Country
Fifteen days into the implementation of the Bicentennial Plan of Security (Dibise) approved by President Hugo Chávez, Venezuelan authorities reported 230 violent deaths in Caracas; that is, an average of 15 people killed per day in the Venezuelan capital.

The Venezuelan ruler said that the government would assign VEB 319.5 million (USD 74.3 million) to a police plan implemented by the Minister of Interior and Justice, Tarek El Aissami.

However, in the second weekend of the implementation of Dibise, a Venezuelan NGO said that Caracas authorities reported the highest number of homicides so far this year.

According to data from the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence (OVV) there were 123,091 murders in Venezuela in the past 11 years. In this period, the government of Chávez has implemented 15 security plans.

The first of these plans was executed by Chávez on March 1, 1999 whereas the last plan, called A Safe Road, has been implemented sporadically and not permanently.

According to sociologist Roberto Briceño-León, director of the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence (OVV), there were 4,550 murders in the country in 1998 while in 2009 murders totaled 16,047. Crime rates have tripled. Briceño-León added that in the last 10 years, the number of murders per 100,000 inhabitants per annum increased by 2.5 times.

Translated by Gerardo Cárdenas

Gustavo Rodríguez
EL UNIVERSAL