Source: Daniel’s Venezuela News & Views

What do 70,000 unsolved murders look like? That’s what Venezuelans tried to show today in a unique and passionate protest in Caracas.

The most visible legacy of Hugo Chavez’s regime is murder. As the entire governmental infrastructure becomes politicized, one hard hit section is the police. Bad cops, so long as they are Chavistically loyal, are the ones hired, while the ethical cops get thrown out. Not only that, the government is focusing its resources on prosecuting political, not criminal, cases. That leaves the cops who could make a difference out of luck. Lastly, Chavez encourages lawlessness, telling people that to steal is all right, so long as it is for food. It doesn’t take long for a slippery slope to come down when the government itself endorses theft against private property. Like the Argentine Dirty War generals, whose attack on private property rapidly became mass murder and then an invasion of other lands, the Chavista slippery slope has rapidly advanced.

Crime is out of control in Caracas. One neighborhood, that’s right, neighborhood, I visited in Caracas, called Catia, had 563 unsolved murders in one year. More than one a day in one barrio!

People are fed up. Little different from the legacy of Fidel Castro, Chavismo’s consolidation of power is being accompanied by an orgy of murder. Venezuelans are taking to the streets in their thousands to stop it.

See Daniel’s whole new photoessay on this event here.

UPDATE: A reader in Beijing, watching it on television there, writes:

I’m watching news of the demos in Caracas (here in Beijing, China). Is this going to be the excuse that El Mono will use to start collecting guns the way they all like to do?

The BBC stringer’s account of the demonstrations was pretty lame. Played the story like a straight “crime is one the rise and opponents are accused of politicizing the issue in an election year.” After all, crime and fears over the security of one’s family is a pie-in-the-sky issue that doesn’t really affect people’s lives, isn’t it? What bullshit.

When are these news organizations going to start caring enough to start posting professional journalists in these places?

UPDATE: Guillermo Esteves was also at the rally and took 45 brilliant photos. I wanted to post more but those ‘gif’s apparently would not let me. But here is a good one here, and check out the whole show. Also, pay a visit to his first-rate blog here. It’s a great new discovery for me.

Source: Guillermo Esteves

UPDATE: Noticiero Digital has tons more photos from citizen journalists and local media at this link here.

Source: Noticiero Digital