Venezuela Deploys Crime-Fighting Unit, the People’s National Guard

“The crime rate has been reduced by 52 percent in the sectors where we have deployed the Bolivarian National Police and National Guard, while the homicide rate has been reduced by 7 percent. However, we have to recognize that rising crime is one of the biggest problems we face, and not just in Venezuela.”

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“The crime rate has been reduced by 52 percent in the sectors where we have deployed the Bolivarian National Police and National Guard, while the homicide rate has been reduced by 7 percent. However, we have to recognize that rising crime is one of the biggest problems we face, and not just in Venezuela.”

This statement was made yesterday by the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, during the swearing in of officials in the new crime-fighting unit of the National Guard, known as the People’s National Guard.

The People’s Guard will be comprised of 3,650 officials, 2,150 of whom belong to the National Guard, whose duty is to defend the safety and integrity of citizens throughout the national territory.

President Chávez delivered the command standards to the head of the National Guard, General Miguel Vivas Landino, and related that the People’s Guard was created to bolster integral security, to reinforce the struggle against crime and delinquency and to guarantee social wellbeing.

“Before Venezuelan citizens, our fatherland and our People’s Guard, I hand over these standards and am sure that [General Landino] will know how to uphold them, together with officials, to ensure total security on the streets of Venezuela,” Chávez said.

The deployment will take place initially in the states of Vargas, Miranda, and the Federal District. Issues to be dealt with include disarmament, control of alcohol, stopping small-scale drug trafficking, highway patrol, lessening violence in schools, and general vigilance and patrolling, as well as collaboration with the scientific police on criminal investigations.

Also present at the event were the Minister of People’s Power for the Interior Tareck El Aissami, Minister of People’s Power for Defense General Carlos Mata Figueroa, Strategic Operations Commander Henry Rangel Silva, and Bolivarian National Guard Commander General Motta Domínguez.