Caracas has seen a dramatic decline in crime in recent years. Kidnappings have nearly disappeared, street robberies are uncommon, and areas once considered unsafe have regained nightlife. Yet the change has come amid allegations of lethal police repression and uncertainty about how durable the calm will be.
Miguel Dao, a former head of Venezuela’s equivalent of the FBI who once negotiated several hostage releases in a single day, said he has not handled a kidnapping case in three years. Though critical of the country’s authoritarian government, he described the drop in crime as an achievement, while questioning whether it would last.
The change has been striking in a city once known for exceptionally high levels of violence. Residents have returned to public squares after dark, and walking tours are helping locals rediscover Caracas. Some visitors have also been surprised by the sense of security, even after devastating earthquakes in June raised fears that social conditions could deteriorate.
Criminologist Luiz Izquiel said the improvement is difficult to separate from the government’s brutal methods. Around a decade ago, Nicolás Maduro launched heavily militarized police raids in low-income neighborhoods under a campaign called the People’s Liberation Operations. The stated aim was to dismantle armed gangs, but investigators say the strategy relied substantially on extrajudicial killings.
UN investigators found that Venezuelan security forces killed at least 6,856 people over an 18-month period in 2018 and 2019. They said authorities often altered crime scenes to suggest that victims had resisted arrest. The International Criminal Court opened an investigation, while Venezuela later announced it would withdraw from the court. Legal experts say the attempted withdrawal does not remove the court’s jurisdiction over the alleged atrocities.
Millanyela Fernández said her 23-year-old son, Richard Jesús Briceño, had no criminal record when police entered their La Vega neighborhood in 2021 and shot him in front of her. Fernández said officers ordered him to kneel before killing him.
Venezuela’s new leader, Delcy Rodríguez, said in January that the country’s homicide rate had reached a low of three per 100,000 people in 2025. Criminologists have questioned the figure, and the government has not released supporting data. Authorities have gone years without publishing comprehensive crime statistics, and public criticism or questions about security policy can carry consequences.
Other forces have also contributed to the decline. Mass migration included some gang members among the millions who left Venezuela amid economic collapse. As people lost income and valuables, there were fewer targets for theft. The informal adoption of the US dollar and the spread of electronic payments, alongside a shortage of cash in circulation, also reduced opportunities for street robberies and express kidnappings. Authorities additionally carried out operations in prisons that had become bases for some gangs.
Some residents see the calm as a temporary respite supported by hard-line measures that may now be easing. Rodríguez has announced a plan to remove police checkpoints from cities across Venezuela, potentially weakening one deterrent. Others describe the current order as a shift from street gangs to a system in which police and military forces control territory and extortion schemes.
Sources: Folha Mundo.