riothero on Venezuela arrests American ‘mercenary’, says Hugo Chávez
I wonder if the Chavez government did make tackling local crime a top priority (rather than land reform, housing, food, healthcare, etc.) whether the opposition wouldn’t, in fact, be more inclined to denounce him as a ‘dictator’… After all, to tackle local crime, he would have to develop a highly trained, disciplined, militarized police force. He would likely have to increase the police force’s presence and surveillance in various (rich and poor) neighborhoods; he would need to order the construction of supermax security prisons like in Colombia, Brazil, and the U.S. Like in the countries just mentioned, there would undoubtedly be instances of police brutality that are difficult to control…. Something tells me as much as the opposition is demanding a crackdown on crime, they wouldn’t like it at all.
For example, the international media has already, for years, portrayed the government’s efforts to crack down on crime in the corrupt banking sector and justice system as instances of supposed ‘political persecution’. Read the excellent “Fighting Corruption or Persecuting Political Opponents in Venezuela? A Response to the New York Times”.