It’s tough to rob banks when they have practically no money.
A woman walks through a nearly empty mall in the heart of Caracas on Feb. 14, 2019. By Mary Beth Sheridan , Mary Beth Sheridan Correspondent covering Mexico and Central America Email Bio Follow Mariana Zuñiga and Rachelle Krygier March 8 at 6:00 AM CARACAS, Venezuela —
Many Venezuelans don’t report robberies, and there are no reliable government statistics on many types of crime. But the Venezuela Violence Observatory, a respected nonprofit group, estimates that murders dropped from 89 per 100,000 people in 2017 to 81.4 last year. Its 2018 report, based on input from investigators at eight universities around the country, found signs that several other kinds of crime are also declining.
“In Venezuela, it’s just not profitable to be a thief anymore,” said Roberto Briceño-Leon, a sociologist who coordinates the observatory. Cabbie Mario Roja, 59, says he used to be robbed every few months, he says, but since Venezuela’s economy tanked, it’s been a year or two since he was held up: There’s nothing to steal. Mario Roja, 59, has driven a cab in Caracas for 30 years. He displays his baby with pride — a ’72 Dodge coupe, a rustbucket of green and blue metal parked in a working-class neighborhood carved into the Caracas hills. He used to get robbed every few months.
But after years in which Caracas was a dystopian, “Mad Max” world of robberies, kidnappings and carjackings, even the criminals are struggling.
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