Does it count the Chavista's murdered? Im wondinering because at that rate he's guaranteed to lose the next election!!

He said excluding "justifiable homicides."

No doubt just the CIA going about their business.
Or maybe the huge demand for spare parts from US hospitals......
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Port_murders
Do you have another theory?
S.

But speaking seriosly, one cannot blame the murders on Chavez' regime.....if I recall correctly Caracas was never a safe place to be (from Carlos Andres' time)..... so the real question is has the rate increased during Chavez?? and has the increase been reasonable? For e.g. , let us not forget that this is the regime that has survived two or three coup-d-etat's and have all been repelled by the citizen's of Venezuela.... i mention this bcs it would be inderstandable to see an increase in violence in temptous times like that...... and its funny to remember how quicly the US recognized the 'NEW' Venezuelan govt that toppled a democratically elect president.... and then the US doenst understand what Chavez has against the US...
I dont think Chavez is terribly bright but I do respect what he is trying to do!!

Glimmer,

The Chavez government was briefly "overthrown" for two days in 2002 and that was the only coup. I worked there from 1999 until 2005. I visit my in-laws at least twice a year and I can tell you that over the last 2 years the situation has gotten terrible. People are being killed over cell phones and of course drugs. From the day Chavez took the oath of office he began blasting the US and has kept it up to this day. This is not a new thing and has nothing to do with the coup but rather an excuse to use to place blame on years of mis-management and government corruption. Go deeper into this thread and look at some of my other posts. Venezuela is now one of the most corrupt places in the world and number 1 in Latin America, Most dangerous city is S.A. is Caracas, used to be Rio, highest murder rate in the world, . All of this has taken place DURING the term of Chavez these past 10 years, specificaly the last 2 years.

All property is theft - chacterisic liberation process from the shackles of US imperialsim. Reactionaries need to be careful and work with the progressives every time. It is only when rights, property and respect are fully resored to the population that crime dies away. In the UK for example, now a property owning democracy crime is down for serious crimes. There is an interesting deabte on how the tendency towards 'general improvement' in the Victorian era affected crime.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200303/himmelfarb
But, of course, in historical terms the Chevez era is short and for many sections of the population 'gneral improvement' is yet to be evident. Plus there is continued outside interference.
S.

Hey ABC

Why don't you come and try to liberate some of my property!!!!

Texas:

You may be right, there may be only one attempt to overthrow Chavez... but I can hnestly remember at least two,and maybe even three... but what I can remember is when the attempt (s) were made it was the regualr citizens that surrounded his palace to defend him... that is really unheard of , moreso, when all we hear are echoes of what you have been saying.. that Chavez is bad , that Chavez is corrupt, that Venezuela is hell on earth since Chavez..etc.... from an outsider like myself, but fellow latinamerican (Dominican), it is very odd that the civilians would take it upon themselves to defend Chavez if he is truly an antichrist (or something like that)...... in other research, it seems as if Venezuela has made advances in other areas, despite the increase in crimes .. I also suspect this to be a common fact amongst all countries in LA.. certainly in Dom Rep crime has been steadily increasing , not that that makes it ok.. but wheres the source for the listing ... that would be interesting to see.

Anthony:

I dont get your message to ABC......

Why would he want to liberate your property? I dont think that is what he was trying to convey.

As far as I can remeber there have been no attempts to overthrow him where the populace has intervened. There was a nationwide strike by the largest trade unions in 2002 into 2003 read December into early Feb, which people took to the streets to demonstrate on both sides. During November of 2008 the elections that were held were a loss for Chavez in the NO vote on another constitional change. He also lost the three most populace state governerships (almost 1/2 of the population lives in those states). The Chavez socialist party also lost key mayorial seats in Maricaibo and in and around Caracas. IF you are going to read anything on what goes on there there are three newspapers which I read every day, El Universal, El Tiempo and El Nacional. The other websites like venezuelaanalysis are sponsored and run by the government.

http://www.el-nacional.com/www/site/p_contenido.php

http://www.eluniversal.com/index.shtml

http://www.eltiempo.com.ve/default.asp

If you go to El Tiempo, as we speak, the police are busting up a demonstration by university students agianst the additional changes Chavez wants.

Also Canal Sur is a chance to catch Venezuelan news every evening on dish network and I am sure on others. Globovision is another source.

Decide for yourself but I can tell you things are not good there and it is a result of Chavez. Feburary or March of this year he wants to have another vote on unlimited candidacy for himself and the governors, which was voted down in November. He basically said that during the last election cycle the populace probably did not like some of the items on the ballot and inadvertantly voted no to everything including what he wanted most. Do me a favor, read those papers everyday, read the televison websites and in a couple of weeks come back here and discuss what goes on there.