Martha Colmenares

Foreign Policy
Caracas, Ciudad del Cabo y Nueva Orleans entre las ciudades con mayor índice de criminalidad
Miércoles 1 de octubre de 2008
Diario de Mallorca
Caracas encabeza la lista de las cinco ciudades con los índices más altos de “violencia brutal y homicida”, según un artículo que publicó hoy la revista Foreign Policy.

EFE La capital de Venezuela, con 3,2 millones de habitantes, tiene una tasa de 130 homicidios por cada 100.000 residentes según las estadísticas oficiales, afirmó la revista.

Le siguen, según el artículo, Ciudad del Cabo (Sudáfrica), con un índice de homicidios de 62 por cada 100.000 habitantes; Nueva Orleans (EEUU) con tasas que van de 67 a 95 por cada 100.000; Moscú con una tasa de homicidios de 9,6 por cada 100.000 habitantes, y Port Moresby (Papúa Nueva Guinea) con una tasa de 54 por cada 100.000 habitantes.

“La capital del país de (el presidente Hugo) Chávez se ha tornado en años recientes mucho más peligrosa que cualquier ciudad sudamericana, superando aún a la otrora notoria Bogotá”, indicó.

“Para peor, las estadísticas oficiales de homicidio en la ciudad son muy inadecuadas porque omiten los crímenes vinculados con prisiones al igual que las muertes que el estado nunca llega a ‘clasificar’ apropiadamente”, según Foreign Policy.

Las cifras oficiales caraqueñas tampoco cuentan a quienes mueren “cuando se resisten al arresto”, lo cual según la revista “indica que los policías de Caracas, ya famosos por su brutalidad contra los estudiantes en protestas, acomodan las cifras”.

“Muchos acusan a ‘El Presidente’, cuyo gobierno no ha encarado las crecientes tasas de crimen violento en el país”, continuó Foreign Policy. “De hecho, desde que Chávez llegó al gobierno en 1998 la tasa oficial de homicidios en Venezuela ha subido un 67 por ciento, debido principalmente a la violencia de las pandillas y el tráfico de drogas”.
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Soporte:
The List: Murder Capitals of the World. Foreign Policy
Caracas, Venezuela
Population: 3.2 million
Murder rate: 130 per 100,000 residents (official)
What’s happening: The capital of Chávez country, Caracas has become far more dangerous in recent years than any South American city, even beating out the once notorious Bogotá. What’s worse, the city’s official homicide statistics likely fall short of the mark because they omit prison-related murders as well as deaths that the state never gets around to properly “categorizing.” The numbers also don’t count those who died while “resisting arrest,” suggesting that Caracas’s cops—already known for their brutality against student protesters—might be cooking the books. Many have pointed the finger at El Presidente, whose government has failed to tackle the country’s rising rates of violent crime. In fact, since Chávez took over in 1998, Venezuela’s official homicide rate has climbed 67 percent—mostly due to increased drug and gang violence. Ramón Rodríguez Chacín, who recently resigned as interior minister, claimed in July that homicide has dropped 27 percent since January—but experts say he’s just playing with numbers. As for Caracas, some speculate that its murder rate is closer to 160 per 100,000.

Cape Town, South Africa
Population: 3.5 million
Murder rate: 62 per 100,000 inhabitants

What’s happening: A European bastion in the heart of turbulent South Africa, picturesque Cape Town nonetheless has the country’s highest murder rate. The city’s homicides usually take place in suburban townships rather than in the more upscale urban areas where tourists visit. According to the South African Police Service, most of the Cape Town area’s violent crimes happen between people who know one another, including a horrific case last year in which four males doused a female friend in gasoline and lit her on fire. Occurring just outside city limits, the incident apparently happened after the assailants had taken hard drugs, the use of which has risen along with Cape Town’s violent crime rate. The whopping 12.7 percent rise in the city’s murder rate from 2006 to 2007 certainly has local politicians worried, especially as South Africa prepares to host the 2010 World Cup. The government has hired more police officers to prepare for the tournament, which could help cut crime in soccer-fan hot spots. But until better efforts are made to police Cape Town’s poverty-stricken townships, it’s unlikely that the murder rate—an average of 5.9 per day—will see any major drop.

New Orleans, United States
Population: 220,614 to 312,000 (2007); estimates vary due to displacement of people after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Murder rate: Estimates range from 67 (New Orleans Police Department) to 95 (Federal Bureau of Investigation) per 100,000

What’s happening: With its grinding poverty, an inadequate school system, a prevalence of public housing, and a high incarceration rate, the Big Easy has long been plagued with a high rate of violent crime. Katrina didn’t help. Since the hurricane struck in 2005, drug dealers have been fighting over a smaller group of users, leading to many killings. On just one four-block stretch of Josephine Street, in the city center, four people were murdered in 2007 and 15 people shot, including a double homicide on Christmas day. A precise murder rate is hard to pinpoint because the population is swelling quickly, approaching its pre-Katrina numbers. Whether you use New Orleans’s own figures or the FBI’s, however, the city remains the most deadly in the United States, easily surpassing Detroit and Baltimore with 46 and 45 murders per 100,000 people, respectively.
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Relacionados:
Ciudades más peligrosas de Latinoamérica. SkyCraperLife
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