At least seven people were arrested in Venezuela this year to pretend to be corrupt officials of the judicial system, the police and the administrative bodies, showing how rooted corruption transformed public administration into an organized crime opportunity.
The most recent case occurred in the central state of Carabobo, where a lawyer was decree For having usurped the identity of a prosecutor of the Office of the Attorney General (Minister Público). He would have charged citizens of large sums of money in exchange for information on criminal cases and to accelerate legal proceedings. After his arrest, the regional chief prosecutor and ten other prosecutors were also charged for collusion.
In September, Douglas Rico, director of the body of scientific, criminal and criminal investigations (Cuerpo de Investigaciones científicas, criminal y criminalísticas – cicpc), warned: “We have detected a type of scam in which unscrupulous people pretend to be the CICPC commissioners to deceive and recruit victims,” said Rico.
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In July, a woman was arrested after presenting herself wrongly as mayor of EssequiboA contested region between Venezuela and Guyana. She would have offered contracts and participation in mining projects in exchange for money, operating the confusion created by the Venezuelan government itself, which held controversial elections For a governor of the region but has not appointed municipalities or mayors.
Other cases involved people who pretended to be officials from a range of public institutions, including soldiers, registers and notary offices.
An analysis of insightful crime
High levels of corruption and weak institutions in Venezuela have transformed public positions into fertile land for organized crime, allowing the proliferation of false civil servants in several state agencies.
Corruption and extortion By real civil servants facilitate the imitation of impostors to imitate these practices. This vicious cycle is reinforced by a loss of confidence in institutions, which makes even more difficult for citizens to distinguish legitimate authorities and fraudsters.
“The real problem is that the use of the public service to commit crimes has been standardized, and the criminals take advantage of it,” said the director of a non -governmental organization at Insight Crime, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
Lack of state monitoring and the ease of Obtain government uniforms And identification information also feeds the problem.
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According to a police officer and two military officials interviewed by Insight Crime because the Venezuelan government does not provide basic equipment, employees are forced to buy uniforms in private stores, most of which require any diploma. In some cases, employees illegally sell them. The same goes for the production of police identity cards, and some police officers would have sold their own equipment.
“Anyone can buy a police cardigan on the street, slam on a label that says CICPC or another force, and get a false badge. There are replicas of firearms that seem almost identical to pistols. People are fucked,” said a source.
Featured image: Civilians are held in Venezuela for usurped the identity of managers. Credit: Venezuelan government.
