Bridges occasionally collapse, and roads sometimes crumble or wash away, creating major traffic disturbances in the affected region.
The country experiences regular power outages and potable water is frequently not available for long periods. Economic Concerns. Venezuela regularly ranks in international studies as one of the most corrupt countries in Latin America, and the world. In , anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International rated Venezuela rd out of countries in its Corruption Perception Index , rating Venezuela less corrupt thank only Yemen, Syria, South Sudan, and Somalia.
Corruption takes many forms, from motorists bribing traffic police to allegations of bribes and kickbacks in the allocation of government contracts. Corruption appears to have reached record levels in recent years, with government institutions becoming increasingly criminal in nature, including activities such as rampant corruption in the state-controlled food distribution, active black market dollar trading, gasoline smuggling, drug trafficking, illegal gold mining, and other activities.
All anti-corruption campaigns launched by Maduro have served as cynical maneuvering with political ends to give a rotating roster of loyalists a chance to profit from pervasive corruption rather than genuine reform efforts. The customs system, the administration of foreign exchange, and other government entities are notoriously corrupt.
Business dealings with government officials are not ideal. Low wages make it difficult to attract quality personnel. Other problems include the politicization of many government institutions, and an increasing criminalization of institutions, as bureaucrats demand bribes in foreign currency for performing basic services.
According to the World Bank's Doing Business report, Venezuela ranks the worst of 32 countries in the region when assessed on overall business environment, and bureaucratic steps required to start a business. It ranks out of countries overall in terms of the overall ease of doing business. Venezuela remained on the Priority Watch List in the U. Because of a shortage of personnel, limited budget, and inadequate storage facilities for seized goods, COMANPI has had to work with the Bolivarian National Guard and private industry to enforce copyright laws.
COMANPI can only act based on a complaint by a copyright holder; it cannot carry out an arrest or seizure on its own initiative. It has acted against some businesses importing or selling pirated goods based on presumed tax evasion. Copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting remain widespread, however, including piracy over the Internet. Pirated software, music, and movies are readily available throughout the country.
A decline in oil revenue has made it increasingly hard for the government to continue to manage the country, which means Maduro may only be able to give more modest rewards to loyalists. Oil output remains near historic lows, and very little foreign trade is available for companies to produce or import goods, leading to limited availability of food and consumer staples, as well as high prices for the goods that are available.
In response, the regime has cemented commercial and political ties with Cuba, China, and Russia. The business climate has deteriorated, and foreign organizations continue to downsize or leave. Under these conditions, the Maduro regime lacks the capacity to service its debt to bondholders in any sustainable way. Maduro will also continue to prioritize settling outstanding debts with Russia and China, its main political supporters and commercial partners.
Labor-related risks continue to impair the business environment. There is a deficit of skilled workers, particularly technicians, and many skilled workers have emigrated over the past four years. In fact, hundreds of thousands have fled the country in the last two years, with many workers abandoning their posts without notice because inflation makes their salaries almost worthless and many do not even have the spending power to travel to work.
Pro-government unions dominate the public sector, with many workers pressured into membership. Allegations frequently surface that the Labor Ministry encourages pro-government unions in the private sector to challenge labor contracts, or even demand the nationalization of companies.
Personal Identity Concerns. The law criminalizes physical, sexual, and psychological violence in the home or community and at work.
Reported incidents were most prevalent against transgender individuals. NGOs reported the Maduro regime systematically denied legal recognition to transgender and intersex persons by preventing them from obtaining identity documents required for accessing education, employment, housing, and health care. This vulnerability often led transgender and intersex persons to become victims of human trafficking or prostitution.
Religious groups are required to demonstrate how they will provide social services to their communities and to receive a letter of acceptance from the government-controlled community council in the neighborhood s where the group will work. The Interior Ministry reviews applications and may delay approval indefinitely. The law prohibits discrimination against persons with physical and mental disabilities, but the government does not make a significant effort to implement the law, inform the public of it, or combat societal prejudice against persons with disabilities.
The law requires that all newly constructed or renovated public parks and buildings provide access, but persons with disabilities have minimal access to public transportation, and ramps are almost nonexistent. Public transportation workers often are unwilling to transport persons with physical disabilities, forcing them to find taxis, which were often out of their financial reach and frequently not equipped to support patrons with disabilities.
Venezuela does not have national standards for accessibility. Most buildings lack accommodations for those with disabilities. Drug-related Crimes. Drug trafficking is a serious problem in Venezuela, and Venezuelan authorities treat it as such.
Convicted traffickers receive lengthy prison sentences of between eight to ten years. Lack of international counternarcotic cooperation in Venezuela, along with a shift in trafficking patterns in the region has made Venezuela one of the biggest drug-transit countries in the region.
There is also evidence of involvement in the drug trade by some high-level Venezuelan government and military officials. Although the press reports on drug seizures, large quantities of illicit drugs continue to flow through Venezuela to markets in the United States and Europe. Kidnapping Threat. There is a significant risk of kidnapping in Venezuela, especially in the border region between Venezuela and Colombia where elements associated with FARC and the ELN operate with impunity.
Colombian guerrilla groups have historically engaged in occasional kidnapping activity in Venezuelan territory. The ELN has reportedly held victims captive on the Venezuelan side of the border in recent years, though in most cases the abduction itself has taken place in Colombia.
Other Colombian armed groups occasionally carry out kidnappings in Venezuelan border areas. Such groups are likely to transport their victims over the border and are more likely than criminal gangs to hold them captive for several weeks or months.
Since the termination of peace talks between the ELN and the Colombian government, the ELN and other guerrilla groups will likely continue to engage in kidnap for ransom. In the context of spiraling inflation, kidnappers will primarily target wealthy local nationals and expatriates with access to foreign currency. Kidnapping-for-ransom levels began to rise in Venezuela after the fall in oil prices in with the onset of the financial crisis. However, rates remain elevated compared with other countries in the region, and further incidents are likely occurring but going unreported due to a lack of trust in the authorities.
Most kidnapping incidents occur in Caracas. However, kidnapping gangs also operate in nearby states such as Miranda, Carabobo, and Aragua, and sporadic cases occur further afield.
It is also against this backdrop that gangs have more or less abandoned traditional express kidnapping, which involves the abduction of an individual who they force, under threat of injury or death, to withdraw funds from ATMs. Low limits on ATMs issuing local currency mean that criminals are more likely to force their victims to hand over cash or valuables from their homes. Most kidnappings involve criminal gangs of varying capabilities, some of which have links with law-enforcement agencies.
A large proportion of the gangs that target the capital and Miranda state operate from or have links with gangs in high-crime Caracas neighborhoods such as Cota , El Cementerio, La Vega, and El Valle.
Kidnappers are often well armed, with many even carrying grenades, which they use to force victims out of vehicles. Other Issues. In Venezuela, it is illegal to take pictures of sensitive buildings, including the presidential palace, military bases, government buildings, and airports.
Police Response. The emergency line in Venezuela is Operators speak Spanish. Police attempt to patrol most of Caracas but are unable to provide the coverage necessary to deter violent crime, especially at night, and in the poorer areas of the city.
While investigative police follow-up is intermittent and they rarely catch perpetrators of crimes, officers will generally respond to ongoing emergencies. Police response is generally slow to crime scenes and traffic accidents; they often do not arrive until many hours after the initial call. Venezuelan regime officials have previously proposed increasing the budget for the military and local police to combat the rapidly rising crime rate. Corruption, inadequate police training and equipment, insufficient central government funding, and rapidly deteriorating economic conditions dramatically reduce the effectiveness of the security forces.
In order to fully understand how to help alleviate the rising violence in Venezuela, it is essential to understand the top 10 facts about violence in Venezuela. Crime and violence is now an everyday norm across Venezuela, resulting in thousands of civilian deaths each year, and increasingly unsafe living conditions nationwide.
While there are many issues surrounding the violence in Venezuela, however, the world is noticing the situation. The United Nations has recently met to discuss the numerous crises going on in Venezuela. Blog - Latest News. Since November , the country has been experiencing hyperinflation , as every month since that November, the bolivar currency has exceeded an over 50 percent inflation rate. According to the United Nations, nearly 90 percent of Venezuelan residents live in poverty.
Men in Venezuela are dying earlier, but the burden of violence on people goes beyond homicides. Outbreaks of political violence have intensified recently, partly due to the steady militarisation of the police.
Random shootings against civilians, tear gas shot straight into homes, extrajudicial killings in military operations against street crime and forced disappearances of political dissidents are increasingly being reported by NGOs such as Human Rights Watch.
Infant and maternal mortality has increased again, and infectious and parasitic diseases, such as malaria, measles and diphtheria, have re-emerged. Read more: Venezuela: region's infectious crisis is a disaster of hemispheric proportions. The acute impacts of political and socioeconomic disintegration on mortality rates since , highlighted by recent deadly demonstrations in Caracas , have yet to be measured. Public institutions in Venezuela have been forced to follow a strict policy of secrecy, and mortality and health data sources have not been updated, nor made publicly available since On Monday, Jan.
As they waited to be towed, they were approached by thugs. The details are sketchy, but in the end, she and her husband were gunned down , senselessly murdered. Their daughter was wounded , but survived. Spear's horrific story is part of a broader trend.
Venezuela has become one of the most dangerous countries on Earth. The reputable Venezuelan NGO Observatorio Venezolano de Violencia reports that in , there were 24, murders in Venezuela, up from 21, a year earlier. The murder rate was 79 per , inhabitants. As a comparison, the rate in Mexico last year was 22 per , people. Tellingly, the government does not publish reliable murder statistics. The worst part about this problem is that it is only getting worse. Back then, Venezuela was dangerous, but only slightly more so than the average Latin America country, and certainly less dangerous than places like neighboring Colombia.
In the photo above, a policeman guards a building shortly after a fatal shootout in Caracas. Venezuela is awash with guns.
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