In this roundtable interview, experts on crime and security in Venezuela discussthe country’s spiral of violence, its origins, escalation, and potential solutions.

Rebecca Hanson, Andrés Antillano, Keymer Ávila & Verónica Zubillaga

NACLA Report on the Americas, 49:3, pp. 309-3014 / Published on line: 14 Sep. 2017

Despite gains in social and economic rights in Venezuela, both Hugo Chávez’s government andthat of current president Nicolás Maduro havebeen unable to protect perhaps the most basic right as-sociated with the state—the right to life. Homicide ratesin the country began to rise in the 1990s, but have in-creased dramatically since Chávez took office: from 25homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 1999 to 70 per100,000 inhabitants in 2016.

In June I led a roundtable via Skype with three ex-perts on crime and citizen security in Venezuela to talkabout the current state of violence in the country andhow politics and security policies have exacerbated in-security. Contributors to the roundtable include Andrés Antillano, Keymer Ávila, and Verónica Zubillaga.

Continue reading online.