There will be a flood of Venezuelan news in coming days because of the coming elections. USA Today ran this piece today, for example, about the horrific crime levels in the country, especially the capital, Caracas. Don't believe everything you read.
So? What's new? Crime has been a horrible problem in Caracas for decades, well before the government of President Hugo Chavez. It's true that the Chavez regime has followed policies that have either exacerbated the problem or, at the least, done nothing to help address the security issue.
Its true, yes, that government-initiated violence is at an all-time high. But to run this story at this time seems to me to be shallow, or ignorant, or (at the worst) ill-willed and ill intentioned.
The fact is that today we know much more about government-initiated violence than we knew about during former regimes. Repression, violence, oppression and graft have been a way of life in Venezuela for many decades. It's not all Chavez.
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