Caracas Chronicles

A few months ago, Hugo Chávez suddenly realized that, yes, crime was a problem.

With the election now in the history books, folks can go back to killing each other in peace, courtesy of the President’s paquetazo.

Wanna know how much of a priority crime-fighting is for the inept ruler of Venezuela? Venezuela’s 2013 Budget includes a cut in public safety funds.

According to Veneconomy, the budget

• slashes funding for public safety and internal security by 38%;
• cuts funds for the justice and prosecution systems by 17%; and
• lets loose 35.9% of the police officers under the helm of the Interior Ministry.

Oh, but wait. There are things that increase, a ton: the defense budget is up 25.8%, and the number of soldiers increases by 5.6%.

What do you call a government that cuts basic services and increases defense spending? Clueless.

What do you call a government that does this in the middle of an oil boom and an unprecedented crime wave? Murderous.