Soon there will be one less altar for co-wankers. The 21st century socialism that Chavez built never came to fruition. The opposition has already gained the upper hand in parliament, and soon there will be a referendum on the removal of the country's President Maduro, and, according to all forecasts, he will have to leave.
Today Venezuela is all about queues and wild crime. After the death of Hugo Chavez, the situation changed greatly for the worse. The crime rate has increased. Now you can’t just walk around the city with technology, jewelry, or even a good watch. In terms of the number of intentional murders, Venezuela has previously been at the top of all ratings, but today it claims first place. In the first 3 months of 2016, the number of murders in Venezuela increased by 47% compared to the same period in 2014. The number of kidnappings immediately increased by 170%. And these are just statistics from outside observers. One can only guess what passes by her.
Due to a lack of money, the current President Maduro has reduced spending on the police (now there is almost none), and gangs operate in different areas of the city. There are very few safe areas. People can be robbed and killed in the city center, in the subway, in the park - anywhere. Somehow the authorities control several blocks in the center, where government buildings are located, and blocks in wealthy areas. But there has long been no trust in the police (as well as in the National Guard). The attitude towards the army has also changed a lot. Previously, there was always respect, but after the events of 2014, everyone considers them executioners, they went against the people. Any wealthy Venezuelan has personal security.
This time I had to hire security too. Three years ago I rode freely in a regular car with a driver, walking around the slums. But today the car is armored and there are several guards. I go to the subway, go down to the station, and the security guard says: “You see, there isn’t a single policeman at the station today? That means they might kill you.” Passers-by on the street, seeing the camera, do frightened eyes and recommend hiding it.
There are a lot of stories online about how diplomats were robbed, how tourists were kidnapped and ransom demanded. Everyone recommends that in the event of a robbery, not to resist, but to immediately give everything, then there will be a chance to stay alive. RIA Novosti recently wrote that in the city most of the criminal groups working against foreigners are coordinated from one center. “These groups include employees of airports, hotels, rental offices - everyone who comes into contact with visitors, so renting cars and showing money is very dangerous,” says a police source.
They can really kill. Caracas, the capital and largest city of Venezuela, in 2015 Once again was recognized as one of the most dangerous cities in the world. There were 119.87 murders per 100 thousand inhabitants. In general, data on the number of murders varies. Some sources write about 134, 160 and even 200 murders. The bloodiest month of 2016 for Caracas was June. During this month, about 400 people were killed in the city, according to El Nacional. The authorities do not publish official statistics on murders.
Today, Caracas is the most dangerous city in the world where there is no war.
My friend Oksana, who lived in the country for a year and a half, told me in more detail about the criminal situation in Venezuela, both in Caracas and in the provinces.
Security in Venezuela is a very sensitive topic; many foreigners do not pay enough attention to it. Or they didn’t pay attention until, for example, in 2014, they killed a German tourist right at the entrance to the Eurobuilding hotel (they were tracking him from the airport, presumably after seeing something valuable) and an Egyptian right at the exit from the airport. For me personally, it was a shock when my boyfriend, with whom we were driving around Caracas in a car, asked me to hide my iPhone, because, I quote, “motorizados will drive up, a gun through the window, if we don’t give it up, they’ll kill us.” It was wild for me. For Venezuelans, having a phone hidden in your underwear is a chore.
No scarier than the creature than “motorisado” or “choro” - a bandit on a motorcycle (at one time, “Bera” motorcycles were sold cheaply under a preferential program). For any Venezuelan, the most terrifying sound is the sound of a returning motorcycle. On motorcycles it is easy to surround the car you like in order to steal it or simply rob the driver and passengers. A motorcycle taxi driver can easily deliver clients during the day and rob and kill at night.
Motorcyclists really pose a danger: at best, they can steal something from you, as in other Latin American countries, at worst, they can shoot you. 
They don’t even poke their noses into the slums, the “barrios.” local residents- it’s dangerous, any stranger there is studied for “what to take.” It is believed that the birthplace of the punks, "malandros", is the state of Vargas (this is where the Caracas airport is), but after a landslide in 1999, when a huge number of residential buildings were destroyed, many local residents were resettled in other states and thus spread throughout Venezuela. But this is one of the versions.The truth is that Chavez's policies were aimed at cajoling the lower classes of society: they were given houses, monthly benefits, cars, etc. Everything to get votes in elections and popular support. Thus, it was not necessary to work: everything for life will be given anyway, and you can earn additional income by robbing people. In the last couple of years, the oil needle on which Chavez was holding on has failed, oil has fallen in price, and the country has become short of money. The result of this policy was a shortage of essential products, in fact, famine. As a direct consequence of this, crime has increased. No job will bring in as much money as criminal activity.
Kidnapping has become one of the most popular types of this activity. This could be a kidnapping express, a “carousel”, when criminals simply drive around the city and gather well-dressed people into the trunk of an SUV and then ask for a ransom according to the principle “Who’s your dad? Well, he’ll give you 10 thousand dollars.” Or a planned kidnapping: a person is studied what he has, where he lives, where he works, what kind of relatives he has... The ransom amount can be 100-200 thousand dollars. I have a friend who was kidnapped. It was a long time ago, really. They confused him with his cousin, kept him blindfolded for a week, finally told him they would kill him, took him out in a car, pushed him into the street and shot him in the air. Nowadays, as a rule, they are not left alive...
Hunger makes people more aggressive. Now they kill for a phone (they stole my phone, but asked for ransom; where is that poor locked iPhone now...), for a watch, for a package of groceries, for good shoes. I was personally robbed in Venezuela twice: the first time with a phone from a car, the second with a bag at the entrance to a hotel, but both times secretly and without weapons (the first was clearly based on a tip). My friend was robbed with a gun twice. Once they were having lunch with a group in a restaurant - armed people came in and collected all the phones from the table. The second time, he very wisely went for a walk at night in a resort village with a bag containing 30,000 bolivars (that was still money back then). The notorious motorizados drove up, took off my bag, threatening me with a pistol - it’s good that they didn’t kill me (but they could have).
The crime situation now is such that people are afraid. They are afraid to have nice things, dress well, drive a nice car (cars are difficult, but that’s another story). Going out with a good watch, a phone, a gold chain: life-threatening. I remember how in the small village where we lived, our local driver came up to me and warned me that one young man should put away his Samsung watch (which is a smart watch, or something), because the hotel workers had already chatted all over village that he has them (the same village where my iPhone was stolen). It is very dangerous to drive a car outside the city in the dark, and deadly if the car breaks down. The modus operandi of modern robbers is to throw a stone or a branch onto the highway and light a fire to force the car to stop. The Puerto Cabello - Valencia highway is considered the most dangerous in this regard (it was there that Miss Venezuela Monica Speer was killed).
The main problem I see is that human life has no meaning for a criminal. Shooting a person is not a problem at all. Old man, woman, child. I'm not even talking about men. The first rule for a victim in any robbery is not to resist: then, perhaps, they will be left alive. Criminals are not shy about passers-by, cameras, or daylight. It seems that young people from the lower strata of society see some kind of romance in this. There are memes on the Internet about “You have a motorcycle and a gun, all the chicks love you.” This is easy money, easy money, impunity. The prison system is also terrible. As far as I understand, the prisoners themselves rule inside the prisons; there are not even guards there, so they perceive prison as an opportunity to lie low for a while and rest (this does not apply to political prisoners).
This police post was bombarded with grenades a couple of weeks ago. 
Now the situation in the country is such that working as a police officer is also dangerous. Policemen began to be killed, not only on duty, as a result of resistance, but also simply to rob. Recently, a policeman was killed in front of his children in order to take a bicycle.
Sometimes bandits raid police posts. While the authorities are trying to investigate the attack in panic, they are turning more attention to ordinary robbers. less attention, and they can continue to engage in bloody gop-stop. This year alone, and in Greater Caracas alone, 104 security forces (police and guards) were killed.
Police with flasks on their backs. The main task of the police now is to control queues at stores to prevent looting, and also to protect rallies. I don't have enough strength for anything anymore. 
A policeman rides a motorcycle with a wad of money. There are only a few dollars in this pack. But even this picture is not very typical for Caracas. 
Any building should be behind a high fence; those who are richer also have an electric fence on top. Who is poorer - broken glass and barbed wire. There are always bars on the top floors of houses to prevent burglars from climbing in from the roof. 
An ordinary entrance to an ordinary house where a local lives" middle class"There are bars, cameras and live wires everywhere. 
This is what an ordinary residential building looks like: everything is also covered in bars, lights around the perimeter, barbed wire... 
US Embassy fence 
Fence of the Russian Embassy) 
The embassy itself. I wanted to take a photo with a beautiful sign, but I couldn’t find it ( 
At the entrance to each establishment there must be a menu with prices, as well as warning signs: you cannot enter with weapons and you cannot smoke. 
Such signs should also be in public buildings in the most visible place. For example, this is the wall behind the reception desk in my hotel. 
Even in a restaurant, signs should hang in every room! 
Behind the scenes) Strange law. 
Chavez broadcasts from every iron. 
The center is quite clean, given the general poverty and collapsed economy. 
What's the best way to translate? Something like “Maduro was born in my heart”? In general, Chavez recommends Maduro. More precisely, Maduro uses the dead man for self-promotion, which does not really help him. 
Subway entrance. 
During rush hour it is almost impossible to board the train. 
People miss 5 trains just to get on board. 
There is a crush inside. 
A simple metro ticket costs 4 bolivars, about 25 kopecks. A round trip trip combined with a bus costs 12 bolivars (75 kopecks). A ticket for 10 trips is 2 rubles 25 kopecks, for 40 trips - 9 rubles. Why so cheap? Firstly, it’s all about the unofficial bolivar exchange rate. For 1 dollar on the black market you can buy 1000 bolivars. The official exchange rate within the country is one and a half times higher, and they generally try to sell 1 bolivar to foreigners for 10 cents. The difference is 100 times! That is, if the Venezuelan economy worked normally, a trip by metro would cost 25 rubles. And we shouldn’t forget that the state is trying to regulate prices for a number of goods and services. Therefore, the metro is almost free.
Huge queues for ground transport as well. Large buses run between districts. 
Minibuses run in a specific area. 
The main erogenous zone for Venezuelan fans is the gas station! Gasoline is really very cheap here. It costs about 4 rubles per liter. Previously it cost 2 rubles. 
Consider gas free. Is it good or is it bad? 
Coffee is sold on the street. 
Book collapse 
In order to make at least some money, people sell everything. 
Yoga in the center) 
Today, the main goal of any Venezuelan is to get something. They get bread, milk, medicine. There are no essential goods on sale at all. You won't even buy soap and milk. That’s why everyone walks the streets with bags and asks each other where they “threw away” things. 
The main differences from fraternal Cuba:
There is civilization in Venezuela! There is normal internet here, there are good restaurants and hotels. In Caracas there is McDonald's and other international fast food. Here you can easily buy expensive alcohol, imported food, and rent a good car. But Cuba is calm and safe. But in Venezuela, taking advantage of the wealth is not so easy.
The first thing a tourist encounters is a poster warning him to change currency only in specially designated places! In Venezuela, the exchange rate is controlled by the state. Devaluation occurs every few years. It looks very funny - a ladder like this:
Of course, as I already said, there is a black market with a completely different rate. Three years ago, the exchange rate on the black market differed from the official one by 3 times. Today it is only one and a half, but over these three years the bolivar has depreciated three times.
Yes, yes, there is an enemy McDonald's here! 
A Big Mac costs 243 rubles, ice cream costs 103. 
There are also more expensive burgers. 
You can drink coffee for 52 rubles 44 kopecks, cappuccino and hot chocolate will cost a little more, 67 rubles 42 kopecks. 
At the same time, there are good restaurants in the city. True, there are very few people there. Not a single person came to my hotel restaurant (the best in the city) yesterday evening! 
Food for the rich: 
True luxury. No, not oysters, but bread! Bread is also not on sale; there are hellish queues for it. So it's a delicacy. And the oysters are all dead. I never found live oysters in three restaurants in Caracas. 
Steak 
There are quite ordinary (and not yet looted) malls in the city. This is one of the few places where you can walk without getting robbed. 
But there are almost no people. Only a few can afford to go to such stores. 
My hotel 
Empty restaurant 
Street art 
Bolivar 
Continue tomorrow. 
Travel notes:
Caracas is the capital of Venezuela. More than 3 million people live in the city, and together with the suburbs there are 4.5 million inhabitants. Venezuela itself has always been considered one of richest countries world due to large oil reserves. However, the citizens of this country have never lived richly due to high corruption and a handful of rich people who appropriate all the proceeds from oil sales.
The country's former president Hugo Chavez (died in 2013) tried to turn the situation around. He nationalized Natural resources, reined in the rich and forced national oil-producing corporations to pay 84% of profits to the state treasury, compared to the previous 35%. With the proceeds, free hospitals, schools, universities were opened in the country, and state-owned factories and combines were built.
An example of caring for ordinary people During the time of Hugo Chavez, at least the fact that filling a full tank of a car at any gas station in Venezuela cost less than $1. This is not surprising, since the president himself was distinguished by complete selflessness. He transferred his salary to one of the universities as a scholarship for students, and lived only on a military pension.
In general, Hugo Chavez has significantly raised the standard of living in the country. There is no doubt about it. However, he was unable to overcome crime. Here, as an example, we can consider crime in Caracas, where the criminal environment is extremely numerous. But to understand the origins of the criminalization of society, you need to briefly familiarize yourself with the history of the state.
Venezuela was discovered in 1498 by Christopher Columbus. He was fascinated by the nature of these places, and after some time the Spaniards discovered a beautiful green valley in the mountains. They founded a settlement in it, which over time turned into the city of Caracas, located 15 km from the sea.
In the 18th century, settlers from Spain began to make huge profits from the coffee and cocoa trade. But the blacks, creoles and mestizos did not get rich. Therefore, the country was shaken by military coups and revolutions for 2 centuries. But as a result of this, the rich became even richer, and the poor became poor. By the end of the 20th century, the gap between these two segments of the population had reached catastrophic proportions. The most obvious division between the poor and the rich appeared in Caracas.
The modern prosperous city center is surrounded by areas of poor neighborhoods. They have no power. The poor do not pay taxes or pay for utilities. The police do not appear on the streets of such areas, and they are a breeding ground for crime. It is here that gangs arise that terrorize the capital.
Representatives of gangs operate mainly in wealthy areas. Therefore, you can be robbed and beaten right a few steps from a fashionable hotel that has its own armed guards.
Hugo Chavez often said in his speeches that crime in Caracas is akin to the fifth column of the American Yankees. It is supported by local and Colombian rich people. However, not everything is so simple. Criminal gangs also supported the president himself. In 2002, the military overthrew him and arrested him. Criminalized residents of poor areas came to the defense of the head of state. They armed themselves, surrounded the putschists and forced them to release Chavez.
There are many examples in history when a revolution is based on crime. And those social transformation, which Hugo Chavez carried out in his country, were also subject to this trend. As a result, in 2008 Caracas was recognized as the most criminal and dangerous city in the world. There were 130 murders per 100 thousand people, and according to unofficial data, 160 murders. Compared to 1998, the number of serious crimes increased by 68%.
Robberies on the streets became commonplace. The police did not recommend that people leave their houses after 18:00, and tourists with video cameras were warned that if they come up and demand it, then give it back immediately. Drug trafficking was also commonplace. Venezuela has become a transit point between Colombia and the United States. A dose of heroin could be bought on every corner in Caracas.
In 2009, 45 cases of kidnapping were recorded in the capital. In 2010, this figure increased to 134 cases. The kidnappers simply blocked the victims they liked while traveling in the car on the road, transferred them into their car and took them away in an unknown direction. They were released only after the ransom was handed over. Kidnappings were also widely practiced by police officers. A whole gang of such guardians of the law was arrested in the capital.
These days the situation has improved slightly. UN experts say that 20% of all crimes are committed by police. The authorities are trying to combat rampant crime. In this regard, a police reform program has been created. There is a special department supervising tourists. Its employees wear red berets. Mobile mobile police stations have appeared.
Every Christmas, to reduce the crime rate in Caracas, units are introduced into the city national guard to patrol the streets. This is due to the fact that on holidays citizens make a lot of purchases and carry large sums of money with them. Therefore, crime is intensifying.
At the same time, the paradox is that city residents are quite calm about high level crime. They are even proud that they have surpassed other Latin American cities in this indicator. Most Caracas residents simply live and enjoy life. Workers are not overworked. Lunch starts at noon, and then everyone waits until it's time for dinner.
However, everything flows, everything changes. During the time of Hugo Chavez, the unemployed received a good government benefit corresponding to 300 US dollars. And this is in a warm climate and bargain prices for fruits and vegetables. Therefore, 95% of Venezuelans quite sincerely considered themselves happy. The recorded level of happiness in this country exceeded that in Switzerland, Austria and Germany. But Venezuela has now become a political battleground, and the situation in the state has become tense and uncertain.
1.
They say Caracas is one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Innocent victims here are killed right on the streets, and even more so, God forbid you appear in the crowd with a camera or any other thing in your hands that shows your wealth. In the city, 40 people are killed every day, many of whom are foreigners. And it’s impossible to count how many people are simply robbed.
Such intimidation on the part of the travel company and guides did not add optimism to our visit to Caracas, but they did stir up interest. Therefore, at the first opportunity, we tested all this on our own skin. And this is what we found out.
At first, of course, we were afraid to stick our noses outside the bus and the hotel. But after talking with a representative (or rather, a representative) of the host country, it turned out that the rumors about the danger of Caracas were excessively exaggerated. The 14-year-old Russian girl who met us at the airport said that she had been living in Caracas with her mother for 3 years, and was walking the streets alone.
But! You need to know where, when and in what form it is possible to appear, where it is undesirable, and where it is simply dangerous. Caracas consists of several areas - from real slums to European areas with luxury villas. If you go to poor areas, and even in good clothes, and even more so, with photographic equipment, you can really get hit in the face and literally be left in only your underpants. They're unlikely to kill, but they won't cause you any trouble.
At the same time, in rich areas you can be with almost a 100% guarantee of safety in any form and with any equipment. Even at night, although at night it is undesirable. It is also undesirable (although in principle possible) to shine and shine decorations, equipment, etc. in areas where the middle class lives. By the way, there are few such areas in Caracas - the middle class stratum makes up only 10-15% of the population. The rest are either very poor or very rich. It’s clear that there are a lot more poor people, and accordingly, there are a lot more shady neighborhoods too.
Therefore, basic precautions must be taken. But if you are accompanied by a local guide who knows the local nuances, then you can consider yourself practically safe. You should also take into account that information from local guides and travel company managers located somewhere in Russia (or another country) may differ. If you're going to be intimidated by people who don't live in Caracas, it makes sense to take this information with a grain of salt. Although with caution. If you want to learn more about safety, look for people on the ground.
As a result, we walked around Caracas even at night. We felt a little uneasy, but we understood that we were in a normal area. There were no incidents, although we behaved rather cheekily. During the daytime we were taken more and more, and more and more to tourist places, so there are few pictures, and they are without any artistic pretensions. Just sketches.
Well, in other cities of Venezuela this problem can be considered not at all. Although... if anyone is interested, I can give detailed instructions on how to get hit in the head and lose money, jewelry and photographic equipment, for example, in Moscow or St. Petersburg :)
Other materials from trips to Venezuela and Little Tibet for the project “Two drops. Journey for water" can be found on the company blog "Two Sticks".
The head of one of the largest kidnapping gangs in the Venezuelan capital has spoken in detail about how he stalks and takes away his victims, how he kills those who do not pay ransoms, as well as his network of corrupt police officers.
In a chilling interview with the Daily Mail, which took place in... literally At gunpoint in the lawless slums of western Caracas, a gang leader admitted he had no remorse about the power of his reign of terror over a city drowning in economic crisis.
“If they don't pay the ransom after a week, we dig a two-meter hole and shoot them in the face with a shotgun so that no one can identify the body. They remain on the list of missing persons forever. I’m the boss in this city,” he says.
The number of kidnappings in Venezuela has risen sharply after oil prices fell and sparked widespread shortages and unrest. An overstaffed police force is unable to cope with the crime wave that has brought the country to its knees.
In Caracas, which is called the most dangerous city on earth, the most big number Homicides: In 2015 alone, 3,946 people were killed in the city of 3.3 million people. According to police data, 85% of deaths in Caracas are violent.
The police publicly admit that they cannot cope with crime. Santiago Rosas, chief of the El Hatillo police department, who patrols on a motorcycle in one of the city's most dangerous areas, said police can now protect only nine percent of the population.
The leader of a kidnapping gang, just 23 years old, makes chilling confessions about how he weaves a network around the police and takes advantage of the plight of people who scavenge for food. Sitting in the shadows with a mask on his face, he says: “I have no remorse because the people we kidnap have plenty of money. We usually get a tip from someone who has a grudge against that person. He tells us that he knows the victim has money and is aware of the route she is taking. We know a lot of private bodyguards, and when they feel like they're underpaid, they give us the information they need so we can kidnap their wealthy employer, and we give them a kickback."
Perhaps the gang leader is exaggerating his “exploits.” But Santiago Rosas, chief of the El Hatillo police station, said its reliance on intelligence and its ability to hold onto its victims for long periods of time meant it was one of the largest criminal groups in Caracas. Most kidnappings are carried out by fly-by-night gangs called express kidnappers. The gang leader's claim of 300 members may be an exaggeration, the policeman says, but even if there are 150 people, that is already the size of the municipal police department.
As the economic crisis worsened, the ransom price skyrocketed, despite the average salary being $20 a month. As a result of the first kidnapping, which the gang committed five years ago, the criminals managed to get $170. Now they're asking for at least $17,000.
The gang, which calls itself “kings of the city,” has informers and informants in all walks of life, including among the military and police. According to Transparency International, Venezuela is the ninth most corrupt country in the world.
“There is a lot of competition in the kidnapping market. “Many police officers do this too,” the gang leader said. - There are two types of cops. Some are smart, who understand that it is not wise to be at enmity with us, while others are stupid, who have grenades flying through their window. The smart ones give us rapid-fire weapons, bullets, and uniforms. We have people who work for us, in the municipal, in the people's police and in the army, and they make sure that we are well equipped."
“We have much better weapons than the police. We have four houses in this area that we use as storage areas for weapons and explosives. While your car was approaching, my men were training, aiming at you with sniper weapons,” adds the 23-year-old bandit.
This is all too familiar to police in El Hatillo, where an anti-corruption raid has fired 41 people over two years on charges of kidnapping, robbery and murder. “The situation is exactly as he described, that's for sure,” Rosas says. - They have - best weapon. We hope there aren't too many smart cops in our county, but being an honest cop is dangerous."
Two years ago, an audit of the El Hatillo Police Department's arsenal revealed that 20 guns and 1,000 shells were missing. It is assumed that they were handed over to criminals. To put into perspective just how bad the crime situation is in Caracas, last year a woman called the police when she saw the front door of her house open and ended up being robbed by six responding police officers themselves.
Police officers in Venezuela have some of the most dangerous jobs, making it difficult to recruit new officers. Police officers receive just $16 a month, forcing them to live side by side with their enemies in the heart of a gang-infested slum.
In the criminal world, killing a police officer is a condition for promotion to a higher position among underground gangs. In 2015, 173 police officers were killed in the capital. Since the beginning of 2016, 64 law enforcement officers have already been killed, a 14% increase compared to the same period last year.
Last year, an El Hatillo Police Department officer was attacked in his own home. He was shot 14 times in the face and 12 times in the body in front of his wife and two small children. In Caracas, crime has merged with everyday life. While journalists interviewed the gang leader at gunpoint, people went about their business along the street and children played outside the brightly painted houses in the slums.
On average, according to the leader of the kidnappers, his gang kills several people a month and kidnaps someone every week. They do not discriminate between men, women or the elderly when it comes to kidnappings, and will even kidnap a child if they are confident that they will receive a large enough ransom for it. He added that they are working on a kidnapping that could bring them $34,500.
“Last Thursday, we kidnapped the school principal because one of her students told us she was full of money. We demanded a ransom of 17.6 thousand dollars, and her family paid within seven hours. Everything went very smoothly, it was a good deal.” The gang leader said the kidnapping took place near a hotel where Daily Mail journalists were staying in Caracas' business district.
The criminal group also claims to be running a lucrative drug business. “Sometimes we kill victims if they make us angry. Once I killed a man because he begged to be left alive. He didn’t have a bit of courage, so I shot him.” The boss claims to have killed at least twenty people with his own hands and ordered the execution of hundreds more.
The gang leader described in detail how the kidnappings take place. A team of informants stalks the streets quietly and spends weeks gathering information about a wealthy man whose life is on a schedule. A team of four then tracks the victim's car, following in front of it rather than behind it. “We already know his route exactly,” he explained.
On a relatively empty street, they stop in front of the victim's car and force the man into their car. An abandoned car usually remains standing. “When we bring them to our slums, we treat them the same way we treated you today. We force them to keep their heads down, search them and force them to sit on metal chairs. Our faces are always covered. If they resist, we shoot at the legs. We don't waste time torturing or cutting off an ear to send to the family as shown in the movies. If they don’t pay or don’t cooperate, we just kill them,” says the group’s leader.
Many gang members are teenagers, some as young as ten years old. As they become more powerful, they feel more and more impunity. Between 92 and 97 percent of those arrested with clear evidence are released because of a justice system riddled with corruption and nepotism, Rosas says. “This is Venezuelan justice. This is one of our biggest and deepest problems,” he says.
The confusion is especially felt by police officers on the front line. In April, Rosas' men arrested a motorcycle gunman who shot someone in the area. Less than two months later, the suspect paid the bribe and was released.
To make matters worse, Venezuelan prisons are run by the prisoners themselves, and the authorities simply keep them inside. Prisons are filled with weapons and drugs and act as incubators for violence.
In Venezuela, there is one firearm for every two people. It is the most armed country in the world. Most firearms have come into the hands of ordinary citizens, either legally or illegally, from the authorities themselves.
Hugo Chavez, the legendary Venezuelan leader who died in 2013, organized hundreds of armed vigilantes to take to the streets and defend his socialist ideology in times of crisis. Thus, gun ownership became widespread throughout the country and significantly increased the murder rate.
The police department Rosas leads is in a part of Caracas that is run by opposition politicians, so he can speak freely. However, he said the government was increasingly trying to control independent police forces. He believes the government is largely to blame for the security crisis in Venezuela. In 2014, authorities tried to reduce conflict between police and gangs by declaring “peace zones” across the country where police were prohibited from trespassing. After this, local gangs united into huge groups and captured areas ranging from several blocks to the area of a small town.
In Caracas alone there are four “peace zones” covering an area of 15.5 square kilometers. The police are only allowed to collect corpses. “It was obvious that this was going to happen,” Rosas says. “It was a crazy decision in a land of crazy decisions.”
Many children become involved in the criminal world from a very early age. The gang leader himself began selling drugs on the street and stealing from shops at age 13 because he was treated poorly at home. He then moved on to car theft, armed robbery and murder, and then used the money he earned to form his own gang of bandits he hired.
According to him, his first fatal victim was a man who tried to stop him during a store robbery. “I shot him in the stomach with a .38 caliber revolver and later learned that he had died,” the gang leader recalls. “I was angry at him and scared of the police, but I knew he deserved it.” He was bigger than me, he didn’t have to try to stop me.”
Now he doesn't waste time cleaning up the crime scene because he knows the police won't investigate it anyway. “It gives me a great feeling. I am powerful, I am better than other people who work for 20 dollars a month. I earned respect for my intelligence and cruelty. If someone crosses my path, I will kill him in front of everyone, so that they know that I am the boss in this city.”
Interview: Ekaterina Bazanova
Third place in the top most dangerous countries; poverty, crime, civil unrest; the highest inflation in the world - the news rarely says anything good about Venezuela, and despite everything, I really miss this country and plan to return there soon. I am a teacher by profession foreign language, but for the last five years she worked as a military translator in Venezuela, and visited her native Kazan only on short visits.
From Kazan to Caracas
When I graduated in 2007 Pedagogical University, nothing foreshadowed that Spanish, which was our second foreign language, would ever be useful to me in life. After receiving my diploma, I got a job at a school as an English teacher, while teaching courses and doing tutoring. And then one fine day, a friend offered me a part-time job: it turned out that in Kazan, as part of military-technical cooperation A delegation of Venezuelans arrived. They were accommodated in a hotel, the director of which was urgently looking for a translator to communicate with foreign guests - I immediately agreed. It so happened that already in 2010 I was invited to transfer classes for Latin American students at the Kazan Higher Artillery School, and then they offered me to go on a contract to Venezuela. The government of the country's then president Hugo Chavez concluded a series of contracts with Russia for the supply of weapons and military equipment.
In May 2011, I flew to Caracas for the first time in my life. Before that, I had only been abroad a couple of times, and only in Europe. All the Venezuelans I knew in Kazan told me what an incredibly beautiful country they had, and I felt almost deceived when, on the way from the airport to the city, I saw only shabby gray buildings with garlands of laundry and piles of garbage on the side of the highway. Doubts disappeared the very next morning, when we set off from the capital to Valencia and in the light of day I saw the calling card of Caracas, El Avila - the mountain that separates the metropolis from the Caribbean Sea and which was turned into a national park.
Locals are distinguished by their innate optimism and even in the most difficult moments of life, as the Venezuelan proverb says, they prefer to “laugh so as not to cry”
From Monday to Friday in Valencia, I worked with other translators at the port where equipment arriving from Russia was unloaded, and at a military unit. And on the weekend we explored the local beaches with white sand and turquoise water.
The first big shock for me in an unfamiliar country was the local driving style. Venezuelans seem too internally free to bother about rules traffic. And the further from Caracas, the higher the degree of freedom. Traffic lights are just a familiar part of street decorations, something like Christmas lights. Driving through red lights, especially late at night, is par for the course. Pedestrians are no better than motorists: they do not look for crossings and do not wait for a green traffic light, but simply, as one Venezuelan comedian jokes, draw a trajectory from point A to point B.
We must not forget for a second about motorcyclists: these are completely crazy drivers who calmly drive into oncoming traffic, drive along lawns, sidewalks and squeeze between cars. There are really a lot of them. In Caracas, for example, motorcycle taxis are one of the most popular, cheapest and fastest types of public transport with their own official parking lots. Respectable office workers, in suits and ties, driving around morning traffic jams in motorcycle taxis are a classic of Caracas.
Luxurious women
and loud parties
From my five-year business trip most for a while I lived in the Venezuelan capital. Caracas is both beautiful and terrible for me, but well known and dearly loved. Firstly, it has the most pleasant climate in the entire country: twelve months a year there is comfortable summer weather without stifling heat during the day and with a pleasant cool breeze in the evenings. The Caribbean Sea is just a stone's throw away. People are mostly friendly and sociable - it is very easy to be yourself there in every sense of the word. Modern Venezuelans, whose descendants, in addition to the Spaniards and indigenous inhabitants of the continent, also include Africans, Jews, Arabs, Portuguese, Italians, Germans (the list goes on), answer any questions about their origins like this: “We are all like coffee with milk. Only some have more milk, and some have more coffee.” As for religion, with an absolute Catholic majority, I have not encountered any negativity towards other religions. The locals are distinguished by their innate optimism and even in the most difficult moments of life, as the Venezuelan proverb says, they prefer to “laugh so as not to cry.”
Venezuelan men have a reputation for being the most gallant in Latin America: they will always hold the door, ask permission to pass, and give up their seat on the subway. I remember, at the very beginning of my career as a translator, I was once talking with a group of Venezuelans and accidentally dropped my pen - and then ten men simultaneously bent down to pick up this pen. People pay attention to you all the time: in Kazan you won’t surprise anyone with shorts, but in Caracas you can accidentally stop a garbage truck - I remember it stood in the middle of the road and three workers vying with each other began to tell me how stunning I looked.
A party in Venezuelan style is always loud, crowded and until the morning. And if Russian hospitality means feeding, then Venezuelan hospitality means chatting
Venezuelans are considered the most beautiful women on the continent. They have won the Miss Universe title seven times over the past half century, so beauty pageants there are watched with the same enthusiasm as the World Cup or the baseball finals. Those with outstanding shapes, especially butts, are considered the most attractive - buttock enlargement operations are very popular here. And if in ordinary life Most Venezuelans prefer a sporty style, but at parties they show themselves in all their glory: tight dresses, heels, bright makeup.
A party in Venezuelan style is always loud, crowded and until the morning. They most often drink rum and cola and beer. The dances begin with romantic salsa and end with hard reggaeton. They don’t worry too much about food: at most you will be offered grilled meat and sausages, but usually they are limited to a few snacks such as pies and nuts. And if Russian hospitality means feeding, then Venezuelan hospitality means chatting. Taught by bitter experience, I go to local birthday parties only after having a hearty dinner.
Crime, inflation and shortages
As much as I love Caracas, it remains the most dangerous city in the Western Hemisphere. Any decent house or residential complex in the Venezuelan capital is surrounded by a high fence and wrapped in live barbed wire. Security guards, barriers, police and military personnel patrolling the streets - all this does not save us from rampant crime. Thieves attack, hide in the slums and remain unpunished. This, unfortunately, is as natural there as good weather and the turquoise color of the Caribbean Sea.
To make your life in Venezuela as safe and comfortable as possible, you need to strictly follow several rules. Firstly, never appear on the street wearing gold jewelry and expensive watch: they will try to appropriate them. I remember the first time I witnessed such an attack in the center of Caracas: I was going down to the subway when a guy attacked a man a couple of steps away from me, threw him against the wall and tried to rip the chain from his neck. No one screamed or even tried to stop the thief. Everyone looked so calm, as if nothing had happened, and I was the only one whose heart was beating wildly.
Carrying two mobile phones - one good and the other as cheap as possible - is a common Venezuelan practice. An expensive smartphone is used in closed and safe spaces, a cheap one is used on the street. And, as strange as it may sound, it is always better to have some cash with you, even if you are out for a walk with the dog and are not going to buy anything. The calculation is this: in the event of an attack, you will have something to give to the thief, otherwise he will go mad and may take his anger out on you.
A separate topic is tinting windows in cars. If in Russia it is prohibited, then in Venezuela, for safety reasons, drivers are recommended to tint their windows, and the more, the better. Robbers look at how many people are in the car before choosing a victim, and the risk of attack increases if the driver is traveling alone. In this case, dull tinting can save things and even life.
I experienced the famous Venezuelan inflation and shortages myself. According to my feelings, prices are increasing on average by 25-30% monthly. In any supermarket, no matter how you look there, the price tags change. It’s difficult for foreigners to get a local bank card, so going shopping with a bag or backpack full of cash has become par for the course for me. For example, last December I wanted to dye my hair in Caracas. Blue colour. At the hairdresser, I paid 60 thousand bolivars for this: six hundred bills of one hundred bolivars (there were no larger bills in circulation at that time). Venezuelans themselves pay with cards everywhere, even on the beach. Withdrawing cash is a whole adventure: you have to make several operations in a row, and the unfortunate ATMs are practically choking with worthless bills.
The shortage of essential products, such as milk, eggs, cornmeal, soap, toothpaste and others, began when the government, in conditions of hyperinflation, froze prices for them, which put producers at risk. hopeless situation. My other translators and I were living in a hotel at the time and saving up toilet paper and shampoo to later distribute to Venezuelan friends and colleagues. The shelves in the supermarkets were empty, huge queues lined up around them, but the products themselves, naturally, did not disappear anywhere - everything, only at a price two to three times higher, could be found from speculators. Pads and tampons also became scarce, and I once had to go to an underground kiosk to buy them. The choice there, I will say, was better than any hypermarket.
Pads and tampons also became scarce, and I once had to go to an underground kiosk to buy them. The selection there was better than any hypermarket
Together with contrasting Caracas, hot Valencia and Caribbean beaches, the state of Zulia will forever remain in my memory. We went there, to the border area with Colombia, for work. I didn’t really know anything about Sulia, so I was very surprised when I began to notice adults and children on the side of the road with some strange devices like sticks with funnels. “Are they voting? Maybe we can give you a ride?” - I calmly asked the driver, causing him to almost choke on his fried corn pie.
The Venezuelan laughed heartily, and then explained that all these people were smugglers offering their services. In Venezuela, gasoline is one of the cheapest in the world, while in neighboring Colombia it is several times more expensive. To prevent Colombians from coming to them for fuel, the Venezuelan authorities closed all gas stations within a radius of hundreds of kilometers from the border, and since then entire villages have been living on the illegal trade in gasoline. Roadside smugglers offer to buy fuel if you find yourself in the border zone with an empty tank, or sell them the excess at a price higher than the official one. The most popular cars in the villages of Zulia are old Fords with a bottomless tank and a spacious trunk. Driving them from Venezuela to Colombia is a very profitable illegal business. And I, naive, thought the children were late for school.
It couldn’t have been otherwise - Venezuela changed me: it made me softer, taught me to look at life more simply, value people more and things less. This is the country of eternal summer, where I always want to return: I begin to miss Venezuela even on the plane, when it gains altitude, and the beloved Caribbean Sea glistens under the wing. But I never seriously thought about moving there permanently.