4 data showing the magnitude of the outbreak of homicides in Venezuela | World

Thus, the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence (OVV), an NGO that collects national crime data, collaborates with the main universities of the country (the government does not publish official data on the subject) .

In recent years, Venezuela has always been ranked among the most violent countries in its region.

Some of the most relevant figures from the OVV study are as follows:

: 81.4 homicides per 100,000 population

The study recorded 23,047 violent deaths in the country and calculated a homicide rate of 81.4 per 100 thousand inhabitants.

The data show a decrease from the previous year – 26,616 violent deaths and a rate of 89/100 000 inhabitants.

(For comparison, Brazil recorded 62,517 deaths in 2016, the latest year for which data are available – a historical record of 30.3 homicides per 100,000 population).

The NGO estimates that the Venezuelan reduction is justified in part by the migration of Venezuelans leaving the country to escape the economic recession, severe hyperinflation and severe shortages of goods and food products.

The organization is not only optimistic about this, as it predicts that Venezuela will be this year the most violent country in Latin America, probably ahead of Honduras (with a homicide rate of 40/100 000) and El Salvador (probably less than 60/100 thousand inhabitants).

Sociologist Roberto Briceño León, Director of the OVV, stresses that the Venezuelan rate is "almost double what is expected of Honduras" – a country ranked last year at first rank of the most violent in the region.

Participation of official security forces in one third of homicides

According to the study, out of a total of 23,047 homicides, only 10,422 are recognized as such by the authorities.

The NGO also says that 7,523 of the violent deaths were committed by official security forces and clbadified as resulting from resistance to the police. The official balance sheets do not carry these figures either.

"This year's results show a decrease in the number of homicides committed by criminals and a noticeable increase in the number of victims who lost their lives in the hands of police forces," said Briceño.

Above the "ceiling" of the WHO

The Venezuelan Observatory of Violence says that "the epidemic of violence" affects all regions of Venezuela.

Even in the region with the lowest rate of violent deaths, the state of Mérida (South West) has a rate twice as high as that estimated by the World Health Organization (WHO): is characterized by an epidemic: 10 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants. Merida had in 2018 a rate calculated at 24 per 100,000.

The most violent states are Aragua and Miranda, in the north-central of the country, with a homicide rate of 168 and 124.4 respectively. This is the same level as last year.

In Aragua, according to Briceño, more than half of the violent deaths were recorded as a result of resistance to the authority.

In addition, in rural areas there was "an increase in robberies by agricultural producers and food distribution trucks" in a country where food and medicine were scarce in recent years .

"Corn, coffee, sugar, cocoa and even onions are stolen," says Briceño.