HomeNewsBriefResolution of Venezuela Beauty Queen Case Contrast to General Impunity
BRIEF

Resolution of Venezuela Beauty Queen Case Contrast to General Impunity

VENEZUELA / 10 JAN 2014 BY CHARLES PARKINSON EN

The high-profile case of a beauty queen murdered in Venezuela has been declared solved, with authorities' ability to act efficiently only emphasizing the extreme level of impunity in the country.

The murders on January 6 of 2004 Miss Venezuela Monica Spear and her British ex-husband Thomas Henry Berry sent shockwaves through the country and caused President Nicholas Maduro to publicly declare he would take a personal interest in seeing the case solved.  

The pair were murdered during a robbery as they were being assisted after their car broke down on a highway in the state of Carabobo, 100 miles west of capital Caracas.

SEE ALSO: Venezuela News and Profiles

Although five arrests were quickly made after the killings, authorities announced a total of seven people had been detained. All of them were alleged members of a gang known as "Los sanguinarios del Cambur" (The bloodthirsty ones from Cambur), reported El Tiempo.

The quick resolution of the crime comes on a backdrop of overwhelming impunity in Venezuela, with 92 of every 100 murders going unsolved, according to experts; a fact which inspires young Venezuelans to become embroiled in criminality because of the high rewards and low risks involved, reported AFP.

InSight Crime Analysis

While the apparent resolution of this case will likely be lauded by Maduro, the fact authorities are capable of acting so swiftly when they need to only highlights the ineffectiveness of security forces and politicization of crime in the country.

Given the extreme level of impunity, robberies in Venezuela are often followed by murder, with criminals preferring to leave no witnesses and facing little fear of being captured for killings. Violent crime has spiraled out of control in the past 15 years, with AFP reporting more than 24,000 people were murdered in 2013, compared to just 4,550 in 1998 -- the year Maduro's predecessor Hugo Chavez came to power. As highlighted by AFP, this trend has not been stemmed by 21 security plans launched since Chavez entered office.

Part of the problem is the dire pay of security services officials, exacerbated by rampant inflation as a result of economic mismanagement. Meanwhile, Chavez nurtured a culture of extreme social division between rich and poor, which persists today. With inflation and insecurity showing no signs of abating, it is difficult to see how Maduro can stop the country's descent into chaos.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Tags

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

CARIBBEAN / 11 FEB 2022

Latin American countries scored poorly on Transparency International’s latest corruption index, with the worst joining the ranks of war-torn nations…

EX-FARC MAFIA / 13 OCT 2021

The fighting that erupted in the Venezuelan state of Apure in early 2021 was on the surface a classic guerrilla…

EX-FARC MAFIA / 13 OCT 2021

On April 23, 2021, two Venezuelan military helicopters landed near the town of La Victoria in the border state of…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

All Eyes on Ecuador

2 JUN 2023

Our coverage of organized crime in Ecuador continues to be a valuable resource for international and local news outlets. Internationally, Reuters cited our 2022 Homicide Round-Up,…

WORK WITH US

Open Position: Social Media and Engagement Strategist

27 MAY 2023

InSight Crime is looking for a Social Media and Engagement Strategist who will be focused on maintaining and improving InSight Crime’s reputation and interaction with its audiences through publishing activities…

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Receives Great Reception

27 MAY 2023

Several of InSight Crime’s most recent articles about Venezuela have been well received by regional media. Our article on Venezuela’s colectivos expanding beyond their political role to control access to…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Chemical Precursor Report Continues

19 MAY 2023

For the second week in a row, our investigation into the flow of precursor chemicals for the manufacture of synthetic drugs in Mexico has been cited by multiple regional media…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Chemical Precursor Report Widely Cited

THE ORGANIZATION / 12 MAY 2023

We are proud to see that our recently published investigation into the supply chain of chemical precursors feeding Mexico’s synthetic drug production has been warmly received.