audio, stills, text and or video: Go to zReportage.com to see more - Caracas, Venezuela has become one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Hundreds of violent homicides occur every week in all sectors of the city, affecting citizens from all walks of life. While the whole city is considered a ''zona roja''or red zone, the murders take place overwhelmingly in the barrios, the enormous slums that ring the city, teetering on the edge of landslide-prone mountains. These areas are run by a multitude of small gangs, made up largely of young men and often children. The police who patrol the slums do not wear tactical gear or carry machine guns, but still conduct foot patrols into the serpentine alleyways in search of guns and drugs. They walk nervously through the darkened streets with their pistols drawn, but at night return to their homes in nearby barrios. The socialist government that runs Venezuela has had little success curbing the rising violence in the country, and is loathe to follow the example of Rio de Janeiro and try to pacify the barrios with militarized police, as many of the slum residents are supporters of former president Hugo Chavez and his movement.
© Charles Mostoller/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press
April 15, 2011 - Caracas, Miranda, Venezuela - An officer from the Policia Municipal de Sucre keeps his eye out for trouble while on a night patrol in Petare, a dangerous slum in Caracas.
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April 16, 2011 - Caracas, Miranda, Venezuela - A 25-year-old man was found shot to death in the San Ignacio section of the dangerous Petare slum early in the morning. Dozens of people are killed in shootings every weekend in Caracas.
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April 16, 2011 - Caracas, Miranda, Venezuela - A night view of the violent Petare slum, one of the largest and most dangerous slums in South America.
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April 16, 2011 - Caracas, Miranda, Venezuela - Maria Petit mourns over the body of her brother Jesus Antonio Petit, 25, who was found shot to death in the San Ignacio section of Petare early in the morning.
© Charles Mostoller/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press
April 16, 2011 - Caracas, Miranda, Venezuela - Caracas has become one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Hundreds of violent homicides occur every week in all sectors of the city, affecting citizens from all walks of life. While the whole city is considered a ''zona roja''--red zone--the murders take place overwhelmingly in the barrios.
© Charles Mostoller/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press
April 20, 2011 - Caracas, Miranda, Venezuela - An officer from the Municipal Police searches the mouth of a young man for drugs during a patrol in Petare, one of the most dangerous slums in South America.
© Charles Mostoller/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press
April 30, 2011 - Caracas, Miranda, Venezuela - A police officer searches young men for weapons and drugs during a patrol of the dangerous Petare slum.
© Charles Mostoller/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press
April 30, 2011 - Caracas, Miranda, Venezuela - A view of the crime-ridden and violent slum of Petare, one of the largest and most dangerous slums in South America.
© Charles Mostoller/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press
April 30, 2011 - Caracas, Miranda, Venezuela - Police patrol the narrow back alleys of the dangerous and crime-ridden slum of Petare, searching for guns and gang-activity.
© Charles Mostoller/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press
May 8, 2011 - Caracas, Miranda, Venezuela - DENNIS FERNANDEZ BLANCO, 18, suffering from multiple bullet wounds, writhes in pain and is comforted by his mother CARMEN as he waits for treatment for at the Perez de Leon hospital in the Petare slum.
© Charles Mostoller/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press
May 7, 2011 - Caracas, Miranda, Venezuela - A nurse tends a deep wound on the head of RAFAEL MARQUINA SANCHEZ, 35, who was hit in the head with a bottle as he was attacked and robbed by a groups of assailants outside a Metro station on a Saturday night, at the Perez de Leon hospital in the Petare slum.
© Charles Mostoller/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press
May 14, 2011 - Caracas, Miranda, Venezuela - A mural depicting Jesus Christ holding a machine gun adorns a wall in the 23 de Enero slum, a violent and crime-ridden neighborhood that is a bastion of support for Venezuelan President HUGO CHAVEZ.
© Charles Mostoller/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press
July 19, 2013 - Caracas, Miranda, Venezuela - A resident of the Petare slum in eastern Caracas waits for his ID to be checked by police. Petare is one of the largest slums in South America with over half a million residents, and is a hotbed of crime in Caracas, which is currently one of the most dangerous cities on the planet.
© Charles Mostoller/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press
July 19, 2013 - Caracas, Miranda, Venezuela - Police from the municipality of Sucre in eastern Caracas patrol the Petare slum looking for drugs and weapons.
© Charles Mostoller/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press
July 19, 2013 - Caracas, Miranda, Venezuela - Police from the municipality of Sucre in eastern Caracas patrol the Petare slum looking for drugs and weapons.
© Charles Mostoller/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press
July 19, 2013 - Caracas, Miranda, Venezuela - Residents of the Petare slum.
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July 19, 2013 - Miranda, Venezuela - On patrol with police from PoliSucre in Petare, one of the largest and most dangerous slums in South America.
© Charles Mostoller/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press
July 19, 2013 - Miranda, Venezuela - On patrol with police from PoliSucre in Petare, one of the largest and most dangerous slums in South America.
© Charles Mostoller/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press
July 19, 2013 - Caracas, Miranda, Venezuela - The police who patrol the slums do not wear tactical gear or carry machine guns, but still conduct foot patrols into the serpentine alleyways in search of guns and drugs. They walk nervously through the darkened streets with their pistols drawn, but at night return to their homes in nearby barrios.
© Charles Mostoller/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press
July 19, 2013 - Caracas, Miranda, Venezuela - The socialist government that runs Venezuela has had little success curbing the rising violence in the country, and is loathe to follow the example of Rio de Janeiro and try to pacify the barrios with militarized police, as most of the slum residents are supporters of former president Hugo Chavez and his movement.
© Charles Mostoller/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press
July 21, 2013 - Caracas, Miranda, Venezuela - ELVER ROSADO, after members of the Venezuelan National Guard arrived to remove him and some 200 people who had occupied the land, hoping to build houses on it. According to one resident, ''All we want is for the government to start building, or to give the land to us and we will do it ourselves.
© Charles Mostoller/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press
July 21, 2013 - Caracas, Miranda, Venezuela - Locals are blocked from entering a disputed parcel of land after members of the Venezuelan National Guard arrived to remove some 200 people who had occupied the land, hoping to build houses on it.
© Charles Mostoller/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press
July 24, 2013 - Caracas, Miranda, Venezuela - CLEO, a nine-year-old boy from the La Dolorita neighborhood in the megaslum of Petare, plays with a toy pistol near a youth soccer game on the outskirts of town.
© Charles Mostoller/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press
July 29, 2013 - Miranda, Venezuela - The dangerous and neglected Cementerio del Sur, a cemetery which serves the bulk of poor residents in Caracas.
© Charles Mostoller/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press
