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

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.