Murdered for their guns, Venezuela's police are now victims of crime

Not even the police are safe in Venezuela. In a country which saw 24,000 murders recorded in 2013 and whose capital city Caracas was runner-up for murder capital of the world, 252 security officers have been killed in the country from January until October this year, in most cases simply because they were carrying something valuable – a gun. Pulvio Lisandro Toledo, 43, was one of them. On 1 September, after 18 years in the force, Toledo was on his police issue motorbike heading home when two individuals riding another motorcycle shot him. As he fell to the ground wounded, they searched his pockets; not finding his mandatory police weapon, they proceeded to shoot him fatally several more times. He left two young children behind. More…