In a blanket broadcast (cadena) yesterday, President Hugo Chavez cited a recent report on murder rates to support his argument that the United States is incredibly violent. The argument goes like this:
Capitalism in the US allows for rampant gun ownership and therefore high murder rates in US cities. Venezuelan socialism, on the other hand, prevents such violent behavior and makes Venezuela a much safer place to be.
Chavez cited the report, listing the murder rate (murders per 100,000 inhabitants) in various US cities: New Orleans 52, Richmond 46, Baltimore 37, etc. [6]. He then cited the murder rate for Latin America as a whole (below those listed above) to demonstrate how capitalism is the cause of such a high rate. As is obvious, however, this is a false comparison (apples to oranges). Here are a couple of points to clear things up for President Chavez:
1) The Christian Science Monitor put the Caracas murder rate at 64 in December 2008 [1]. Another source from October 2008 cites the Caracas murder rate between 130 and 166 [2]. Venezuelan NGO Active Peace (Paz Activa) puts the figure at 122 for 2009 [5]. All of these figures are much higher than that of the most dangerous city in the US (New Orleans registered 52 in 2010 [6]). Ask any Caracas resident if their personal safety has improved in the last 18 months...
2) A good comparison must be made between equal units. It is common knowledge that population density correlates well with murder rates. Therefore, comparing a city population to that of an entire nation (with large rural areas) or continent has little to no comparative value. It is to be expected that the murder rate for Latin America as a whole is below that of the most dangerous cities in the US.
3) Venezuela has been cited by all recent and reliable studies as in the top five in terms of murder rate. The United States, on the other hand, never falls in the top 20. One source cites the US rate at 43, ranking 24th in the world. The same report places Venezuela as 4th highest worldwide [7].
Venezuela Murder Rate
(murders per 100,000 inhabitants)
130 -- [1]
54 -- [3]
52 -- [4]
48 -- [2]
Due to unreliable figures and a failure to report many murders (including extrajudicial killings executed by the military and police), these figures vary wildly. The figures presented above are from various sources, between 2008 and 2010.
As a final note: What has happened to all of the personal arms purchased from Russia by the Chavez government? I would very much like to see a study on the number of automatic weapons per capita in Venezuela. It is well known that US citizens are more armed than those of most other countries. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that Chavez' claims in this regard are also false due to the large numbers of weapons purchased, imported and distributed to his militias. Militias armed for....?? Against who? This very dangerous question portends dangerous and bloody days ahead for all Venezuelans. We can only hope that these weapons are not utilized by the Chavez government against his own citizens to protect his position of power.
Sources:
[1] http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2008/1203/p06s01-woam.html
[2] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/venezuela/3184293/Venezuelas-murder-rates-surpass-Colombias-under-Hugo-Chavez.html
[3] http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2010/03/venezuela_murder-rate_has_quad.php
[4] http://www.mediafire.com/?hq85dm5de45eod4
[5] http://www.mediafire.com/?1c0d0yaikaumdyc
[6] http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/05/new_orleans_murder_rate_remain.html
[7] http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_percap-crime-murders-per-capita
No comments:
Post a Comment