Control and Charm won’t solve any of the problems Venezuela is facing

Michael Shifter, a Georgetown University professor and vice-president of the Inter-American Dialogue think tank in his visit of Caracas has expressed his views of Chavez’s government saying that we are seeing an accumulation of power in a president who makes all the decisions therefore harming governance. In the last 11 years Venezuela’s government has apparently become more autocratic and it is no longer liberal democracy with power balance, which cannot function effectively in our globalized world. Shifter also warns that if problems that affect the majority, which are the poor, are not solved then control and charm become the methods used to stay in office and maintain power. Is this what we are seeing in Venezuela at the moment?

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Can Positive Change Happen in Venezuela’s Corrupt Police Agencies?

Venezuela’s police is one of the most corrupt in Latin America and Venezuela’s interior minister has recently admitted that the police is involved in 20 % of the crimes committed. Therefore Chavez’s government will work on setting up a national police force since currently there is no united police systems in Venezuela rather there are different police bodies/agencies.

In order to really restructure the police system experts are saying that the $120 a month salary is pushing the policemen into corruption.

Citizens worry that not much will be changed as there is no sense of trust between the police and the citizens. Over 10,000 people have been killed by the police in recent years.

For Venezuelans crime rate is their highest concern and the fact that the government has even acknowledged this issue as well as the police’s role may appear on the surface to be a step towards change but many still remain pessimistic.

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