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The Venezuelan government does not provide overall figures about violence, but according to unofficial data, at the end of 2009, a total of 16.047 people were killed in compared to 14,800 in 2008 and 4,500 people in 1998.

In Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, there were 140 murders per 100,000 people in 2009, compared to 18 murders per 100,000 people in Bogotá, the capital city of Colombia.

"Chávez has the idea that his revolution must break down structures. He keeps thinking that violence is also a class struggle, a conflict of poor against rich people. But in Venezuela, poor people are killing poor people," Roberto Briceño-León, director of the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence (OVV), told AFP.

The OVV provides figures on insecurity.

"Right now, people in Venezuela have no reason not to steal or rob and the government thinks that by hiding figures it can create an illusory sense of security," Briceño León added.