Crime rate high all over Latin America, not just Venezuela--but the New York Slimes don't report it!

[Peace Patriot]

Here's an eye-opening article about the the corpo-fascist 'news' disinformation campaign against the Chavez government in Venezuela.

-----------------------

Crocodile Tears? Covering Crime in Venezuela


By SAMUEL GROVE - NEW LEFT PROJECT, August 18th 2010

The ability of dominant elites to exploit crises and configure them in ways appropriate to their narrow interests is a capitalist staple. The economic crisis was articulated as a stock market crisis meriting a massive transfer of wealth to the financial class. Equally when the elites refer to the safety and security of a country what they really mean is safety and security for investors. Describing the humanitarian crisis in Palestine recently Barack Obama bemoaned the fact that Palestinians were unable ‘to create businesses and engage in trade’. With this in mind it is interesting to observe the current western elite media disquiet regarding crime in Venezuela.

In recent years there has been a torrent of articles, features and programmes on soaring levels of crime in the country. Venezuela is in a state of ‘‘societal breakdown in which impunity is widespread’ and violence is ‘rampant’. The reportage peaked in late 2008 after a study by Foreign Policy magazine hailed Caracas the murder capital of the world. Shortly afterwards Channel 4 broadcast a programme entitled ‘Venezuela: Cult of the Thugs’ exploring ‘a crime wave the police seem unable to contain’. Since then coverage has continued at a steady pace.

In contrast to the reporting on crime in the west, which tends to find explanation in either a delinquent culture or delinquent genes, the crime wave in Venezuela has been blamed on the Venezuelan government. The New York Times quickly latched on to the story of crime in Venezuela as a political scandal back in 2006 when they cited “crime analysts” who blamed the high rates of crime on the Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez’s “politicization” of the police force—anyone thought to disagree with Chávez’s “militaristic attempt” to reconfigure society along “vague socialist ideals” is “marginalized”—they argued. More recently Reuters argued that the problem was not so much the criminals, but rather the “government’s inaction and lack of policies”.

Crime is high in Venezuela. According to the 2008 Latinobarometro report, Venezuelans saying they have been a victim of crime has veered between 43-53% of the population over the last 10 years. It is understandably therefore a major concern for Venezuelans. According to the same report 57% of respondents say that crime is the biggest problem the country faces. The Research Institute of Citizen Security and Coexistence (INCOSEC) estimates that the average murder rate (measured per 100,000 of the population) was 49 in 2009 (compared to an average of about 1.59 in England and Wales). However this, alone, tells us very little regarding the western media’s sudden interest in crime in Venezuela.

We have at least two sizable reasons to be suspicious of the media in this regard. To begin with the crime wave described in Venezuela is actually all over Latin America. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) Latin America has the highest level of youth homicide of all regions in the world, with El Salvador and Puerto Rico singled out for special mention. Why isn’t there similar vituperation about these countries? In neighbouring Colombia an average of 12 people a day have been killed or disappeared in conflict related violence since 2002. Furthermore a significant proportion of these killings have been shared between the Colombian army and the paramilitary groups closely allied to them. The second reason to be suspicious is that while crime is high in Venezuela, it has been high for a very long time. Why the deluge of articles now? Why not ten, fifteen, twenty or even thirty years ago? Why aren’t the former presidencies of Rafael Caldera, Jaime Lusinchi or Luis Herrera Capins also tarnished by criminally high crime rates?

The media’s selectivity on this issue is partially explicable in the context of a much broader campaign to delegitimise Chávez. In the US in particular, media interest in Venezuela is commensurate with the level of importance of Venezuela to US elites. Not only is Venezuela situated in the US’s backyard, but it is also one of the world’s largest exporters of oil. However Chávez has been a thorn in the side of the US government ever since he openly criticised the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

(MORE)

http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/5578