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Venezuela’s crime problem
THE RECENT article by Tony Saunois on Venezuela
(Socialism Today No.115, February 2008) correctly points out that the
blight of crime there "is a critical question". Many media reports focus
on crime in one form or another, whether it is the murder rate in
Caracas, the latest kidnapping, or another prison riot. As Tony comments
"violent crime is now seen as a major issue as the government is seen as
having failed to deal with it".
Tony quotes murder rates in Caracas of 33.2 per
100,000, with eleven murders a day in November 2007, showing that
Venezuela is one of the most murderous countries in the world. According
to figures from the United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and Operations
of Criminal Justice Systems (using figures collected between 1998 and
2000), Venezuela came seventh out of 62 countries in total numbers of
crimes, lower than the US, Mexico, South Africa, Colombia, Russia and
India. However, several of those countries have much larger populations
than Venezuela – per 100,000 people the US murder rate in 2000 was 5.51,
much lower than Venezuela.
In terms of general crime, however, Venezuela ranks
46 out of 60 with 9.3 crimes per 1,000 people, whereas the UK, USA,
South Africa, Germany and Chile have much higher rates. Crime figures
are often not brilliantly reliable, because not only do they reflect the
actual crime rate, but they are also a product of each countries’
different classifications of crime, the reporting rate of crime,
decisions on what crimes to record etc. Also, one crime type may be much
more prevalent than the general rate (ie in Venezuela murder and serious
violent crimes like kidnapping), which may skew the figures. Murder,
however, tends to be well reported (if not only for the seriousness of
the crime, then also the fact it can be cross-checked with other data
including hospital admissions etc).
After the short discussion of crime rates, Tony then
comments that "some may argue that it is unfair to blame Chavez for the
high levels of crime". Indeed Chavez inherited a legacy of crime and
corruption on assuming the presidency from previous pillaging capitalist
rulers. The high murder rate, rampant prison overcrowding and other
problems were just one part of that legacy. Tony also points out that
crime is a product of social conditions, in particular poverty and
alienation. Some of the proposals in the defeated referendum would have
alleviated these to an extent, particularly the reduction of the working
week, as have other previous reforms.
But those reforms have, as Tony notes, been financed
on the back of high oil prices and economic growth and the coming world
recession places them in jeopardy. Chavez has failed to nationalise most
of the decisive sectors of the economy, which have been giving bonanza
profits to the Venezuelan capitalists. Only through the nationalisation
of these sectors of the economy, under democratic working class control,
can these resources be fully utilised to eradicate poverty and moreover
stop capitalist disruption of Venezuelan life, such as the current food
shortages.
However, socialists do not stand back and do nothing
in the meantime: it is necessary for the workers’ movement to take up
crime, as the article states, "in a practical way". The article
discusses the corruption prevalent in the Venezuelan police, but the
demands made by Marxists in relation to the state are applicable not
just to the police but all sections of the criminal justice system. It
is no good for the police to arrest, for example, some fascist thugs,
for them to be unconditionally released by the courts which are
dominated by the usually conservative judiciary. Similarly, there is not
much point in letting those convicted of crimes simply rot away and
become even more brutalised in overcrowded jails. The whole criminal
justice system needs to be taken under the democratic control of the
community, with full trade union rights for the workers within it.
As the article states, the creation of an organised
movement of the working class and poor is crucial. Only this, armed with
a socialist programme, can guarantee the victory of the Venezuelan
revolution and lead a real fight to rid Venezuela of its blight of
violent crime.
Iain Dalton,
Bangor
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