VENEZUELA: Coping With A Homicide Rate Higher...Than Iraq's.

NYTIMES/ SIMON ROMERO/  With 9 fotos /
 The ever reliable Romero and the NYT are basically playing catch-up with the WSJ's Dan Molinski report of 21 Aug .

     With virtually the same population, last year in Iraq there were 4,644 civilian deaths from violence... while in Venezuela the number of murders climbed above 16,000...or almost FOUR TIMES as many! The nation has seen a decade-long surge in homicides, with about 118,541 since President Hugo Chávez took office in 1999. That compares unfavorably with the 22.7 per 100,000 people in Bogotá or the 14 per 100,000 in São Paulo.
Romero explores some of the reasons for the homicidal wave.
FOR THE WSJ REPORT WITH CHART, SEE:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703579804575441921817476204.html?mod=googlenews_wsj