Caracas Chronicles

The ink has not dried on the news that Sucre mayor Carlos Ocariz had been declared “the fourth-best mayor in the world” by the City Mayor Foundation, and we are finding out just what we (and Ocariz in particular) are up against.

First off, in a clear act of arson, seven garbage collection trucks were set ablaze by unknowns. The mayor was livid, as garbage collection has always been something they have struggled with – the government has put all sorts of roadblocks to prevent them from taking Sucre’s garbage to government landfills. The PSUV in turn said that the mayor was using the fire “as an excuse” to not do his job.

I’m no genius, but if you ask me, not having garbage trucks is a pretty good excuse, but anyway.

Last night, though, Sucre’s municipal police confronted a gang of criminals who fired back … using Russian-made AK-103 machine guns and grenades.

We’ve heard of Caracas’ malandros using grenades before, but this is the first time I hear of them attacking the police with these sorts of weapons.

We all knew where this was headed the moment Hugo Chavez decided to give military weapons to civilians. The excuse that time was to ward off some “imperialistic” invasion that was only going to happen in his head. The result was a sharp heightening of the chaos that is now choking Venezuelan society.

That is also part of his legacy.