Venezuela becoming the capital of organized crime, amid raging scarcity (video)

A new study shows that, in Venezuela’s larger cities, the line between street crime and organized crime is turning increasingly blurry. About 40 percent of all murders in the country are now caused by clashes between organized bands, according to a report issued last month by the Organized Crime Observatory, an NGO funded by the European Community. Luis Cedeño, one of the study’s authors, said Venezuela has become a haven for organized crime in recent years, fueled by a widespread scarcity that often stirs chaos and despair. “We found that the most common crime in Venezuela is organized crime,” Cedeño told Fox News Latino. Venezuela currently has one of the world’s highest murder rates, 25,000 homicides per year in 2014 - a fourfold increase in 16 years. More…