The most dangerous city in the world is Caracas. Caracas. Is he as scary as they say he is? Pads and tampons also became scarce, and I once had to go to an underground kiosk to buy them. The selection there was better than any hypermarket

The city of Caracas is, without exaggeration, the most dangerous city in South America and one of the most dangerous cities in the world. In addition, unlike most other Latin American capitals, the city is uninteresting and not very beautiful. In general, everything hints that there is no need to visit it, and if you really have to, then stay in it as little as possible.
However, in total I spent about 10 days in it.

“Why go to Caracas at all?” you ask? Well, firstly, the capital is somehow difficult to get past if you are flying into the country. Secondly, Caracas is one of the most convenient points of arrival/departure to/from South America. This is the reason why I was in it for so long.

Despite the fact that the city of Santiago de Leon de Caracas was one of the first founded in Latin America, very little ancient architecture has been preserved in it. 95% of the city's buildings are new buildings and slums.

The remake sometimes looks very stylish.

It makes sense to stay in Caracas if you want to get to know Venezuelan culture better. Visit museum exhibitions.
This is what the pedestrian streets look like in the center in the vicinity of the city's central square - Bolivar.

Government building - Capitol.

Small architectural ensemble

One of the most beautiful cathedrals in the center

There are many strange structures in Caracas. Here, for example, is Plaza Caracas, south of the center.

A bit of Stalinist architecture (ugh, where did I go)

And that’s it, even in the center the following cityscapes dominate:

One of the most important attractions of Caracas is Mausoleum of Simon Bolivar! Do not miss.

It's beautiful and formal inside

The grave of the great Liberator is guarded by a guard of honor

I just happened to be on his shift.

In addition to Bolivar, other outstanding figures who left an indelible mark on the history of the country are buried in the mausoleum. Rafael Urdaneta, Francisco de Miranda and many others. Of course, it is planned to move the ashes of Hugo Chavez here (most likely they are already there)

And very close to the Pantheon...

Nearby is the national library, decorated with the latest technology. The Bolivarian government devotes a lot of effort to the intellectual development of the nation

Everything else interesting is located east of the center. For example, Central Park. Which, in fact, is not a park at all, but a complex of high-rise buildings that form one long structure with two skyscraper towers.

The complex is very interesting from the inside. All sorts of galleries, hanging gardens

You can climb to high places. But you need to get permission from below first.

To the east of the complex you can find a mosque.

Even further to the east is the business center of the city, the main walking area is the boulevard Sabana Grande.

In the distance we see a triangular high-rise building on squares of Venezuela, where the boulevard begins.

There are a lot of shops and cafes here, and in general it’s quite fun

Don't be like that citizen in Caracas!

Even further east is another business district of the city - Chacao(there will also be a good place in front of him - Chakaito, like "little Chacao")

The main avenue here is Francisco de Miranda. Business activity is concentrated along it.

Beyond Chacao comes the region Altamira. All sorts of embassies and other good things are located here.

Venezuelan worker and collective farmer

All of the above areas east of the center are quite safe and pleasant. You can walk along them quite calmly. In the center, security is somewhat worse - there you can only walk along pedestrian streets and a few others in the vicinity of Bolivar Square. It’s no longer worth going too far south.

The rest of Caracas looks quite brutal. This is a slum

slum

slum

slum

and, of course, the slums

Don’t think that I just decided to post identical frames for you. These are all the harsh Venezuelan realities. To give you an idea of ​​the scale of the disaster, a post where the number of photographs of different types of buildings corresponded to their percentage in the city, then such frames would take up 60% of the entire post.

There are many, many, many slums. No Rio, no Sao Paulo, and even Lima, which seems to consist entirely of slums, can compare with Caracas.

However, I talked with one girl who lives in such neighborhoods. She says that they have everything - running water (cold and hot), electricity and the Internet (and in some places they don’t have all of this...)

In some places there is a multi-storey option. By the way, you will see these views on the way from the airport.

The most dangerous areas of Caracas are considered to be the slums that have grown up on the hills - barrios.

Numerous murders, kidnappings and robberies have given the capital of Venezuela, Caracas, first place among the criminal capitals of the world and this greatly affects the lifestyle of local residents, writes New Time magazine

Rules for walking the streets of Caracas

Three times a week, Jonathan, a 25-year-old resident of Caracas, leaves home early in the morning to be at his English class by seven o'clock. Like many city dwellers, before going out, he hides his mobile phone in his underwear and only takes it out when he arrives at his destination.

“The easiest thing to steal is a phone,” the Venezuelan explains his actions. If the phone rings on public transport or on the street, Jonathan will not answer the call. Everyone in Caracas knows that if the caller doesn't answer, it means he's on his way.

According to him, crime in Caracas “has already grown into a kind of cultural phenomenon, it is part of the city.”

The most dangerous areas of Caracas are considered to be the slums that have grown up on the hills - barrios. The local poor have no education and can barely make ends meet, which is why they often resort to robbery and murder, Jonathan says.

In the context of a food crisis, city residents are forced to remain on alert during daylight hours, especially on the way home from the store. “Purchases should be hidden in an opaque bag or backpack, because robbers may be after them,” he told NV another safety rule in the city.

Venezuelans also advise visitors to always keep an old mobile phone or a small amount of money in their pocket so that, if necessary, they can give it to robbers. This precaution is not accidental: if the victim has nothing to steal, the bandits can “punish” him. And then a knife or even a firearm is used.

At the same time, it is dangerous to resist bandits: having weapons with them, they can kill. Therefore, most people prefer to give what is asked of them, Jonathan states.

Bars, barbed wire and security for the rich

Constant danger dictates a special way of life for the residents of the metropolis and even shapes the appearance of the capital. Thus, windows in local high-rise buildings are often barred to the very top floor.

“The whole city is behind bars, barbed wire and electric fences,” Christian Boris, a Canadian journalist who traveled to Caracas for work in July, describes neighborhoods in the Venezuelan capital.

Wealthy citizens, diplomats and businessmen prefer to fight back against criminals with someone else's hands, for which they hire personal security. According to representatives of security organizations in Caracas, since 2003, the demand for their services began to grow significantly.

Record number of murders

Just in the early 2000s, after the ideologist of the Bolivarian revolution Hugo Chavez came to power, the crime rate curve in Venezuela rushed up. During the first four years of his reign, the number of intentional murders in the country increased from 25 to 44 cases per 100 thousand people. And by 2008, the Venezuelan capital was in the top ten most dangerous cities in the world and never left it. According to 2016 data from the Mexican Citizens' Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice, there are a record number of intentional homicides here - about 130 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants.

Murders on the streets of Caracas have become so common that in 2011, the local non-governmental organization Venezuelan Violence Observatory launched an advertising campaign under the slogan “Value Life.” With their campaign, activists tried to convey a simple message: if you want to rob a bus, you don’t have to kill the driver.

Police in Caracas are in no hurry to be active in patrolling the streets. Many are afraid for their own lives, and with good reason. In just 9 months of 2015, 112 police officers were killed in Caracas, many of them attacked simply to take away their service weapons.

Corruption and crime in security forces

“The police and military [in Venezuela] are very corrupt,” Jonathan confirms. The law here is applied selectively, and therefore the security forces can easily get away with any crimes. As a result, impunity among civil servants creates a disdainful attitude towards the law among the rest of the population, experts note.

Law enforcement officers demonstrate their inadequacy not only in protecting citizens, but also in investigating crimes. So, after a robbery, the police arrive at the scene 20 minutes later and say: since the thief has escaped, they cannot help, Jonathan describes a typical situation.

“Investigations here are only for enemies of the government,” he notes with bitter irony.

However, local residents do not count too much on the help of the security forces. Moreover, law enforcement officers are afraid here. “People in Caracas say that the police are the worst criminals; they can rob you first,” shares journalist Boris.

Nicolas Maduro, like his predecessor Chavez, prefers to fight violence through military special operations. This policy, called the “iron fist,” involves harsh repressive methods and, according to human rights activists, only contributes to the violation of the rights of citizens.

There are known cases when paramilitary units deployed to the streets of Caracas attacked the local residents themselves. Local and foreign media have repeatedly written about the involvement of Venezuelan security forces in other crimes. Thus, several military officers and high-ranking police officers were arrested in cases of kidnapping. And members of the Venezuelan army were accused of drug smuggling and enrichment through illegal trade across the border with Colombia.

The head of one of the largest kidnapping gangs in the Venezuelan capital has spoken in detail about how he stalks and takes away his victims, how he kills those who do not pay ransoms, as well as his network of corrupt police officers.

In a chilling interview with the Daily Mail, conducted literally at gunpoint in the lawless slums of western Caracas, the gang leader admitted he had no remorse about the power of his reign of terror over a city drowning in economic crisis.

“If they don't pay the ransom after a week, we dig a two-meter hole and shoot them in the face with a shotgun so that no one can identify the body. They remain on the list of missing persons forever. I’m the boss in this city,” he says.

The number of kidnappings in Venezuela has risen sharply after oil prices fell and sparked widespread shortages and unrest. An overstaffed police force is unable to cope with the crime wave that has brought the country to its knees.

Caracas, which has been called the most dangerous city on earth, has the highest number of murders, with 3,946 people killed in the city of 3.3 million in 2015 alone. According to police data, 85% of deaths in Caracas are violent.

The police publicly admit that they cannot cope with crime. Santiago Rosas, chief of the El Hatillo police department, who patrols on a motorcycle in one of the city's most dangerous areas, said police can now protect only nine percent of the population.

The leader of a kidnapping gang, just 23 years old, makes chilling confessions about how he weaves a network around the police and takes advantage of the plight of people who scavenge for food. Sitting in the shadows with a mask on his face, he says: “I have no remorse because the people we kidnap have plenty of money. We usually get a tip from someone who has a grudge against that person. He tells us that he knows the victim has money and is aware of the route she is taking. We know a lot of private bodyguards, and when they feel like they're underpaid, they give us the information they need so we can kidnap their wealthy employer, and we give them a kickback."

Perhaps the gang leader is exaggerating his “exploits.” But Santiago Rosas, chief of the El Hatillo police station, said its reliance on intelligence and its ability to hold onto its victims for long periods of time meant it was one of the largest criminal groups in Caracas. Most kidnappings are carried out by fly-by-night gangs called express kidnappers. The gang leader's claim of 300 members may be an exaggeration, the policeman says, but even if there are 150 people, that is already the size of the municipal police department.

As the economic crisis worsened, the ransom price skyrocketed, despite the average salary being $20 a month. As a result of the first kidnapping, which the gang committed five years ago, the criminals managed to get $170. Now they're asking for at least $17,000.

The gang, which calls itself “kings of the city,” has informers and informants in all walks of life, including among the military and police. According to Transparency International, Venezuela is the ninth most corrupt country in the world.

“There is a lot of competition in the kidnapping market. “Many police officers do this too,” the gang leader said. - There are two types of cops. Some are smart, who understand that it is not wise to be at enmity with us, while others are stupid, who have grenades flying through their window. The smart ones give us rapid-fire weapons, bullets, and uniforms. We have people who work for us, in the municipal, in the people's police and in the army, and they make sure that we are well equipped."

“We have much better weapons than the police. We have four houses in this area that we use as storage areas for weapons and explosives. While your car was approaching, my men were training, aiming at you with sniper weapons,” adds the 23-year-old bandit.

This is all too familiar to police in El Hatillo, where an anti-corruption raid has fired 41 people over two years on charges of kidnapping, robbery and murder. “The situation is exactly as he described, that's for sure,” Rosas says. - They have the best weapons. We hope there aren't too many smart cops in our county, but being an honest cop is dangerous."

Two years ago, an audit of the El Hatillo Police Department's arsenal revealed that 20 guns and 1,000 shells were missing. It is assumed that they were handed over to criminals. To put into perspective just how bad the crime situation is in Caracas, last year a woman called the police when she saw the front door of her house open and ended up being burglarized by six responding police officers.

Police officers in Venezuela have some of the most dangerous jobs, making it difficult to recruit new officers. Police officers receive just $16 a month, forcing them to live side by side with their enemies in the heart of a gang-infested slum.

In the criminal world, killing a police officer is a condition for promotion to a higher position among underground gangs. In 2015, 173 police officers were killed in the capital. Since the beginning of 2016, 64 law enforcement officers have already been killed, a 14% increase compared to the same period last year.

Last year, an El Hatillo Police Department officer was attacked in his own home. He was shot 14 times in the face and 12 times in the body in front of his wife and two small children. In Caracas, crime has merged with everyday life. While journalists interviewed the gang leader at gunpoint, people went about their business along the street and children played outside the brightly painted houses in the slums.

On average, according to the leader of the kidnappers, his gang kills several people a month and kidnaps someone every week. They do not discriminate between men, women or the elderly when it comes to kidnappings, and will even kidnap a child if they are confident that they will receive a large enough ransom for it. He added that they are working on a kidnapping that could bring them $34,500.

“Last Thursday, we kidnapped the school principal because one of her students told us she was full of money. We demanded a ransom of 17.6 thousand dollars, and her family paid within seven hours. Everything went very smoothly, it was a good deal.” The gang leader said the kidnapping took place near a hotel where Daily Mail journalists were staying in Caracas' business district.

The criminal group also claims to be running a lucrative drug business. “Sometimes we kill victims if they make us angry. Once I killed a man because he begged to be left alive. He didn’t have a bit of courage, so I shot him.” The boss claims to have killed at least twenty people with his own hands and ordered the execution of hundreds more.

The gang leader described in detail how the kidnappings take place. A team of informants stalks the streets quietly and spends weeks gathering information about a wealthy man whose life is on a schedule. A team of four then tracks the victim's car, following in front of it rather than behind it. “We already know his route exactly,” he explained.

On a relatively empty street, they stop in front of the victim's car and force the man into their car. An abandoned car usually remains standing. “When we bring them to our slums, we treat them the same way we treated you today. We force them to keep their heads down, search them and force them to sit on metal chairs. Our faces are always covered. If they resist, we shoot at the legs. We don't waste time torturing or cutting off an ear to send to the family as shown in the movies. If they don’t pay or don’t cooperate, we just kill them,” says the group’s leader.

Many gang members are teenagers, some as young as ten years old. As they become more powerful, they feel more and more impunity. Between 92 and 97 percent of those arrested with clear evidence are released because of a justice system riddled with corruption and nepotism, Rosas says. “This is Venezuelan justice. This is one of our biggest and deepest problems,” he says.

The confusion is especially felt by police officers on the front line. In April, Rosas' men arrested a motorcycle gunman who shot someone in the area. Less than two months later, the suspect paid the bribe and was released.

To make matters worse, Venezuelan prisons are run by the prisoners themselves, and the authorities simply keep them inside. Prisons are filled with weapons and drugs and act as incubators for violence.

In Venezuela, there is one firearm for every two people. It is the most armed country in the world. Most firearms have come into the hands of ordinary citizens, either legally or illegally, from the authorities themselves.

Hugo Chavez, the legendary Venezuelan leader who died in 2013, organized hundreds of armed vigilantes to take to the streets and defend his socialist ideology in times of crisis. Thus, gun ownership became widespread throughout the country and significantly increased the murder rate.

The police department Rosas leads is in a part of Caracas that is run by opposition politicians, so he can speak freely. However, he said the government was increasingly trying to control independent police forces. He believes the government is largely to blame for the security crisis in Venezuela. In 2014, authorities tried to reduce conflict between police and gangs by declaring “peace zones” across the country where police were prohibited from trespassing. After this, local gangs united into huge groups and captured areas ranging from several blocks to the area of ​​​​a small town.

In Caracas alone there are four “peace zones” covering an area of ​​15.5 square kilometers. The police are only allowed to collect corpses. “It was obvious that this was going to happen,” Rosas says. “It was a crazy decision in a land of crazy decisions.”

Many children become involved in the criminal world from a very early age. The gang leader himself began selling drugs on the street and stealing from shops at age 13 because he was treated poorly at home. He then moved on to car theft, armed robbery and murder, and then used the money he earned to form his own gang of bandits he hired.

According to him, his first fatal victim was a man who tried to stop him during a store robbery. “I shot him in the stomach with a .38 caliber revolver and later learned that he had died,” the gang leader recalls. “I was angry at him and scared of the police, but I knew he deserved it.” He was bigger than me, he didn’t have to try to stop me.”

Now he doesn't waste time cleaning up the crime scene because he knows the police won't investigate it anyway. “It gives me a great feeling. I am powerful, I am better than other people who work for 20 dollars a month. I earned respect for my intelligence and cruelty. If someone crosses my path, I will kill him in front of everyone, so that they know that I am the boss in this city.”

Soon there will be one less altar for co-wankers. The 21st century socialism that Chavez built never came to fruition. The opposition has already gained the upper hand in parliament, and soon there will be a referendum on the removal of the country's President Maduro, and, according to all forecasts, he will have to leave.

Today Venezuela is all about queues and wild crime. After the death of Hugo Chavez, the situation changed greatly for the worse. The crime rate has increased. Now you can’t just walk around the city with technology, jewelry, or even a good watch. In terms of the number of intentional murders, Venezuela has previously been at the top of all ratings, but today it claims first place. In the first 3 months of 2016, the number of murders in Venezuela increased by 47% compared to the same period in 2014. The number of kidnappings immediately increased by 170%. And these are just statistics from outside observers. One can only guess what passes by her.

Due to a lack of money, the current President Maduro has reduced spending on the police (now there is almost none), and gangs operate in different areas of the city. There are very few safe areas. People can be robbed and killed in the city center, in the subway, in the park - anywhere. Somehow the authorities control several blocks in the center, where government buildings are located, and blocks in wealthy areas. But there has long been no trust in the police (as well as in the National Guard). The attitude towards the army has also changed a lot. Previously, there was always respect, but after the events of 2014, everyone considers them executioners, they went against the people. Any wealthy Venezuelan has personal security.

This time I had to hire security too. Three years ago I rode freely in a regular car with a driver, walking around the slums. But today the car is armored and there are several guards. I go to the subway, go down to the station, and the security guard says: “You see, there isn’t a single policeman at the station today? That means they might kill you.” Passers-by on the street, seeing the camera, make scared eyes and recommend hiding it.

There are a lot of stories online about how diplomats were robbed, how tourists were kidnapped and ransom demanded. Everyone recommends that in the event of a robbery, not to resist, but to immediately give everything, then there will be a chance to stay alive. RIA Novosti recently wrote that in the city most of the criminal groups working against foreigners are coordinated from one center. “These groups include employees of airports, hotels, rental offices - everyone who comes into contact with visitors, so renting cars and showing money is very dangerous,” says a police source.

They can really kill. Caracas, the capital and largest city of Venezuela, was once again ranked as one of the most dangerous cities in the world in 2015. There were 119.87 murders per 100 thousand inhabitants. In general, data on the number of murders varies. Some sources write about 134, 160 and even 200 murders. The bloodiest month of 2016 for Caracas was June. During this month, about 400 people were killed in the city, according to El Nacional. The authorities do not publish official statistics on murders.

Today, Caracas is the most dangerous city in the world where there is no war.

My friend Oksana, who lived in the country for a year and a half, told me in more detail about the criminal situation in Venezuela, both in Caracas and in the provinces.

Security in Venezuela is a very sensitive topic; many foreigners do not pay enough attention to it. Or they didn’t pay attention until, for example, in 2014, they killed a German tourist right at the entrance to the Eurobuilding hotel (they were tracking him from the airport, presumably after seeing something valuable) and an Egyptian right at the exit from the airport. For me personally, it was a shock when my boyfriend, with whom we were driving around Caracas in a car, asked me to hide my iPhone, because, I quote, “motorizados will drive up, a gun through the window, if we don’t give it up, they’ll kill us.” It was wild for me. For Venezuelans, having a phone hidden in your underwear is a chore.

There is no scarier creature than a “motorisado” or “choro” - a bandit on a motorcycle (at one time, “Bera” motorcycles were sold cheaply under a preferential program). For any Venezuelan, the most terrifying sound is the sound of a returning motorcycle. On motorcycles it is easy to surround the car you like in order to steal it or simply rob the driver and passengers. A motorcycle taxi driver can easily deliver clients during the day and rob and kill at night.

Motorcyclists really pose a danger: at best, they can steal something from you, as in other Latin American countries, at worst, they can shoot you.

Even the locals don’t go into the slums, “barrios” - it’s dangerous, any stranger there is studied for “what to take.” It is believed that the birthplace of the punks, "malandros", is the state of Vargas (this is where the Caracas airport is), but after a landslide in 1999, when a huge number of residential buildings were destroyed, many local residents were resettled in other states and thus spread throughout Venezuela. But this is one of the versions.

The truth is that Chavez's policies were aimed at cajoling the lower classes of society: they were given houses, monthly benefits, cars, etc. Everything to get votes in elections and popular support. Thus, it was not necessary to work: everything for life will be given anyway, and you can earn additional income by robbing people. In the last couple of years, the oil needle on which Chavez was holding on has failed, oil has fallen in price, and the country has become short of money. The result of this policy was a shortage of essential products, in fact, famine. As a direct consequence of this, crime has increased. No job will bring in as much money as criminal activity.

Kidnapping has become one of the most popular types of this activity. This could be a kidnapping express, a “carousel”, when criminals simply drive around the city and gather well-dressed people into the trunk of an SUV and then ask for a ransom according to the principle “Who’s your dad? Well, he’ll give you 10 thousand dollars.” Or a planned kidnapping: a person is studied what he has, where he lives, where he works, what kind of relatives he has... The ransom amount can be 100-200 thousand dollars. I have a friend who was kidnapped. It was a long time ago, really. They confused him with his cousin, kept him blindfolded for a week, finally told him they would kill him, took him out in a car, pushed him into the street and shot him in the air. Nowadays, as a rule, they are not left alive...

Hunger makes people more aggressive. Now they kill for a phone (they stole my phone, but asked for ransom; where is that poor locked iPhone now...), for a watch, for a package of groceries, for good shoes. I was personally robbed in Venezuela twice: the first time with a phone from a car, the second with a bag at the entrance to a hotel, but both times secretly and without weapons (the first was clearly based on a tip). My friend was robbed with a gun twice. Once they were having lunch with a group in a restaurant - armed people came in and collected all the phones from the table. The second time, he very wisely went for a walk at night in a resort village with a bag containing 30,000 bolivars (that was still money back then). The notorious motorizados drove up, took off my bag, threatening me with a pistol - it’s good that they didn’t kill me (but they could have).

The crime situation now is such that people are afraid. They are afraid to have nice things, dress well, drive a nice car (cars are difficult, but that’s another story). Going out with a good watch, a phone, a gold chain: life-threatening. I remember how in the small village where we lived, our local driver came up to me and warned me that one young man should put away his Samsung watch (which is a smart watch, or something), because the hotel workers had already chatted all over village that he has them (the same village where my iPhone was stolen). It is very dangerous to drive a car outside the city in the dark, and deadly if the car breaks down. The modus operandi of modern robbers is to throw a stone or a branch onto the highway and light a fire to force the car to stop. The Puerto Cabello - Valencia highway is considered the most dangerous in this regard (it was there that Miss Venezuela Monica Speer was killed).

The main problem I see is that human life has no meaning for a criminal. Shooting a person is not a problem at all. Old man, woman, child. I'm not even talking about men. The first rule for a victim in any robbery is not to resist: then, perhaps, they will be left alive. Criminals are not shy about passers-by, cameras, or daylight. It seems that young people from the lower strata of society see some kind of romance in this. There are memes on the Internet about “You have a motorcycle and a gun, all the chicks love you.” This is easy money, easy money, impunity. The prison system is also terrible. As far as I understand, the prisoners themselves rule inside the prisons; there are not even guards there, so they perceive prison as an opportunity to lie low for a while and rest (this does not apply to political prisoners).

This police post was bombarded with grenades a couple of weeks ago.

Now the situation in the country is such that working as a police officer is also dangerous. Policemen began to be killed, not only on duty, as a result of resistance, but also simply to rob. Recently, a policeman was killed in front of his children in order to take a bicycle.

Sometimes bandits raid police posts. While the authorities are in a panic trying to investigate the attack, even less attention is paid to ordinary robbers, and they can continue to engage in bloody gop-stop. This year alone, and in Greater Caracas alone, 104 security forces (police and guards) were killed.

Police with flasks on their backs. The main task of the police now is to control queues at stores to prevent looting, and also to protect rallies. I don't have enough strength for anything anymore.

A policeman rides a motorcycle with a wad of money. There are only a few dollars in this pack. But even this picture is not very typical for Caracas.

Any building should be behind a high fence; those who are richer also have an electric fence on top. Who is poorer - broken glass and barbed wire. There are always bars on the top floors of houses to prevent burglars from climbing in from the roof.

An ordinary entrance to an ordinary house where the local “middle class” lives. There are bars, cameras and live wires everywhere.

This is what an ordinary residential building looks like: everything is also covered in bars, lights around the perimeter, barbed wire...

US Embassy fence

Fence of the Russian Embassy)

The embassy itself. I wanted to take a photo with a beautiful sign, but I couldn’t find it (

At the entrance to each establishment there must be a menu with prices, as well as warning signs: you cannot enter with weapons and you cannot smoke.

Such signs should also be in public buildings in the most visible place. For example, this is the wall behind the reception desk in my hotel.

Even in a restaurant, signs should hang in every room!

Behind the scenes) Strange law.

Chavez broadcasts from every iron.

The center is quite clean, given the general poverty and collapsed economy.

What's the best way to translate? Something like “Maduro was born in my heart”? In general, Chavez recommends Maduro. More precisely, Maduro uses the dead man for self-promotion, which does not really help him.

Subway entrance.

During rush hour it is almost impossible to board the train.

People miss 5 trains just to get on board.

There is a crush inside.

A simple metro ticket costs 4 bolivars, about 25 kopecks. A round trip trip combined with a bus costs 12 bolivars (75 kopecks). A ticket for 10 trips is 2 rubles 25 kopecks, for 40 trips - 9 rubles. Why so cheap? Firstly, it’s all about the unofficial bolivar exchange rate. For 1 dollar on the black market you can buy 1000 bolivars. The official exchange rate within the country is one and a half times higher, and they generally try to sell 1 bolivar to foreigners for 10 cents. The difference is 100 times! That is, if the Venezuelan economy worked normally, a trip by metro would cost 25 rubles. And we shouldn’t forget that the state is trying to regulate prices for a number of goods and services. Therefore, the metro is almost free.

Huge queues for ground transport as well. Large buses run between districts.

Minibuses run in a specific area.

The main erogenous zone for Venezuelan fans is the gas station! Gasoline is really very cheap here. It costs about 4 rubles per liter. Previously it cost 2 rubles.

Consider gas free. Is it good or is it bad?

Coffee is sold on the street.

Book collapse

In order to make at least some money, people sell everything.

Yoga in the center)

Today, the main goal of any Venezuelan is to get something. They get bread, milk, medicine. There are no essential goods on sale at all. You won't even buy soap and milk. That’s why everyone walks the streets with bags and asks each other where they “threw away” things.

The main differences from fraternal Cuba:

There is civilization in Venezuela! There is normal internet here, there are good restaurants and hotels. In Caracas there is McDonald's and other international fast food. Here you can easily buy expensive alcohol, imported food, and rent a good car. But Cuba is calm and safe. But in Venezuela, taking advantage of the wealth is not so easy.

The first thing a tourist encounters is a poster warning him to change currency only in specially designated places! In Venezuela, the exchange rate is controlled by the state. Devaluation occurs every few years. It looks very funny - a ladder like this:

Of course, as I already said, there is a black market with a completely different rate. Three years ago, the exchange rate on the black market differed from the official one by 3 times. Today it is only one and a half, but over these three years the bolivar has depreciated three times.

Yes, yes, there is an enemy McDonald's here!

A Big Mac costs 243 rubles, ice cream costs 103.

There are also more expensive burgers.

You can drink coffee for 52 rubles 44 kopecks, cappuccino and hot chocolate will cost a little more, 67 rubles 42 kopecks.

At the same time, there are good restaurants in the city. True, there are very few people there. Not a single person came to my hotel restaurant (the best in the city) yesterday evening!

Food for the rich:

True luxury. No, not oysters, but bread! Bread is also not on sale; there are hellish queues for it. So it's a delicacy. And the oysters are all dead. I never found live oysters in three restaurants in Caracas.

Steak

There are quite ordinary (and not yet looted) malls in the city. This is one of the few places where you can walk without getting robbed.

But there are almost no people. Only a few can afford to go to such stores.

My hotel

Empty restaurant

Street art

Bolivar

Continue tomorrow.

Travel notes:

The Olympics are starting in Brazil, which means it’s worth reminding: a traveler in South America needs to be on the alert. Crime in both Venezuelan Caracas and Brazilian Rio de Janeiro is an order of magnitude higher than in Russian cities.

ALEXANDER ZOTIN, Caracas - Bogota - Moscow

"Take care of your camera!"

The capital of Venezuela, Caracas, is the most unsafe city in the world. According to the Mexican non-governmental organization CCSPJP, Caracas finished 2015 with 120 murders per 100 thousand people, first place in the ranking of the most dangerous cities in the world.

Almost every local resident, be it a simple passer-by, a trader-economist, or even a strange senior in an excellent suit and tie with a thick gold chain over his outfit, whom we met at night at the exit of the restaurant, constantly recommended our photographer Peter Kassin to be very careful with his camera. This refrain even got a little boring, and in the end we couldn’t evaluate the advice - no one attempted to use the camera during the entire visit (10 days).

When reality refutes such fears, one can come to the conclusion that security is not so bad. Especially considering that we visited three barrios in Caracas with a rather bad reputation (prosperous city dwellers almost never visit such places).

However, most likely, the impression is false. The situation is similar to the study of driver behavior described by American sociologist Tom Vanderbilt in the book "Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)." The conclusions are: 90% of drivers consider themselves better than 90% of other drivers on the road. At the same time, purely statistically, driving is quite dangerous (for an American who drives for 50 years, the chance of dying in a car accident is one in a hundred). But there is no feeling of danger. The problem is that the driver cannot assess the level of risk and the number of errors - exactly until the moment of the accident.

It’s the same with crime in Caracas: you can be completely confident in your safety until the moment of truth (when you are robbed, kidnapped or killed). But it’s hard for a visitor to understand this. Even if the probability of being killed or robbed in Caracas is 20, and in the barrio 200 times higher than in Moscow, the chances of getting into trouble for a person making a short visit to the city are still extremely low.

Although a foreigner is sometimes more vulnerable than the locals. Firstly, because he does not know what danger looks like with local color. Secondly, because it stands out from the crowd. Thirdly, he does not know well how to protect himself from danger, which means that as a victim he is more attractive than those who grew up in this environment.

Traces of atrocities

Brazilian police trained to prevent terrorist attacks and deal with their consequences before the Olympics

Photo: Roosevelt Cassio/File Photo, Reuters

Therefore, your own experience here will not be very representative. We have to rely on indirect evidence. And there are plenty of them.

Multi-storey buildings in poor areas have barred windows, but not like in Russia - on the ground floor, but in general on all floors, from the first to the last. This is not the case in wealthy areas, but two- to three-meter fences with live wire are common. Almost all cars in Caracas have tinted windows. Without them, it’s dangerous (in the Colombian capital Bogota, where embassy employees still travel to the city from the airport in armored jeeps, there are much fewer tinted cars). On the streets, everyone is afraid of malandros bandits on motorcycles - they are mobile, armed and can point a gun at those sitting in the next car for the purpose of robbery. Sometimes malandros kill ordinary motorcyclists in order to take possession of the motorcycle. It is risky to get stuck in a traffic jam at night in a “bad” area.

The police exist solely for themselves. Although they may start to investigate something if you pay. The plural is no coincidence - there are many different police forces. The Caracas metro police have a particularly bad reputation - they say they themselves participate in robberies.

There are practically no expensive cars on the roads - it’s dangerous. A rare exception are luxury cars without license plates. Drivers of such cars cannot be denied some aesthetics. For example, on a Jaguar, a jaguar is drawn on the plate for the number plate. Sometimes such a car is accompanied by a motorcade - a cavalcade of armed motorcyclists. But the passengers of such cars are special gentlemen. These are either big bandits, or influential people in power (enchufados, “thieves”), or army generals. Domestic crime rarely concerns them; they themselves can attack anyone.

Life in the barrio

Residents of Caracas, Rio de Janeiro and many other cities in South America do not risk wearing expensive jewelry, but the business of selling costume jewelry is thriving

The geography of crime is intricate. The historical center of the city is ghettoized, however, this is typical for almost all Latin American cities. The business center is more or less safe, but it also has its problems. For example, the seizure of certain buildings by squatters. Thus, the unfinished skyscraper of the financial center Confinances (45 floors, 190 m), better known as Torre David, was occupied by squatters in 2007. In 2011, the number of residents of the skyscraper reached 5 thousand (now they have already been evicted to social housing).

But the main problems lie elsewhere. Caracas, with its population of five million, is divided into the city itself and barrios - slums on the mountain slopes around. Although there are plenty of such places in the city itself, there is no clear division between the city and the barrio. The term "barrio" has different meanings in different Spanish-speaking countries. In Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay, in Spain itself, it is just a neighborhood, an area, without any negative connotation (in Colombia, for example, there are very luxurious barrios). In Venezuela and, for example, in the Dominican Republic, this is precisely a slum, disadvantaged area with one- or two-story buildings. In a typical barrio there is no normal sewage system, normal electricity supply, there are no roads (instead they are more like passages), residents do not have property rights to the self-construction.

Historically, barrios are settlements of former peasants (campesinos) who came to the cities for a better life. In the case of Venezuela, the barrios owe their large numbers to the fact that, after the introduction of low food prices from 1939 to this day, agriculture in the country remains economically unprofitable. Former campesinos simply have no choice but to move closer to the city, hoping either for unskilled work, or for handouts from the state, or for robbery and drug trafficking. In addition to Venezuelans, the barrio's residents include many migrant workers and their descendants from Colombia, Ecuador and other countries who came to Venezuela during the oil boom of the 1970s.

Prosperous areas sometimes coexist with barrios without any transitions. For example, one of the wealthiest areas of Caracas, the Country Club, with its golf courses, lives side by side with the Chapellin barrio. Mini-barrios often appear near wealthy neighborhoods where servants live. They are generally safe. But there are also huge barrio cities. About a million people live in the largest barrio of Caracas, Petare; it is a whole shadow city with its own economy. There are also smaller ones - 23 de Enero, for example (110 thousand inhabitants). Such barrios even have a historical center, central squares - plazas, there are streets and even addresses of some houses. However, beyond that the streets still turn into mountain paths (almost all barrios are on mountain slopes, hence the motorcycle as the main means of transportation). The power of the state here is limited - the police only poke around for the sake of some high-profile special operations.

A normal driver will not take you to the barrio - it is unsafe. More often than not, he was never there - there was no need to. If you still want to go, you need to negotiate with special people - fixers or guides (most often they are from the barrio themselves). Our guides were Rachel Beaufroyd (an English volunteer who has lived in the Petare barrio for five years) and Rafael (a Colombian from the Manicomio barrio).

At 23 de Enero, Rachel and Rafael do not feel very confident - this is not their barrio. But the place is very interesting. Hugo Chavez considered himself a resident and voted in the corresponding polling station. Now the pompous mausoleum of Chavez is adjacent to social high-rise buildings and barracks, dotted with graffiti of the leader of the Colombian FARC Raul Reyes, radical supporter of Chavez Lina Ron and the slogan Con Chavez todo, sin Chavez plomo ("With Chavez - everything, without Chavez - a bullet"). Members of the colectivos (armed groups of government supporters, such as the far-left Tupamaro) also live here.

There are also bandits (there is no clear line between armed colectivos and bandits). At 23 de Enero we turned onto one of the alley streets and walked briskly up the hill. Nobody stopped us, the residents simply watched us. Three years ago I was already in this barrio, and then the external effect was stronger - I was accompanied by people with walkie-talkies and machine guns. Then I met there a colorful Arab with a fancy tattoo on his arm - he, smiling, allowed himself to be photographed. The text of the tattoo described the exploits in the war with the Israelis. Radicals from all over the world find refuge in Venezuela.

Rachel and Rafael fell behind us a little, then caught up and told us to leave. And similar places can be seen in another place - where they themselves live, for example in Manicomio. I asked for an explanation. “The barrio is generally safe,” Rachel answered, “but inside the barrio there can be some bad areas and streets. Often the residents themselves do not know who the bandits are, they are actually members of secret societies.”

The atmosphere of the barrio confirms these words - the windows of the unauthorized construction here are also barred, everyone is afraid of everyone, even their neighbors. A shop selling local ice cream is under a powerful “visor.” Locals often rob each other, showdowns and even real wars occur.

The reason for the showdown can be either purely criminal (the main topic is drug trafficking) or everyday: someone erected a squatter settlement under the nose of another, seized land, dumped garbage on someone else’s territory (the housing issue has spoiled not only Muscovites). A typical situation occurs when heavy rains wash away buildings. Their residents are forced to resettle somewhere, often on the properties of more fortunate neighbors. Conflicts break out every now and then, there are casualties, after which the confrontation can develop into a formal vendetta, which in the barrio is called la culebra. It can go on for years.

However, this is a separate, rather closed world; strangers here inspire suspicion. Even the residents of the barrio often have their own religion. “Do you see the man in white?” says Rachel. “He’s a santero, a priest of a local religion that combines Catholicism and African cults. They don’t have churches, rituals take place at home.” Stealth is here too. Another cult is the veneration of Maria Lionsa (the goddess of nature, as an object of faith arising from the image of the Virgin Mary), even more secret and associated with malandros.

But there are not so many of the latter. A barrio with a hundred thousand or a million inhabitants cannot consist only of bandits. The vast majority of people live a peaceful life - trade, study, dance tambor in the local “house of culture”. The bandit occupies the niche of a social predator, and there must be few predators, otherwise there will not be enough food supply.

The bandits under the Chavistas have a problem with the “food supply” - too much competition from the state. For example, the city has stopped robbing banks for three years now (although the murder rate is constantly rising). Why? Pointless. The largest local banknote is 100 bolivars, equal to 10 cents or 6 rubles. So it is physically impossible to take away more than a few thousand dollars in local currency (circulation of dollars is prohibited) (and the story with the banknotes itself is sophisticated corruption, also a robbery, but on the part of the state, see the material “Money and the aversion to it in Caracas”).

Caracas is a dangerous road, you are always on guard, ready for the unexpected. And even if you play it safe and exaggerate the danger (which seems very likely), this is partly rational, because the cost of a mistake can be too high. Most people do not carry anything valuable with them, and the middle and upper classes have long switched to electronic payments. Electric wire for the rich, “roses” made of broken bottles in cement for the poor. The culture of danger gives rise to methods of adaptation to it.

Crime Olympics

But in addition to adaptation, successful struggle is also possible. For example, cities such as Juarez in Mexico and Medellin in Colombia have dropped out of the CCSPJP ranking of the 50 most dangerous cities in the world in recent years. The murder rate in Medellin in the 1990s exceeded 300 people per 100 thousand population per year, now it is a more or less safe city. The same can be said about the Colombian capital Bogota - the historical city center is simply overrun with police.

And about the capital of the 2016 Olympics, Rio de Janeiro. On the CCSPJP list of the world's 50 most dangerous cities, 21 are from Brazil, but Rio is considered relatively safe. At the same time, it would be reckless to talk about the complete safety of tourists at the Brazilian Olympics.

“Brazilian gangsters rarely kill tourists, but they are happy to rob,” notes traveler Bronislaw Dolgopyat, who lived in favelas (the Brazilian equivalent of a barrio) for several years. In general, in Rio, judging by his words, the situation with slums is better than in Caracas. The fact is that Rio is a city of global importance, therefore, the problem of favelas has become international.

The FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games brought Brazil to the attention of the world. In 2008, a program of favela pacification (pacification) was launched. At the very least, at the moment 136 out of 900 favelas have been pasified, the crime rate in them has decreased by 60%.

“Private entrepreneurs and sponsors came, new shops, bars and hostels opened, in some favelas (Santa Marta, Vidigal, Cantagalo, Babilonia) it became so calm that tourists began to visit them,” says Dolgopyat. “The favelas in the south of Rio were lucky, close to famous beaches. These favelas are visited by celebrities and politicians - Sting, Bill Clinton, Madonna, Prince William, Barack Obama, Edward Norton, Vin Diesel, Sylvester Stallone, Snoop Doggy Dog, Rihanna, Katy Perry. David Beckham bought a house in the Vidigal favela and opened a football school for local children. But the favelas on the periphery, in the suburb of Baixada Fluminense, are not so lucky. Their lot is poverty and oblivion."

However, the gradual pacification of favelas in Rio gives a chance that even the most disadvantaged of them will become more comfortable for life over time. Although, most likely, not soon.

During the short period of the Olympics, the safety of tourists is more pressing for the authorities. From July 24, for three months in advance, the Rio authorities will strengthen the city police with army units (38 thousand soldiers). Order will also be monitored by a satellite specially purchased in Israel, programmed to identify suspicious objects and persons. However, as CCSPJP analysts note, “the authorities have traditionally preferred a quantitative approach to a qualitative one,” so no one is immune from surprises at the Olympics.