The number of violent deaths in Venezuela, a country considered one of the most dangerous in the world, will decrease by approximately 25% in 2023, according to a report released Thursday by the Observatory of Violence in Venezuela (Observatorio Venezolano de Violencia, OVV ), non-governmental organization whose numbers are considered reference data, in the absence of official statistics.

It records “a change in trend in recent years (…) The index of 26.8 violent deaths per 100,000 inhabitants is a large decrease of 8.5 points compared to those recorded in the years 2021 and 2022, which amounted to 34.9 and 35.3”, the OVV report notes.

However, according to the study, which is based on open sources—mainly press reports—Venezuela continues to be among the most violent countries in Latin America.

Of the total of 6,973 violent deaths recorded by the OVV in 2023, 3,112 were due to homicides and 2,332 occurred during police operations.

Violent death totals reached 9,367 in 2022 and 9,447 in 2021. These numbers do not include disappearances, which the OVV estimates reached 1,443 in 2023, 1,370 in 2022 and 1,634 in 2021.

The country of 30 million people has seen a significant drop in the number of violent deaths since 2016, when the OVV recorded 28,479 cases of this nature, against a backdrop of mass immigration and a deep economic crisis.

“The decrease in the number of violent deaths does not necessarily mean a decrease in crime, but rather an evolution of crime,” Roberto Briseno-Leon, the director of the OVV, told AFP, adding that the growth of organized crime had given him practically a “monopoly” of violence due to the weakness of the state and reduced fatal crimes.

The global average of homicides does not exceed 5.8 per 100,000 inhabitants and that in the Americas at 15 per 100,000, according to the most recent report of the United Nations Office on Drug Control and Crime Prevention (UNODC).