This report points to interesting parallels between our president and Chavez - both have the same political philosophy that has a basis of Marxist socialism. Obama and Chavez believe the government can do everything better than the individual, and I mean everything.

As history has always been a great teacher for all things political, Venezuela's recent history tells the story of corruption and total government take-over of the entire country along with the help of the secret police from Cuba. Need we discuss this further?

America, under Obama, seems to headed in the same direction as a mirror image of Venezuela. Will this actually happen? Only the people themselves can stop it. I believe this will happen but it will take a real effort on everyone's part to stand up and demand our country back.

You will decide the fate of our country in November.

VENEZUELA MURDER RATE QUADRUPLED UNDER CHÁVEZ
Source: Eyanir Chinea, Charlie Devereux and Andrew Cawthorne, "Venezuela murder-rate quadrupled under Chávez: NGO," Reuters, March 11, 2010.

Homicides in Venezuela have quadrupled during President Hugo Chávez's 11 years in power, with two people murdered every hour, according to new figures from a nongovernmental organization.

The Venezuelan Observatory of Violence (OVV), whose data is widely followed in the absence of official statistics, says the South American nation has one of the highest crime rates on the continent, with 54 homicides per 100,000 citizens in 2009.

That rate is only surpassed in Latin America by El Salvador where 70 in every 100,000 citizens were murdered last year, the OVV said, citing official statistics from that country. Crime repeatedly comes first on Venezuelans' list of worries. It has also begun to drag on Chávez's traditionally high approval ratings as well as scare tourists who come to Venezuela, says Reuters.

Chávez says he is doing his best to combat crime, which he blames on wealth inequalities caused by former governments. He accuses foes of exaggerating the problem to foment fear, and has recently hiked pay for police officers, as well as launching a new national force. The Interior Ministry, which last gave official crime statistics in 2004, declined comment on the OVV's new figures.

Roberto Briceno Leon, a criminology professor at the Central University of Venezuela and at the Sorbonne in Paris, blamed a weak judicial system and ineffective and corrupt policing in Venezuela, where he said 91 percent of crimes go unsolved. He collates his figures from police sources and media reports:

When Chávez came to power in 1999 there were 4,550 homicides whereas in 2009 there were 16,047, the OVV said. That means every month Venezuela experiences about as many deaths as occurred in the Gaza Strip during Israel's early 2009 offensive.

With a murder rate of 140 per 100,000 citizens, Venezuela's capital Caracas has the highest murder rate in South America, only exceeded in the hemisphere by Mexico's Ciudad Juárez.