OK, the guy have clearly come to the conclusion that he will not win.
Most of your points are well taken. Rosales's crime plan is not too impressive nor original.
My scoop:
1 is a good idea, but hard to implement. The price Rosales (R) will give for a gun is too high. Nevertheless, getting guns off the street with an incentive is a good idea.
I disagree that a national police is the solution. A national force may be more bureaucratic, cumbersome and less responsive to local needs. Decentralizing the police force like in the US seems to work reasonably well. That being said these forces should be able to coordinate investigations and maintain cordial relations. Hiring more cops is a no-brainer. They should also be paid better.
3 and 4 are ludicrous. Especially 3 given that cheap cars don't even have AC or airbags, but would have this expensive technology. Not to mention the privacy concerns of GPS.
5-7 are no-brainers that everyone offers. The devil here is in the details and none are offered.
You misunderstand 9. The point is not that the current system is too harsh, but that Venezuelan jails make criminals even more criminal. They do not try to reintegrate the criminals into society. Not to mention that lots of people are incarcerated without trial and languish for years before being tried. Therefore, the educational centers make sense.
Now, what would be really interesting is to do something similar for Chavez's plan on crime and to contrast it Rosales's. Remember that crime is very hard to solve and there is no magical bullet. Doing a post comparing and contrasting the different approaches would be interesting.
Some other comments. I find drugs to be crucial in crime. They are not adressed in R's plan. Strangely the booming economy is not reducing crime??? I find this puzzling since I was expecting to see crime fall after 2004.
Also I like your posts on dams, housing, hospitals and schools. Great pictures. Could you do one on bridges and roads? The Minfra page has little info on what is going on.......there is a quarterly publication (mostly propaganda) and some new releases, but its not great.
Tor,
Both Chavez and Rosales have the same failing on this because they both exhibit a trait that is actually pretty common throughout Venezuela - they just won't punish it strongly enough.
Most experts agree that to reduce crime you need to ameliorate the conditions that lead to it through social programs (Venezuela is already doing this) and help deter crime by strictly enforcing laws and punishing criminals. Venezuela totally fails on the second part of that. In a sentence, Venezuela needs to build more jails and put more people in them.
Yes, the jails should be segregated so petty thieves aren't mixed in with hardened murderers. And yes, people convicted of just property crimes should be given educational oppertunities. But crime needs to be punished severly enough that it is not an seen as an attractive option by anyone. And that goes for the police. If you discover a cop that is corrupt or committing crimes you don't just fire the person - that is no punishment. You have to prosecute and jail them. In that way others will be detered from doing the same. (BTW, you also set up undercover police squads who try to entrp corrupt cops)
In all likelyhood there is some number of people, 20, 30 or 40 thousand people who if they were taken off the street that alone would reduce the crime rate significantly. That is what needs to start happening.
If you want to make an omlet you have to break some eggs. That is clearly the case here.
BTW, I know Chavez has this failing because U.N. had a big interview with Jessie Chacon I while back that I meant to blog on but never did. In it he said point blank "the solution to crime isn't to put more people in jail". So there you go. The Chavez government won't do it because they don't believe in it.
Well I read today that Chávez will set up some sort of committee/s concisting of "the local communities, police experts, media etc" to reform the police. I hope this will get somewhere.
You need to be tough on crime but tougher on the causes of crime ie unemployment, poverty, homelessness etc, an area where chavez is actually making a difference through the missions such as vuelvan caras and negra hipolita. And as for New york and its policing i consider that to be fascistic definately not community policing.
Two points:
You can be as tough as you like on crime but the end result depends on the courts. Justice is soooo slow in Venezuela, it's mind boggling.
Ow - "Its almost enough to make me wonder if Rosales owns gun manufacturing plants or something." Great line. I had to make myself stop laughing! 
By the way, the story about how "Chavez wants to get re-elected for life" is getting really popular around the world, and many even in the left are starting to listen to it.
Where can I get an unquestionable source to show that the matter is about the right to choose whoever one wants as many times as you want, not about "indefinite re-election"?
By the way, regarding sources in general, I would very much like to join in on the e-mailing. Contact me at lakrymosa@hotmail.com so we can share information and make our information-spreading efforts more effective...
When I was in Caracas, I visited Alta Vista and asked one of the residents about crime and getting a police presence into the neighborhood. His response was that you have to be very careful about inviting the police into the neighborhood. The problem would have to be addressed but very carefully. Let's not forget who participated in the golpe in 2002.
I believe that the Tupamaros do the policing in one of the barrios in Caracas and guess what? Crime fell drastically.
"His response was that you have to be very careful about inviting the police into the neighborhood."
Yup, some of the first people to go to jail should be cops. That is for sure.
So the opposition is now telling me that Rosales´plan will finally solve crime in Venezuela?
I´m sure lots of you know this but I figure it would be worthwhile to mention it once more: HENRY LOPEZ CISCO, former head of the Venezuela´s political police (DISIP) and primary suspect of the Yumare, Cantaura and El Amparo massacres, IS CURRENTLY HEAD OF SECURITY OF THE ROSALES CAMPAIGN. How th hell does Rosales plan to justify this? Oops, Im sorry I had no idea this guy was involved in any of this? Come on...
As for the rest, I am so baffled I don´t even know what to say. I put myself in the opposition´s shoes and I would probably be offended if this douchebag was the only option I had against Chavez..I mean GPS devices for cars? That´s the best idea the Rosales Camp can come up with to solve crime? Clearly the guy doesnt have a clue as to which country he is living in.
Some of my comments...
3)He will force all car manufacturers to put a GPS system in their cars that will allow the police to tract them if stolen.
This seems sort of silly. Is car theft really such a major problem when the vast majority of Venezuelans don’t own a car (although with the economy doing so well under Chavez that is starting to change)? I guess with this idea he is really giving away who his political base is. I also have to question whether the pro-business opposition would back a proposal imposing new mandates on private companies.
In any event, I’m sure the ever resourceful Venezuelan thieves would soon find a way to defeat this system and so this silly proposal likely wouldn’t accomplish anything.
Almost everyone I've known here has had a car or motorcycle stolen from them at one point in their lives. The most fortunate ones aren't around when it happens.
Lots of Venezuelens have cars, and they're buying more in record numbers. Sometimes people have to wait over a year on a list to purchase a new car. Highly sought after cars are appreciating on a yearly basis due to this shortage. This actually make purchasing a car a wise investment, as money in a bank will only be worth less in the coming years.
4. He may be refering to a zero-tolerance to crime in certain "decreed" areas with maximum punishments, much like how it is in the US around schools and the like.
At the end of the day, this list is a good start to the crime problem that has exploded on Chavez's watch.
"Almost everyone I've known here has had a car or motorcycle stolen from them at one point in their lives"
Goes to show who you know
"Lots of Venezuelens have cars,"
Thanks to Chavez sure. But car theft is hardly the major type of crime facing Venezuela
"He may be refering to a zero-tolerance to crime in certain "decreed" areas with maximum punishments, much like how it is in the US around schools and the like."
Why would having "zero-tolerance" to crime reduce it any more than "decreeing" it away? What EXACTLY will you do. Having "zero-tolerance" without saying exactly what you will do is empty rhetoric.
"much like how it is in the US around schools and the like"
Lets hope its not like the US where people just walk in with guns and shoot the place up.
"Almost everyone I've known here has had a car or motorcycle stolen from them at one point in their lives"
Goes to show who you know
Character attack. Cute but uneffective in a proving a point.
Why would having "zero-tolerance" to crime reduce it any more than "decreeing" it away? What EXACTLY will you do. Having "zero-tolerance" without saying exactly what you will do is empty rhetoric.
Reread what I wrote. I explained it already.
Lets hope its not like the US where people just walk in with guns and shoot the place up.
Nice spin, but again it's uneffecting in proving your point.
When you boil it all down, the root issue is whether the ordinary citizen is protected by the government. The simple answer is that they aren't.
Therefore, the question becomes what it would take for the government to be able to guarantee the safety of the population. Short of a serious police state, they can't.
Thus, the only solution is to allow the citizens to defend themselves, and that means that they have to have the means to defend themselves.
"An armed society is a polite society" is an axiom that has withstood the test of time.
For all of those here who like to get emotional about this situation, it cannot be denied that criminals will find a way to get guns, and by definition they don't care about gun laws. Why then should the law-abiding citizens be placed at a disadvantage? There is only one rational reason, and it is thus: governments like disarmed populations that are dependent on the police powers of the state and subject to the coercive powers of the state.
The only winners when the people are disarmed are the criminals and the state. The state actually has a vested interest in protecting the criminals and exacerbating the crime until the population is sufficiently angered to the point to allow a police state. The end result is tyranny.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and you can trust a politician to lie, cheat and steal to preserve and enhance their power. Government is the ultimate employer of sociopaths, and they tend to congregate there in great numbers with the worst sociopaths rising to the top. History proves this over and over.
Want to stop crime? Create an environment where the crime is punished on the spot by the intended (but well-armed) victim.
Almost nothing is more than zero, and zero is more than a negative quantity.
...and it certainly beats justifying and protecting criminal behavior from the Presidency of the Republic...
And I do not mean "crimes" like scoffing a purposely vague media law (with painful penalties however) or a totally moronic prohibition against "cacerolazos" or "insults" to the Supreme Cretin (I must be prosecuted, I guess hahaha). These they prosecute promptly and without delay.
But crimes crimes like invading someone else's property violently, stealing, embezzling state funds, or shooting at and beating political opponents. These are NOT even noticed by our Supremo.
federal loan for woman small business federal loan for woman small business federal loan for woman small business. description job loan mortgage officer description job loan mortgage officer description job loan mortgage officer.
Commenting by HaloScan
