Murder Will Out (Bello)

Unlike the cartel armies of Mexico, the Venezuelan gangs often have just a few dozen members and control a few blocks. But they possess potent weaponry including fragmentation grenades, automatic rifles and even anti-tank guns. At 40 years old, Gocho has been in gangs since he was 15, saying he first made money selling drugs so that he could support his mother.

He now heads about 30 cohorts hawking packets of cocaine along several streets, which are known as good trafficking real estate. As he controls a profitable business in a country going through a severe economic crisis, he says he is constantly dealing with rival gangsters trying to invade his turf. Similar gangs crisscross Caracas, creating frontlines between rivals every few blocks, and Gocho says he faces enemies on all sides. He has bullet wounds from several shootings that he survived and admits to killing various rival gangsters.

Gocho says he buys the cocaine wholesale from Colombians operating in Caracas and sells it in small packets to users. Venezuela rarely produces its own cocaine, but Colombian traffickers have been arrested here, using the country as a transit route for drugs going to Europe and the United States as well as selling locally.

The traffickers sometimes work with Venezuelan officials. In February, a Venezuelan army major was arrested with kilos of cocaine. Even more controversially in November, police in Haiti working with agents from the U. Drug Enforcement Administration arrested a nephew and stepson of President Maduro himself on drug charges.

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They are currently in the United States where they have pleaded innocence. A muscular former paratrooper, Cienfuegos asked not to use his real name as he also confessed to carrying out murders, saying that he kills criminals who sell drugs or steal in his neighborhood. When the coup failed he served three months in prison; Chavez himself was incarcerated for two years before he was released and went on to win the presidency.

When supporters of Chavez formed the armed community groups, known as collectives, the socialist government largely tolerated them, rarely seizing their guns or raiding their bunkers.

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Cienfuegos claims there are now about 8, such militants in Venezuela, mostly in the Caracas area, although there is no official registry. Cienfuegos personally commands about 40 cohorts to operate their alternative policing of his barrio. He says that local businesses pay them to keep the criminals out. Opponents of the collectives say it is more akin to extortion.

While operating illegally, the FBL supports the socialist government. On the other side, he is on red alert for right wing paramilitaries, who have spilled over from neighboring Colombia. Several Colombian paramilitary figures have been arrested in Venezuela, and the government claims they are a growing force, extorting businesses and murdering socialist organizers.

In the midst so many competing gunmen, the police struggle to keep control on the murderous streets.

TIME rode with a unit from Miranda State police patrolling the violent Petare slum on the outskirts of Caracas to see officers on motorcycles in light bulletproof jackets, which offer little protection against the high-caliber bullets used by many gang members. The chaotic slum is built on a steep hill and riddled with alleys, providing many points for gang members to fire on officers or ambush them.

A small command post high up in the slum showed the photo of a fallen comrade, with prayers to him written beneath. More than police officers were murdered across Venezuela last year , according to counts by human rights groups. However, human rights defenders say the police do plenty of killing of their own.

The Violence Observatory estimates that officers shot dead about 3, people last year, which would make them one of the most homicidal forces in the world. Antonio Gonzalez, an academic who has worked with the socialist government on police reform, agrees there is a very high rate of police killings. The police force still operates in a classist way, using more violence against the poor.

Gonzalez agrees with the opposition that there has been a breakdown of law and order in Venezuela, but blames the opposition themselves for fomenting it. In , there was an attempted coup against Chavez and in , thousands of opponents of the government built barricades on the streets, leading to armed confrontations. With the government stalling on the referendum, more such confrontations could beckon, exasperating the violence further. On her Facebook page, Ms Bello, who has since given birth to a son, said: Outside court, Ms Bello wept and told reporters she was relieved that Payet had pleaded guilty.

Payet also admitted to wounding Ms Bello and grandmother-of Peggy Kew, who was stabbed as she tried to intervene.

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He pleaded guilty to murder, aggravated grievous bodily harm and aggravated unlawful wounding. Payet also pleaded guilty to unlawfully detaining a man in Success and doing an act that resulted in bodily harm.

Ms Bello and her mother were stabbed by Payet on the morning of June 24 last year as they worked at their hairdressing salon. Ms Ferullo, a mother-of-four, died in hospital a short time later from her injuries. She suffered serious injuries and spent more than a week in hospital and there were concerns that she would lose her precious baby. Ms Bello told PerthNow just before last Christmas: Ms Kew, who threw a chair at Payet during the attack in a heroic attempt to get him to leave, spoke exclusively to PerthNow just days after the incident.