Observations focused on the problems of an underdeveloped country, Venezuela, with some serendipity about the world (orchids, techs, science, investments, politics) at large. A famous Venezuelan, Juan Pablo Perez Alfonzo, referred to oil as the devil's excrement. For countries, easy wealth appears indeed to be the sure path to failure. Venezuela might be a clear example of that.
Unknown FeedA reader sends this link of a horrifying documentary (40 mins. ) about crime, jails and violence in Venezuela today. Worth Watching.
Note added: Apparently the video is blocked in Venezuela, please report below if you can watch it anywhere in Venezuela. To others, Daniel has a different version in two parts (From Youtube)
The Devil's Excrement 
November 25, 2013 at 2:36 am
[…] om ämnet: Caracas – city of violence A site about the city Venezuela and its problems. Caracas Wikipedia Wikipedia on the capitol […]
November 5, 2012 at 11:59 am
[…] there was overcrowding in Venezuelan jails and that the Government fed all of the prisoners. Maybe he has not seen the video I posted, or read the article about how the prisoners run the San Antonio prison in Margarita Island. And […]
October 16, 2012 at 5:33 pm
I could watch it in Venezuela from my blackberry
September 22, 2012 at 2:26 pm
This documentary by Ross Kemp is superb and high quality Journalism that deserves praise and promotion by all concern individuals. Kemp was able to penetrate where other journalists (including Venezuelan ones who live next to all this horror and evidence) have not. The visit to the hospital, the jail run by inmates (bc not even a dime from the gov’t reaches the system) and the eye opening interview with the “gang”…depraved assassins.”I think I killed 50 so far this year…so far”, it is high quality journalism. Not only he brings the close reality to the screen, but he analyzes the situation and takes no position whatsoever, he interviews people and let them express the reality clarito “this is hell”…so make no mistake there are no politics here, only reality of the blood bath this country is leaving through, a society in shambles, who wants to live there with such images, and moral, political depravation. Please send this documentary to your friends, to other people in Latin America so they go and see what horror this country is leaving through. Is there someone responsible? of course, you bet, there has been one party governing for 14 years. (and please stop talking about the scene of Chacal brother with his polished british accent, it is irrelevant).
September 18, 2012 at 3:24 pm
Hell is filled with of good intentions,”” casas de la alimentación a program to feed the poor, no planning or execution, failed. Barrio Adentro I, II and III carried out with EMT from Cuba, failed bad planning, poorer execution most of the first assistance post were abandoned by the EMT for lack of pay, and bad working conditions, Fondemi, small credits for the poor never even got to be implemented no consideration was given to what was expected from the financial system to back and how it was to work. Mercal a classic for corruption understanding, outdated foods dumped in the ports all monies lost. ,
September 17, 2012 at 9:12 pm
You too
September 17, 2012 at 8:31 pm
Im sorry, I just can not really communicate with anyone who can actually watch fox and consider it a valid source of information. If fox doesn’t like Chavez its not because of how he treats the poor, its because he is no friend to US business interests. They treat average Americans the same way with the bait and switch tactics. Keep everyone scared about the wave illegal aliens crossing the border. Keep in mind americans dont want these jobs they consider beneath them anyway . All the while trying to convince Americans somehow its good for them them to vote away their medicare and social security in exchange for tax cuts for the wealthy so all that wealth trickles down. If you want to be lied to 100% of the time tune into fox.
September 17, 2012 at 8:47 pm
You can’t converse with anyone who watches Fox News sounds politically correct.
I guess you are more intelligent than I am then, for sure .I do sometimes watch it.I hate politics, but I believe in the following as a useful idea:
As a bee seeks nectar
from all kinds of flowers,
seek teachings everywhere.
Like a deer that finds a quiet place to graze,
seek seclusion to digest all you have gathered.
Like a lion, live completely free of all fear.
And, finally, like a madman, beyond all limits,
go wherever you please.
let’s stop here.
Be well.
September 18, 2012 at 9:07 am
when someone’s political arguments hit a wall on more than 2 political blogs that that person has been addicted to for a few years, the best way to save face is to say “I hate politics” , followed by Buddhist poetry.
What dishonest rot!
September 17, 2012 at 8:13 pm
sorry meant to say ‘different news’ sources.
September 17, 2012 at 8:04 pm
Balanced reporting .. You are too much
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_News_Channel
When I want a good laugh i turn it too fox. No wonder we invaded Iraq with all those idiots towing the company line.
By the by, go Capriles
September 17, 2012 at 8:09 pm
Biiky? are you trying to convince me of something? I have no likining or disliking of any news source
When I refer to ” balance reporting” I am referring to how many are describing Kemps video.
I simply said that Fox caught onto Chavez before the other New sources.
Someone who cannot watch the difference new sources cannot make a fair assessment of anything.
September 18, 2012 at 4:32 am
This reminds me of Sara Palin, who reads all of them.
So you follow all the news sources? Cool.
What do you think about Spiegel’s (German) version of it? About what Volkskrant says? What the FAZ and the ZDF say? And El País? What about NRK2? NZZ? Le Monde? (not Le Monde Diplomatique, obviously)
ABC?
OK.
I gather Fox News was as fast with the disaster of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Firepigette, most people want to think for themselves.
Kemp had serious failings when it comes to providing background, etc, but this video is very damning for Chávez…at least in the eyes of the vast majority of people who don’t watch Fox news.
September 17, 2012 at 7:57 pm
There is a particular kind of fallacy that comes with an insistence on ” balanced ” reporting….
And that’s the problem with our obsession to always see two sides of every issue equally or more or less so…It means we have to pretend there are always two truths, and the side that doesn’t know anything has something to say. .
There has been a great deal of what is called balanced reporting on Chavez over the years, some in the US, much in Europe, especially England I think.Some of this ” balance” even has a subtle bias favoring Chavez.The BBC in English has been extremely bad in this sense.
Because of this I have seen Chavez quite confident over the years about his ability to fool the outside world with his fig leaf democracy.Right now some of his confidence appears to be wavering due to lack of popularity but I see no indication that it is due to lack of World opinion.
This topic was discussed in my home by a group of people just yesterday and some fascinating ideas worth discussing came up which I intend to bring to the blogs at the appropriate time.
September 17, 2012 at 9:22 pm
Right now some of his confidence appears to be wavering due to lack of popularity but I see no indication that it is due to lack of World opinion.
If you are implying – always without backup, of course – that most of the global press doesn’t see the dictatorial turn Chávez has taken, over the past few years, then you don’t know what you are talking about.
Clearly, you don’t follow the news in several other countries, otherwise, you’d have a better idea.
September 18, 2012 at 7:26 am
She does. She follows the news in all of them.
“Kepler, Kepler, don’t be silly, you know I mean the main ones. My husbands speaks 9 languages including German, Dutch and Tibetan and tells me the Germans love Chávez. That must be because of their Führer concept.”
September 18, 2012 at 9:29 am
“The worst are the Germans from Neuschwanstein and Baden-Württemberg,” my husband tells me, and I agree, of course. “They not only have a führer complex, they also wear turquoise and attend PowWows. The nerve. Imagine that. Why the other day, my husband saw one wearing moccasins and feathers in the Hannover Hauptbahnhof. These Germans think that native American societies are more important than Republicans. They think they know more than my husband who knows so much about so many things. That’s why I’m one lucky gal.”
September 17, 2012 at 7:47 pm
Gee I think I said “the majority of people world wide are pretty naive.” Just look at my comment above.Some people just can’t read( on purpose 🙂
I don’t single out nationalities for the grand descriptions.
Sometimes the characteristics are slightly different in different countries, but there are defects everywhere.I disagree that Americans are more naive than Venezuelans when it comes to what is going on the world, but I could easily name other defects Venezuelans do not have as marked as Americans,like ridiculous political correctness for example.
But 14 years of Chavez doesn’t seem to teach too many people the nature of:
why ??
And if continuing to make the same mistakes over and over again doesn’t change that, then I am sorry.
September 17, 2012 at 9:12 pm
FP, don’t try to rationalize your earlier and repeated comments — both outright and implied — on Venezuelans being naïve. I mean, where the Hell do you get off?
Is that what you learn on Fox news, the VTV of TeaPartiers, that certain nationalities are naïve (except of course, US hyper-republicans like yourself)?
September 17, 2012 at 5:47 pm
Im an American and an afghanistan combat (not a fobbit) vet. I didnt say all Americans are stupid or the world is a safe place. But I can tell you this much. We have nothing to fear from Afghanistan or Iraq or even Iran that we need to overplay our hand at every level and bomb first while asking questions later. It makes me wonder what we could have done with the trillions of dollars spent on wars that were based on nonsense. Where did those WMDs go? I know I didn’t find any. As far as the Taliban being a threat, that is a complete joke and now we have installed a regime that is not liked in any way and really helped the opium trade spin out of control. Home security starts at home. We can start by educating our children to not repeat the same mistakes.
September 17, 2012 at 6:39 pm
Biiky,
First we are talking about Venezuela ,not the foreign wars, and then you claim that Americans are too to stupid to know anything.I am not spoon fed anything and I don’t think we as Americans are any less informed than others at least in a general sense.Also I have never run across anyone who has not heard of Chavez and know he is a dictator.It runs like ticker tape on Fox News fairly frequently.
I don’t agree on any wars including the war in Libya however I disagree that the world is not a dangerous place.As for the Taliban they are certainly a danger to women.
The more experience I have, the more dangerous I see because with age I have come to see the the majority of people world wide are pretty naive.I am not scared, but I am cautious, and I think we have to be taking constant measures to protect the innocent.
Venezuela would be a safer place if it were also more cautious.
The fact that people disagree does not mean Americans are stupid.I am tired of this kind of cliche thought, which is highly supported by the mainstream media.Yeah sure.If Americans were smart like the rest of the World we would surely live in paradise :)Pride comes before the fall.
September 17, 2012 at 7:23 pm
You’re tired of “Americans are stupid” cliché, but don’t hesitate to repeat how naïve Venezuelans are. You’re losing it by the minute.
September 17, 2012 at 7:53 pm
I never said Americans were stupid, you added that comment yourself. I said they were spoon fed BS (all relating to Kemp video) and I will add if you are a fox viewer then you get a double dose of it. You say we are not talking foreign wars but then say the world is not a safe place so how could I resist. There are plenty of things that are a danger to women but the Taliban being a danger to women is a stretch. There are more dangerous domestic violent aholes here at home or gangbangers or drug abuse that kill way more women than the Taliban could dream of killing. And this comment about you never running across anyone who hasnt heard of Chavez is just silly or you have no real contact with the outside world except fox tv.Most working people are too busy paying the bills or tired to care. And younger people, forget it.
September 17, 2012 at 8:02 pm
Biiky,
I watch all the stations,and my contact with the outside world is something you have no idea about.It is important to be open to watching all manner of news….and as most Americans watch Fox News, believe me they know who Chavez is.Actually it was Fox News and not MSNBC that caught onto Chavez first.
Your statements about the Taliban make me wonder who you really are though.
But like I said I am against the wars…I think Afghanistan should worry about the Taliban , or not as they wish.
September 17, 2012 at 5:19 pm
Biiky,
We Americans are not as stupid as maybe you wish we were.
I think it is naive to think the world is a safe place right now.
September 17, 2012 at 4:54 pm
Reblogged this on Lor in Lima and commented:
Just saw this on a blog and want to share. BAFTA winner Ross Kemp in Caracas, Venezuela, exposing its extreme violence and experiencing it up close. He goes virtually everywhere where the absence of law and order in Caracas is evident.
September 17, 2012 at 2:50 pm
I live out of the country and its clear as day. Some fools can never be reached no matter how clearly its spelled out. Americans are spoon fed BS 24/7 to keep them scared and I doubt most of them even know that Chavez is the president of VZ. Surprisingly it really does work mostly to the benefit of the very rich. I understand you being mad that Kemp dropped the ball but the video was no friend to Chavez.
September 17, 2012 at 1:12 pm
I thought is was a good video. Having the brother of the Jackal explain how great things were with his point his finger tour was hilarious and showed the clinics mostly are a fabrication like the understaffed hospital. If Kemp openly dissed on Chavez no one would let him film imo and its not hard to see the real truth. Sure Chavez can make a claim he cares for the poor and Im sure he does right after he cares for himself, his inner circle, outer circle, and all other circles that keep them poor and obligated.
September 17, 2012 at 2:26 pm
It is not hard to see the truth when you know Venezuela, but for ideologues living out of the country, it has to be spelled out a lot more clearly.
Go back and look at the uncontested interview with the brother of the Jackal.
September 17, 2012 at 7:19 pm
Biilky, welcome to this blog and others like it (Daniel’s, Quico’s). Never mind the comments of certain Americans who try to hoodwink that they’ve got the “Truth”, and that everyone else is naïve, especially Venezuelans.
Btw, I find interesting your insider information on war, Afghanistan, etc.
September 17, 2012 at 10:11 pm
Thanks, glad to be here and glad to hear everyones view. Please don’t be too hard on the hardcore conservative Americans who know it all. 95% of them are hard working folks working paycheck to paycheck who get sucked into the fear game that is the backbone of the republican party. By keeping folks scared of gays, illegal aliens or some enemy with WMDs followed up with a huge side dish of religion they can promise protection. The trade off is always huge tax cuts for the rich at the expense of social secuity benefits or medicare for that same 95% of the people that voted them in office. I am no fan of either party in the US but I will not intentionally shoot myself in the foot.
September 17, 2012 at 10:47 am
Another blatant manipulation in the video:
Kemp does say that crime increased under Chavez
however, he doesn’t reconcile that with the fact that poverty has “supposedly “improved under Chavez.
September 17, 2012 at 1:00 pm
firepigette i think you fail to understand this documentary at all and getting too wrapped in tiny irrelevant details. The video is impartial and and if you think it favours chavez then theres no hope for you!
September 17, 2012 at 2:30 pm
no hope for me with what seefly? that is quite an exaggerated statement
September 17, 2012 at 5:52 pm
I’m sorry but we clearly didn’t watch the same video. He was not apologetic to the regime at all. In fact his interview with the Chavista was quite dismissive of the “positive things” the regime did. I cannot believe you are seeing what you think you are seeing.
September 17, 2012 at 10:35 am
Faustus
Sorry I meant the brother of the Jackal..
This video is a perfect example of the kind of subtle bias some people use to cloud reality
the reality is that Chavez is responsible for the horror that is Venezuela today.Greed and corruption are responsible.Naivety is responsible.Apathy is responsible.
Not the US
Not the division between haves and haves nots.
Those of us who knew Venezuela since the 60’s like myself can see the difference.
His message is that Chavez had good intentions, helped the poor somewhat, but his message needs further time.
Do you really think that Chavez has improved the lot of the poor even slightly?
Do you really think the US is responsible for crime ? This remained uncontested in the video.
We are dealing with a situation that will not go away without considerable outside pressure.
This videos give us a distorted view of the real situation.
And why does he concentrate on prisons?
Do you want me to give you some real street stories innocents are living through today?
The video is shocking, and reveals prison reality, but it does not reveal the underlying situation in Venezuela.
September 17, 2012 at 10:51 am
He had to give a chance to the government to defend itself, if you wanted a one-sided view of matters then this is the wrong video. I also believe you are reading in too much on the wrong details.
September 17, 2012 at 10:56 am
Giving the chance to the government to defend itself when we know it is lies is exactly why the video is so bad.This naive wishy washy garbage is why we still have Chavez;.
September 17, 2012 at 11:36 am
“His message is that Chavez had good intentions, helped the poor somewhat, but his message needs further time.”
Yes, I think that is what is so troubling, …good intentions. Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin) also had ‘good intentions.’ So did Mao Tse Tung. One could argue that Adolph Hitler had good intentions as well. Life is filled with people of good intentions, …but then there’s reality.
Hugo Chavez has been in power for 14 freaking years. If his ideas of socialism/communism were so universally acceptable to the vast majority, he would be elected in a landslide. He won’t be. The country’s a mess,….no worse than a mess,….it’s in shambles. Why can’t supposed ‘independant filmmakers’ recognize the simple reality? Just because Hugo Chavez uses the right words in his speeches, as judged by the hangers-on, then the economic reality plays no role in its actual success. Forget about what you see around you, just listen to what he said! Words are thus more powerful than reality. Amazing.
September 17, 2012 at 3:45 am
Ross Kemp had to bribe a lot of people to get that video out. Or, at least, the chavista’s are just too incompetent to keep it from seeing the light of day. Either way, damn. That was something else.
September 17, 2012 at 2:59 am
Very brave of Ross Kemp to bring us that documentary!! Rang true and unbiased from start to finish!
September 17, 2012 at 8:41 am
UKO
Sorry but it was biased from start to finish.The interview with the Jackal? Give us a break.What a slant.
It is because of tricky videos likes these that we still have Chavez today.International media just refuses to really blame the Chavez revolution!
It is always” He tried but just hasn’t done well enough”
September 17, 2012 at 9:11 am
It’s not a tricky video, he went there filmed all the crap and then gave a gov. official the opportunity to explain, he gave a conspiracy theory. It’s up the viewers to believe if after 14 years of revolution the problem is a conspiracy or inefficiency.
September 17, 2012 at 9:54 am
Er, was that Carlos ‘The Jackal?’ Isn’t he, like, in a French prison or something?
September 17, 2012 at 10:31 am
It’s a relative of the Jackal, everyone (but firepigette?) knows the real Jackal is jailed for life in France.
September 17, 2012 at 4:00 pm
It’s the jackal’s brother.
September 16, 2012 at 11:45 pm
i am in venezuela and just watched it
September 16, 2012 at 9:53 pm
Sounds like Chicago or Detriot
September 17, 2012 at 4:48 am
The murder rate in Venezuela is over 60 x 100 000 inhabitants yearly.
Do you know what “murder rate” is? (it’s a concept few Chavistas seem to grasp)
There were over 500 murdered prisoners in 2011. That’s
a murder rate of 1000 for 100 000 prisoners.
Chicago or Detroit? Give me a break!
September 17, 2012 at 10:02 am
The murder rate for the use in the US for 2010 was 4.8 per 100 thousand inhabitants. Venezuela’s is over 50, ten times the worst than the US (that still has one the highest in the developed world). Kepler, ideologies which resemble religious cults like chavismo are naturally adverse to concepts wuch as science, number and statistics
September 20, 2012 at 8:24 pm
The murder rate in Detroit is 48 per 100k. That’s pretty bad.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_Detroit
Still, Caracas is clearly worse.
September 20, 2012 at 8:27 pm
Oh, and hey, the crime rate in East St. Louis is 101 per 100k…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_St._Louis,_Illinois#Crime
It’s frankly sad that you can even compare US cities with Caracas, but you can.
September 16, 2012 at 7:19 pm
Watching it in La Asunción, Nueva Esparta without any problem
September 16, 2012 at 4:49 pm
If you are on Can´tV use http://www.securitykiss.com/ to see blocked content!
The video is on YouTube too:
September 16, 2012 at 4:52 pm
comment: i can see the daily motion version with movistar 3.5g
September 16, 2012 at 4:41 pm
Over at Daniel blog a lot of people are implying this video puts the opposition under a bad light and that it benefits Chávez. They must have seen another video, he keeps constantly putting the revolution in shame and keeps mentioning the amount of wealth the country has and that this situation is completely unnecessary.
Then he gets a tour of some revolution developments, but just a bunch of buildings from inside a car, a barrio adentro module and the metrocable that goes up the barrio/favela. Nothing else.
He finishes the program with this quote:
“A country blessed with such natural resources should not have a population living in constant fear”.
September 16, 2012 at 3:38 pm
The “jail in a jail” is really appalling, how could “fosforito” say that the government ensures the human rights of the inmates!
September 16, 2012 at 3:10 pm
sorry, Miguel has posted that too…
September 16, 2012 at 3:08 pm
Maybe that works for you?
September 16, 2012 at 2:46 pm
How interesting!!
September 16, 2012 at 2:44 pm
Not for me. I’m on CANTV ABA
September 16, 2012 at 3:09 pm
I mean I can see it if my comment was misunderstood.
September 17, 2012 at 8:34 pm
It works for me with Intercable. And you are almost my neighbor.
September 16, 2012 at 2:44 pm
I cant watch it! Are you in Venezuela?
September 16, 2012 at 2:35 pm
It’s blocked!