Venezuela and Chavez: The Bloody Years

Venezuela's murder rate is soaring. My last entry made me want to do some research about violence in that country, and I found some very interesting data. In the mid 1980s Venezuela had relatively low levels of violence (certainly low compared to Colombia's), but since then, it has become a much more dangerous country.


Under the socialist presidency of Hugo Chavez, the murder rate has increased dramatically, as the graph shows (yellow bars represent the Chavez years; click on the graph to see it enlarged). Today, the rate is almost three times higher than in 1998, before Chavez assumed power - Venezuela is now the second most violent country in the Western Hemisphere, after El Salvador.

This should give some pause for thought to Chavistas everywhere.