the Bolivarian Revolution. This overview of Venezuela's criminal justice system encompasses political and legal systems, the nature and extent of crime, victims, law enforcement, the prosecutorial and judicial process, the judicial system, penalties and sentencing, the prison system, and extradition and treaties. In 2012, La Planta, a prison built in 1964 with a capacity of 350 inmates, held almost 2,500 inmates with many armed with heavy weapons. [78] The Bolivarian government was seen as being lenient on crime and justifying the criminals by saying they were poor and exploited. [100], According to some sources, Venezuela's corruption includes widespread corruption in the police force. Currently, you are using a shared account. . A private organization, the Venezuelan Violence Observatory (OVV), puts the rate in 2015 at over 90 per 100,000 people. The majority of crimes that dominate the environment in Caracas are express kidnappings, carjackings, robberies, and home invasions. Business Solutions including all features. Venezuela is a limited democratic federal republic, and the legal system is based on a civil model largely influenced by historical European dominance. Published by Teresa Romero , Apr 21, 2022. 4 January. From 2019 to 2020, the population change was -0.28%. The methods of accomplishing these tasks were through surveillance, checking documents, verification checkpoints and to help guide communities. Much of Caracas crime and violence can be attributed to mobile street gangs and organized crime groups. [114][115], During the presidency of the Hugo Chvez, more than 20 programs were created attempting to deter crime, though insecurity continued to increase following their implementation. [108] As a result of the high levels of crime, Venezuelans were forced to change their ways of life due to the large insecurities they continuously experienced. The prison is described as a "paradise", with a community including pools, bars, a boxing ring and many other accommodations for any visitor of prisoners who can stay the night at the prison for up to three days per week. Crime Information Venezuela and its capital, Caracas, have among the highest per capita murder rates in the world. Phil Gunson, a freelance reporter for foreign media, states that, "It's no secret that many colectivos engage in criminal activities." Recent years have brought significant food shortages to Venezuela, prompting more than six million people to leave the country. The country has one of the top five highest per capita murder rates in the world. [Online]. [146], In May 2020, inmates rioted at the Llanos Penitentiary Center in Guanare, leading to 40 deaths. Is Venezuela poor? Most violent crimes in Caracas, especially murder, involve firearms. Home invasions involve large groups of heavily armed criminals who take over houses or apartment complexes, and rob the owners or all the occupants. . The judicial system is composed of the Supreme Court, superior courts, trial courts, and special courts. While the police will generally respond to an emergency situation, investigative follow-up is intermittent and perpetrators of crime are rarely caught. Before President Hugo Chavez came to power, Venezuela had a homicide rate similar to that of Brazil and Mexico, of between 18 and 20 victims per 100,000 inhabitants. [11] Crimes related to shortages and hunger increased shortly after with growing incidents of looting occurring throughout the country. Venezuela is a source for flora and fauna crimes, including illegally extracted timber and Cucurito palm, facilitated by the lack of investigations, inventories, or government presence in national parks. Instead, pranes run criminal organizations outside of prisons and receive security within their facilities. Caracas continues to be notorious for the brazenness of certain high profile, violent crimes such as murder, robberies and kidnappings. The criticism follows attacks last year by Maduro on violent video games and the Hollywood movie "Spider-man." Show publisher information In the last 25 years, the rate of violent crime in the US has fallen dramatically. [36] According to the World Bank, the 2016 homicide rate was 56 per 100,000, making Venezuela third in the world, after El Salvador and Honduras. The goal of Plan Patria Segura to disarm, prevent organized crime and drug enforcement. Please create an employee account to be able to mark statistics as favorites. Qatar has the lowest crime rate in the world, followed by the UAE, according to Numbeo statistics. [65], Two nephews of Maduro's wife Cilia Flores, Efran Antonio Campo Flores and Francisco Flores de Freitas, were involved in the narcosobrinos incident and found guilty for their alleged involvement in illicit activities such as drug trafficking in November 2016, with some of their funds possibly assisting President Maduro's presidential campaign in the 2013 Venezuelan presidential election and potentially for the 2015 Venezuelan parliamentary elections, with the funds mainly used to "help their family stay in power". No figure for the country's homicide rate was released that year. [94] Some colectivos patrol the 23 de Enero barrio on motorcycles, masked and armed, supposedly to protect the neighborhood from criminals such as drug dealers. [SOURCE] In early 2006 the murder rate in Baghdad appeared to be about 200 per 100,000 [SOURCE]. [51][52] Available data underestimates the amount of express kidnapping, where victims are typically released in less than two days after relatives pay a quick ransom. To use individual functions (e.g., mark statistics as favourites, set In August the attorney general's office reported that of the more than 6 thousand police officers implicated in killings during the last 5 years, only 88 were convicted. However, due to their proximity to wealthy areas, it is relatively easy for gangs and criminal elements to infiltrate the more affluent neighborhoods. But perhaps the most ironic contribution to Venezuela's high crime rate may lie in the failure of Chavez's government to fully deliver on the egalitarian . Crime in Venezuela is widespread, with violent crimes such as murder and kidnapping increasing annually. So if you have a police force, it's not about whether you're doing your job, it's about whether you're a revolutionary. Insight Crime attributes Venezuela's rise in violence to a range . Traditional kidnappings also remain a security concern in Venezuela. Congresswoman Delsa Solorzano -- also the vice president of opposition party Un . [84] The Civil Association for Citizen Control said that more than half of those killed during the protests were killed by colectivos. 32 references, 810 Seventh Street NW, Washington, DC 20531, United States, 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12222, United States, Box 6000, Rockville, MD 20849-6000, United States. [45], False or "virtual" kidnappings are also used in Venezuela. Police are unable to protect less affluent neighborhoods, and as a result, crime is quite common and criminals operate with impunity. [19] The Chvez government banned private gun ownership in 2012[20][21] but overall crime rate has kept increasing since. Venezuela Honduras Afghanistan Mexico The top 5 most dangerous states are: 01 Distrito Capital 02 Miranda Ciudad Jurez 03 Zulia 04 Carabobo San Pedro Kandahar 05 Aragua Sula Caracas Caracas (*) located in the "Distrito Capital" has the 2nd greatest murder rate of any large city in . By the end of last year, prices were doubling . If the value is 0, it means it is perceived as very low . Some 5.5 million of an estimated 32 million Venezuelans have fled their country since 2014, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported in October. Then you can access your favorite statistics via the star in the header. [5] According to Gareth A. Jones and Dennis Rodgers in their book Youth violence in Latin America: Gangs and Juvenile Justice in Perspective, "With the change of political regime in 1999 and the initiation of the Bolivarian Revolution, a period of transformation and political conflict began, marked by a further increase in the number and rate of violent deaths" showing that in four years, the murder rate had increased from 25 per 100,000 in 1999 to 44 per 100,000 in 2003. A nongovernmental group that tracks crime in Venezuela says the homicide rate climbed in 2015, putting the country on track to be one of the most violent in the world. Armed robbery, mugging, carjacking, and burglary are . Since then, Venezuela has faced extreme inflation that exacerbates with each passing year. In 1990, 31,861 violent crimes, 184,126 property crimes, and 6,405 drug crimes were reported. Venezuela under President Hugo Chvez has the fourth-highest murder rate in the world and an abysmal crime-solving rate. [55], In 2007, authorities in Colombia claimed that through laptops they had seized on a raid against Raul Reyes, they found documents purporting to show that Hugo Chvez offered payments of as much as $300 million USD to the FARC. It mainly involves birds, turtles and snakes, and when caught, perpetrators . Prosecutors rarely brought cases against perpetrators of unlawful killings. But even as crime climbs, the number of police battling criminals is falling. [78], In the World Report 2014 by Human Rights Watch, the organization stated that "Venezuelan prisons are among the most violent in Latin America". One prisoner explained how, If the guards mess with us, we shoot them and that he had "seen a man have his head cut off and people play football with it.[139], In a Journeyman Pictures documentary titled Venezuela - Party Prison, a reporter visits San Antonio Prison on Margarita Island. [118], In 2008, the National Assembly passed the Law Against Kidnapping and Extortion (Ley contra el Secuestro y la Extorsin), a law that imposes penalties of up to 30 years in prison to address a kidnapping situation that was not covered by a specific law. Its 2018 report, based on input from . [134] Their occupancy level is at a shocking 153.9% according to 2016 studies. [50] In Venezuela's prisons, inmates will use "telemarketing" strategies, creating fear in individuals so that they will pay before possibly being kidnapped. When you have a functioning democracy and you have the opposition and the government in power, there's different solutions to problems; people debate, people discuss. From organized crime to tap water, there are a few things to look out for when traveling Venezuela. At about 50 per 100,000 Washington, DC may have the highest murder rate in the developed world. Murder rate : Homicide rate per year per 100,000 inhabitants in various countries. [128] Colectivos stated to the Venezuelan government that they were not going to participate in the disarmament plan, stating that they were groups involved with the Bolivarian Revolution and that criminal gangs should instead be focused on.