Dissenters question Venezuelan gov't security plans

Leopoldo López, the campaign coordinator of the opposition campaign team Comando Venezuela, asserted that "sharp contrasts" exist between Capriles Radonski's "Security for All" plan and President Hugo Chávez's "At All Life" Mission.

He pointed out that the first difference is that the Head of State cites irrelevant statistics about insecurity and attributes the causes of crime to the wrong people. "As long as we have a flawed diagnosis, we cannot solve the problem. The government says that the problem comes from movies and other mass media. They claim that the crime rate is really much lower than it seems. We will not see a solution to this problem that affects every Venezuelan."

Another "big difference," in concordance with Comando Venezuela, is the government's definition of what they are fighting. "It's important to know who we are protecting and who we are fighting. Capriles explains it very clearly: we aim to protect the innocent Venezuelans and fight against the criminals."

López stated that it is impossible to believe that the government will actually fight for security "when it has been its accomplice through action and omission." A concrete example, he affirmed, is "Eladio Aponte, who became magistrate of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice, by the decision of the (ruling) United Socialist Party of Venezuela."

Translated by Alejandro Osio