The Devil's Excrement

As I went to work this morning, Caracas was empty, as even those that stayed around for Christmas either took off or are not working. Caracas is wonderful like this, which is why I don’t mind working this time of the year. But just as I was thinking about this as I got to work, the true reality of ugly Caracas really hit me.

As I parked my car in the empty parking lot, the watchman that I see and talk to everyday, came up to me. I talk to him daily about work, family, politics or whatever. He has had a rough time in the last ten years. Lost a much better job, can no longer afford his car and last Christmas his wife of forty years passed away. This Christmas it got worse. His teen granddaughter was shot in the leg on Christmas Eve. She is doing well, but he described how security is non-existent after it gets dark in the barrio where he lives. After dark, it is every man and women left to their own resources and defenses. His neighbors’ sixteen year old was shot dead in the same shooting.

This is the reality of crime in the barrios. This man lives in one in the outskirts of Guarenas, about twenty miles east from Caracas. Ironically, it is considered to be the second most pro-Chavez city in the country, after Maracay to the south of Caracas. This watchman did vote for Chavez, mostly because he thought Chavez the former military officer would wipe out crime. He no longer supports him at all.

But if this is the real face of crime in Caracas, the more abstract one is equally dramatic and scary, crime statistics show 157 people were killed this weekend in Venezuela, 59 in Caracas alone, with 72 injured. Most of them in barrios, where the poor people live.

Traffic statistics are no better; there were 6,463 traffic accidents this holiday weekend with 256 dead and 1,661 injured in the country’s roads.

To me this sounds almost like anarchy. While resources are being devoted to the Government starting a steel industry, a telecom company, an airline and many banks in order to “redefine” the economy, the daily lives of common Venezuelans is not being redefined. Instead, it is being ignored. Crime has shot up in the last few years as the Chavez administration has given little priority to the problem, In fact, crime is barely mentioned in the President’s speeches or his cohorts. But crime is very real, even if the statistics seem abstract.

This entry was posted on December 27, 2004 at 8:02 pm and is filed under Venezuela.