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Caracas weeps for its dead after bloody weekend
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Caracas weeps for its dead after bloody weekend
AFP - Thursday, March 18
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Fifty-six people were murdered in Caracas over the weekend, in a wave of weekend violence that left the local morgue overflowing with the bodies of 67 people whose violent deaths occurred in only two days. Duration: 01:32
CARACAS (AFP) - – Death surprised Daniel as he was drinking a beer in a Caracas slum. Johiman was riding in a taxi and Victor was playing with his children at home. They never knew each other, but the three lie together in a morgue in the Venezuelan capital, where 67 violent deaths occurred in only two days.
It was the deadliest weekend this year in Caracas, one of the most dangerous cities in Latin America with 140 homicides for every 100,000 inhabitants in 2009, according to unofficial figures.
"Some guys came to steal his motorcycle; he resisted and they shot him in the head. He had two small children. There must be justice. My son's death can't just be left like that," sobbed Beatriz Martinez, the mother of Victor Miranda, murdered on Saturday.
At the doors to the Bello Monte morgue, overwhelmed by the large number of bodies received, the families wait hours or days to recover their loved ones.
The pain in many instances gives way to rage against the security forces, who are seen as ineffectual.
"I never thought I would be here a day. In this country this is what befalls us. To kill is a sport here. If each of us were allowed to take revenge, I don't think there would be so many dead every weekend," said Miriam Zuniga, whose brother was also killed on Saturday.
Seated patiently at the morgue's entrance with a death certificate in hand, Jose, a laborer from eastern city of Maracay, waited to recover the body of his 22-year-old son who was killed resisting a robbery.
"It's a lottery. When it's your turn, it's your turn. That's the way it is in this country," he said, eyes brimming with tears.
"It's a feeling of great impotence. I feel like there is nothing I can do," said Juan Abano, with an air of self-absorption, as he waited to take away Johiman, a Supreme Court inspector who was gunned down inside a taxi.
For many of these families, the nightmare began Friday night. That was the case with Daniel's parents. Their son was shot eight times in Petare, one of the city's most dangerous slums.
"Dead on arrival! Dead on arrival!" the stretcher bearers in the Perez de Leon hospital screamed, as they rushed in with only the tiniest hope of saving his life.
His mother, who brought him to the hospital in a car, wept, mindless with grief as doctors confirmed that he had died from nine gunshot wounds.
"He has various bullet wounds, in the neck, the face and chest. Whoever did it really wanted to kill him," said one of the stretcher bearers as he placed the body in the hospital's storage area minutes later.
It was all done in such haste that no one had even closed Daniel's eyes.
Scenes like this, sadly, are commonplace at this Caracas hospital.
"The weekends, especially after pay days, are the most difficult," said Hayde Rada, the head nurse in the emergency ward.
"I have been here 10 years and have 23 years experience, but I am still human and there are times you feel so impotent, unable to do anything when you see all this," she added, choked with emotion.
Agents from various police forces guard the entrance to the hospital. Their mission is to protect the wounded and their families, and to calm down the drunks, the thugs and family members enraged over the death of a loved one.
"This is not the fault of the government, it is the fault of the families, a cultural problem, they don't make an effort to ensure their children study. The government makes every effort to stop this from happening," said a police official.
The wounded arrive at the hospital on motorcycle, roar up to the entrance in their own cars, or even walk in with an unfinished bottle of alcohol still in their hand.
A youth who had been shot in the foot was brought in with the help of some friends. "It's going to be a busy night," said one of the nurses, wearily.
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