CARACAS, Tuesday November 03, 2009 | Update
Politics
Edwin Rojas, the director of the Department of Crime Prevention, said on Tuesday that crime has penetrated the Venezuelan reality, but added that if the (Venezuelan) revolution did not exist, the problem would be "worse."
"As time has passed, certain types of crimes that did not exist in Venezuela have appeared, such as the hiring of hit men, the paramilitaries, kidnapping and extortion," Rojas said in TV show Despertó Venezuela, broadcast in state-run TV network Venezolana de Televisión (VTV).
He noted that Venezuela has made progress on contentious issues as security, thanks to the establishment of agencies such as the Prevention and Public Security Council, state-run news agency Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias (ABN) reported.
04:20 PM. Western Hemisphere. Colombian President Álvaro Uribe said on Tuesday that governments should ensure citizens' rights to live on the border, in reference to a political and diplomatic crisis with Venezuela and its effects on border residents.