Less than a month after restoring control of the Caracas police to the capital city’s mayor, embattled President Hugo Chavez announced he would deploy 1,300 military police officers to fight crime, which is escalating in the city and surrounding area. Criminals are often better armed than police, in part because Chavez confiscated the police department’s automatic weapons a year ago when the army took over police stations. The officers still don’t have their heavy weapons, but they’ll be aided in their crime fight by the army once again.
