El Callao es el municipio más violento de Venezuela según el OVV
The Venezuelan Observatory of Violence (OVV) presented its 2023 annual violence report, in which it also places Bolívar State, in southern Venezuela, as the third most violent state.
By Pableysa Ostos/Correspondent lapatilla.com
According to the cases documented last year by the ONG ‘OVV-Bolívar’ (Venezuelan Observatory of Violence – Bolívar chapter), the rate of violent deaths recorded last year was 38.5 per 100,000 inhabitants, only surpassed by the Capital District with 50.8 and Miranda State with 41 victims per 100,000 people.
In relation to the year 2022, this indicator decreased 22.6%. Despite this, the rate of violent deaths in Bolívar is higher than the national average, which was calculated at 26.8, as stated in a press release from the organization.
The OVV highlighted that of the 11 municipalities in Bolívar State, the most violent were El Callao, Sifontes and Roscio, which are in mining areas.
The coordinator of the OVV-Bolívar, Eumelys Moya, warned through the press release that: “the mining areas of the state were the main locus of violence, with the municipality of El Callao being the most violent in the country with a rate of 424.7 victims per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Sifontes with a rate of 151 victims and Roscio with 134.3 violent deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.”
From the observatory they point out that starting from 10 victims per 100,000 inhabitants (a figure exceeded by all states in the country), lethal violence is classified as an epidemic.
In total, through press monitoring, the observatory counted a total of 582 violent deaths in Bolívar for 2023, 186 less than in 2022. This number is discriminated into 150 homicides, 41 deaths in police interventions (MIP) and 391 deaths under investigation, to which one must add at least 163 disappearances.
The homicides recorded leave Bolívar as the fourth state with the most reports of this type of crime in 2023. Likewise, the entity was ranked sixth in the national ranking in deaths due to police intervention and fourth in the number of deaths under investigation of the entire country, the OVV remarked.
Interpersonal violence
The press release highlighted that during January-October 2023, the State of Bolívar recorded 363 crimes of interpersonal violence, 61 cases less than the total reported in the period from January to November 2022.
Of this figure, 188 cases (53%) correspond to assaults, this being the crime with the highest occurrence in the entity, followed by robberies with 72 (20%), and in third place intentional homicides with 64 (18%).
The rest is divided between 15 rapes, five of other sexual assaults and one of sexual exploitation, which add up to 5% of the total. There were also three kidnappings, two death threats and one coercion that accounted for the remainder with a forced disappearance that finishes the register of violence in the state.
Women and children are the main victims
Among the different crimes of interpersonal violence reported by the media, the OVV-Bolívar counted 465 victims and 453 perpetrators.
Of the victims, it was known that 61% were male and 37% were female. The majority were between 10 and 14 years old (18%), followed by the group 25 to 29 years old (14%) and between 15 and 19 years old (12%), showing that sex crimes in the state are concentrated on children, girls and adolescents (NNA), and young adults.
The observatory’s regional team emphasizes that there is a significant representation of minors who are victims of crimes, these are generally related to physical and sexual assaults (rape and lascivious acts).
This trend is also related to the fact that 31% of the aggressors are family members or known to the victim, and the main reasons are described as gender-based violence. The observatory points out that in cases in which the link between the victim and the perpetrator was determined, 20% of the aggressors turned out to be the partner or ex-partner, another blood relative, another known offender, neighbors, parents or stepparents.
