The view from El Avila

Observations from the most dangerous city in the world

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October 10th 2008
Yes, it's official (it's in the news so it must be true); Caracas is currently the murder capital of the world with 130 murders per 100 000 inhabitants (compared to less than 2 in London) - and that doesn't even include prison-related murders or police violence, so it wouldn't be too adventurous to guess that the real ratio is substantially higher (although I'm really not sure what kind of statist ... read more

South America » Venezuela » Capital » Caracas

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Venezuela was one of three countries that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830 (the others being Colombia and Ecuador). For most of the first half of the 20th century, Venezuela was ruled by generally benevolent military strongmen, who ... ... read more