Venezuelan government lets on quadruple murder rate

The new Mission "At all life, Venezuela" trumpeted by Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez and countersigned on Wednesday afternoon, is set to "diminish the occurrence of events linked to crime, offences, failure to live together, road accidents, disasters or emergencies that entail a threat, vulnerability or risk for people's enjoyment of rights."

In an in-depth report of the mission, the government put murder among the main social problems and conceded that the murder rate in Venezuela has risen fourfold in the past 20 years. However, only the numbers of 2009, 2010 and 2011 are highlighted.

According to the explanation, the murder rate nationwide ended at 50 in every 100,000 inhabitants last year. Nevertheless, no official numbers are supplied.

For its part, NGO Observatorio Venezolano de Violencia (Venezuelan Violence Observatory), managed by sociologist Roberto Briceño León, puts this number at 18,800 killings in 2011.

The fact of the matter is that with this new step, the government expects to curb crime in Venezuela, knowing fully well that firearms are used in 79% of the events, involving people under 25 years old.