Chavez criticizes US take on crime in Venezuela [View all]

[Bacchus4.0]

http://news.yahoo.com/chavez-criticizes-us-crime-venezuela-235929830.html;_ylt=Au_HFRT5TFxBx._eMfeFtw.s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTVoNmV1bm11BGNjb2RlA2dtcHRvcDEwMDBwb29sd2lraXVwcmVzdARtaXQDTmV3cyBGb3IgWW91IDUgU3RvcmllcwRwa2cDNGQ4N2EwOWYtZDg5ZS0zZmY5LWEyN2ItNTFkMGUzNTFjNGVjBHBvcwM1BHNlYwNNZWRpYUJMaXN0TWl4ZWROZXdzRm9yWW91Q0EEdmVyA2RhMjM3YTIwLTc4ZDktMTFlMS1iNjVmLWMxZTVlMWJkMmZmYw--;_ylg=X3oDMTFrM25vcXFyBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdAMEcHQDc2VjdGlvbnMEdGVzdAM-;_ylv=3

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is taking issue with the U.S. State Department for posting a statement advising travelers to beware of rampant violent crime in his country.

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The website of the U.S. Embassy in Caracas includes a link to the statement on State Department travel site describing safety threats in Venezuela. The statement notes that violent crime in the country is widespread and says the murder rate has been cited as being among the top five in the world.

The statement refers to increasing numbers of killings and kidnappings in the country, and cites data from the Venezuelan Violence Observatory, a non-governmental group tracks crime. The organization's tally of homicide figures from police totaled more than 19,000 during 2011, and it described the year as the most violent in Venezuela's history.

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Chavez defended his socialist government's anti-crime efforts and said violent crime is a problem "inherited from the capitalist time" before he took office in 1999.