52 murders in Caracas over the holiday weekend

"Los más de ocho homicidios ocurridos en Petare en el marco del puente son apenas una parte de las 52 muertes violentas registradas en Caracas entre las siete de la mañana del miércoles pasado y la misma hora de este lunes.

The 8 additional homicides occurring in Petare during the holiday are just part of the 52 violent deaths registered in Caracas between 7 am Wednesday and this Monday.

Más de 46 de esas muertes fueron homicidios ocurridos a pesar del plan Caracas Segura que, según la información de la policía tendría sólo en Petare un plan especial de prevención en el que los efectivos harían recorridos en moto por todos los sectores. "

More than 46 of these homicides occurred despite the Safe Caracas plan that, according to police information the plan in Petare only is a prevention plan where the police patrol the sector in motocycles.

http://www.eluniversal.com/2008/07/29/sucgc_art_fiesta-en-turumo-ter_967668.shtml



but it would appear that is a good number:

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42484

VENEZUELA: Fifty-Two Violent Deaths a Day, and No Respite in Sight
By Humberto Márquez

CARACAS, May 23 (IPS) - On the day a report was released ranking Venezuela as one of the most violent countries in the world, a local anti-drugs prosecutor was murdered, a mob lynched a suspected criminal in the capital, and gunmen fired 20 shots, killing another suspect.

In the 72 hours leading up to the publication of the Global Peace Index (GPI), 70 murders were reported in the metropolitan area of Caracas, which has five million residents.

One of the victims was Oskel Rubio, a mechanic who maintained the motorcycles used by President Hugo Chávez’s bodyguards. He was killed by thieves who stole his car in the densely populated western area of the capital.

His mother, Elizabeth Rubio, complained that police at the entrance of the hospital where her seriously wounded son was taken delayed his admission to the medical centre and stole some of his belongings.

In the 24 hours prior to the publication of the GPI report on Tuesday, five minors were shot to death, including a six-year-old girl who was shot in the chest as she played at home in western Caracas at breakfast time, and an 11-year-old boy riding in a bus who was killed by cross-fire between rival gangs in an eastern part of the city.

Colombia and Venezuela are the only countries in the Americas coloured red on the map of the GPI, a peace and violence ranking based on 24 variables in 140 countries, compiled by the Intelligence Unit of the British news magazine The Economist, in conjunction with the Institute for Economics and Peace.

At the most violent end of the spectrum, with more than 3,000 points, is Iraq, accompanied by Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan and Israel, while the most peaceful countries, coloured blue on the map, are Iceland, Denmark, Norway, New Zealand and Japan, with less than 1,400 points.

Within Latin America, the least violent countries are Chile, Uruguay, Costa Rica and Panama.


Caracas, with 130 homicides per 100,000 population, or 166 if all violent deaths are taken into account, has overtaken Recife, in northeastern Brazil, which has a murder rate of 158 per 100,000, as Latin America’s most violent city, said Cedeño.