In 2024, Bolívar State in southern Venezuela was third most violent state in the country. This discouraging panorama demonstrates the persistence of a pattern that is becoming increasingly cruel, especially within the homes of the victims and which is sustained, among various factors, by impunity.
By Pableysa Ostos | Correspondent lapatilla.com
Last December, the monitoring carried out by the Venezuelan NGO “Observatorio Venezolano de Violencia” (OVV, Venezuelan Observatory of Violence) in Bolívar State, recorded at least 22 cases of violence, making the last month of 2024 the most brutal of the last quarter.
According to the NGO, assaults remain the most frequent crime, but the figures for more serious crimes raise alarms about the levels of violence affecting the state’s population. In the last month, the Bolívar OVV recorded six homicides, including two femicides, one infanticide, and three violent deaths that are still unsolved. In addition, two cases of deaths caused by police action were recorded.
In a press release, they indicated that in this same period, cases of assault and sexual violence against women and girls by relatives and neighbors of the victims were known. Two cases of brawls in public spaces involving groups of people were also registered.
Exacerbated gender violence
In addition to the two femicides, which is the most serious form of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in the state of Bolívar, at least six cases of sexual violence were known, mostly against girls and adolescents.
According to a report published in November by the Orinoco Ecological Athenaeum, at least 25,832 cases of violence against women were recorded in the state, which includes sexual, psychological, patrimonial and physical violence, as well as threats, harassment, femicides and other unclassified cases. The organization warned that only 9% of the cases are prosecuted.
They also reported that Bolívar is the state with the highest number of femicides in the east of the country, with 42% of the cases in 2024. In the report they highlight that, although the rate of femicides remains the same as in 2023, this year there was an increase in femicides against girls and older women.
In December, violence against women and girls in Bolívar was exemplified by cases such as that of a 7-year-old girl in San Félix, Caroní municipality, who was subjected to abuse, aggression and lewd acts by three people, the NGO highlighted in its press release.
In addition, the mining areas in the south of the state continue to be a hotbed of crime. A few days before the end of the year, miners from the town of El Dorado in Sifontes municipality, (the second most violent municipality in the country for 2023) found the dismembered remains of a young woman in a mountainous area. The body of the victim, who had been reported missing, was found naked, with multiple bullet wounds and with both arms and the left leg amputated.
Kidnapping for gold
The OVV Bolívar highlighted that the dynamics surrounding mining, which have caused a wave of violence in the south of the state, also have an impact on the rest of the municipalities. In December, the kidnapping of a man was reported in San Félix, Caroní municipality. He was allegedly kidnapped to steal a significant amount of gold.
According to the media, four people with long weapons (assault rifles), dressed in black and balaclavas, took the victim from inside a restaurant and forced him into a van without license plates.
The attackers stole a piece of gold of approximately half a kilo from the man, his cell phone, money and documents, and then abandoned him in the El Dorado roundabout. Despite the notoriety of the case, no official versions were made public by the different security agencies in the state.
Bleak panorama
The OVV Bolívar noted that “in the absence of public actions and policies to stop violence in Bolívar, the state faces a new year in the midst of a deepening and worsening of crimes. Both common crime and domestic crimes continue to spread amid the impunity that prevails and perpetuates the cycle of violence.”
They highlighted that during 2024, “the monitoring carried out by the OVV in Bolívar and delivered to news media reflected significant levels of violence manifestedas: aggression, femicides and infanticides, but the lack of official figures makes it difficult to create a panorama that approaches the reality experienced by the people of Bolívar and the most vulnerable groups, which is also aggravated by the lack of effective judicial action.”
“The Observatory is reminded of the imperative need to take decisive measures to confront this crisis of violence, strengthening the mechanisms of justice and protection for victims, ensuring that cases are investigated and prosecuted effectively,” they said.