HomeNewsBriefVenezuelan Government Recognizes Record Murder Rate
BRIEF

Venezuelan Government Recognizes Record Murder Rate

HOMICIDES / 4 MAR 2013 BY MIRIAM WELLS EN

The Venezuelan government has confirmed that over 16,000 people were killed in 2012, while over 2,000 were murdered during the first two months of 2013, pointing to little letup in the ongoing violence. 

As EL Universal reports, figures released by national police agency the CICPC counted 2,576 murders in Venezuela during January and February 2013.

Meanwhile, Vice President Nicolas Maduro told Venezuela's National Assembly last week that there had been 16,072 recorded homicides in 2012, representing a rate of 56 murders per 100,000 inhabitants. However, as  El Universal reports, an unofficial source at the CICPC said that Venezuela actually saw 21,600 homicides last year, a figure about 25 percent higher than Maduro's. 

Maduro's numbers are significantly lower than those published by non-governmental organization (NGO) the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence, which put the 2012 murder rate at 73 per 100,000. However, even the lower figure cited by Maduro is the highest ever recorded in the country, and the second-highest rate in the world.

InSight Crime Analysis

Violence has risen sharply in Venezuela since President Hugo Chavez came to power in 1998, with murder rates doubling or tripling over a decade, according to different figures. As Insight Crime has reported, a mix of internal and external factors are to blame. Widespread impunity, the ubiquity of firearms, and weak institutions have all fueled crime and violence, as has the increased amount of cocaine shipments flowing through the country, controlled by corrupt elements of the police and military known as the Cartel of the Suns.

Each successive year produces another record homicide figure and the January/February police statistics suggest 2013 will be no different. It is also difficult to imagine how Venezuela could even begin to tackle endemic violence, given the uncertainties facing the political future of Chavez's government. So far, it is impossible to tell whether a government headed by Maduro -- who according to one poll would easily win a presidential vote should Chavez pass away -- could implement a more effective security policy, as there have been little indication so far what Maduro's policies would be.

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.

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

COLOMBIA / 3 OCT 2022

Colombian rebels had long been welcome in Venezuela but now, they have arrived in force, bringing conflict with them.

VENEZUELA / 13 FEB 2023

Erick Alberto Parra Mendoza, alias “Yeico Masacre”, is the leader of one of the most violent gangs in Venezuela's state…

ELITES AND CRIME / 17 NOV 2021

On November 5, 2019, threatening pamphlets appeared on the streets of El Callao, a mining town in Venezuela's eastern state…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Continues to be Highlighted

3 MAR 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-director Jeremy McDermott was the featured guest on the Americas Quarterly podcast, where he provided an expert overview of the changing dynamics…

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela's Organized Crime Top 10 Attracts Attention

24 FEB 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published its ranking of Venezuela’s ten organized crime groups to accompany the launch of the Venezuela Organized Crime Observatory. Read…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime on El País Podcast

10 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-founder, Jeremy McDermott, was among experts featured in an El País podcast on the progress of Colombia’s nascent peace process.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Interviewed by Associated Press

3 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s Co-director Jeremy McDermott was interviewed by the Associated Press on developments in Haiti as the country continues its prolonged collapse. McDermott’s words were republished around the world,…

THE ORGANIZATION

Escaping Barrio 18

27 JAN 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published an investigation charting the story of Desafío, a 28-year-old Barrio 18 gang member who is desperate to escape gang life. But there’s one problem: he’s…