Tag Archives: citizen security

Jun
17
2011
Posted by
editor
Comments

Venezuela Government Ranked “Least Accountable Government in the World”

A new report released this week concludes that Venezuela is “the worst performer in the world in accountability and effective checks on the executive power.” The 2011 Rule of Law Index, which surveyed 200 experts from 66 countries, also found that Venezuela is one of the countries that least respect fundamental human rights, including freedoms of opinion and expression and the right to privacy. In addition, the Index states that the Venezuelan government offers very weak protections of property rights. In terms of crime prevention, the report says that often Venezuela does not prosecute or convict perpetrators of burglaries. Security is one of the top-of-mind concerns for most Venezuelans, who increasingly find themselves victims of crime.

Out of 66 countries studied, Venezuela ranked:
•    54th in corruption
•    64th in crime and violence
•    Dead last (66th) in transparency of government institutions and strength of the criminal justice system, which is often influenced by politics

Among the 12 countries surveyed in Latin America, Venezuela received the lowest scores in the region, ranking either last or second to last in six of the variables.

The Rule of Law Index was developed by the World Justice Project – an organization partly funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Index regularly reviews countries’ compliance with the rule of law and access to independent justice in the world. The full report can be found at: www.worldjusticeproject.org.

 
Sep
20
2010
Posted by
editor
Comments

Veneconomy: Hot Air

This article was originally posted by The Latin American Herald Tribune

The Hugo Chávez administration has become known for its total disregard for and deathly silence on the matter of violence and the lack of security.

And what has been the result of this indifference and negligence on the part of the government? Uncontrollable outbursts of crime, from common or garden crimes product of a complex social, political, and economic situation to growing organized crime sustained by narco-terrorism, unknown in Venezuela only a decade ago.

Now that Venezuela is in the run-up to the parliamentary elections and given the undeniable fact that the lack of security is one of Venezuelans’ main concerns, the government is suddenly making a great show of expressing its concern and has started to propose operatives, measures, and laws supposedly to fight crime. But, as has happened with all Chavismo’s election promises over the past 13 years, they’re no more than hot air. They don’t attack the root of the problem nor do they propose the structural and multi-sector changes that this problem warrants!

Read More

 
Aug
24
2010
Posted by
editor
Comments

VenEconomy: And They Fell Short…

Credits: Latin American HeraldThis article was originally posted by Latin American Herald

For some weeks now, President Chávez and his government officials have disclaimed the denouncements of the high levels of violence and the tremendous lack of security in Venezuela. Examples of this eagerness to deny the obvious are the statement by the President on Thursday, August 19, when he said that there was more, but much more, violence during the Fourth Republic, the already notorious “guffaws” of Telesur’s director, Andrés Izarra, during a CNN program, and, worst of all, the precautionary measure issued by a court that imposes de facto prior censorship on disseminating information on and graphics depicting violence, a measure that was later “toned down” owing to the widespread negative reaction it provoked.

The point is that the weekly figures mentioned by the experts on violence in the CNN program fell short compared to those revealed by a study mentioned this Friday, August 20, in El Nacional, entitled “National Survey of Victimization and Perception of Citizen Security 2009.” This study, which was conducted by the National Statistics Institute (INE) at the request of the Vice-presidency of the Republic, reveals that 19,113 people lost their lives at the hands of criminals in 2009, that is 3,076 more than those calculated by the NGO Observatorio Venezolano de la Violencia and cited by the sociologist Roberto Briceño León on CNN, when he said that Caracas has a higher homicide rate than Bogotá and Ciudad Juárez, the same figures that caused Izarra so much hilarity.

Read More