NYT describes Caracas without 'Blackberry deaths' and kidnappings

In Caracas, where smartphone robbery murders were once referred to as "death by Blackberry," street attacks have become rare and kidnappings have all but disappeared. This is according to The New York Times (NYT).

Miguel Dao, who negotiated the release of the abductees, said he had previously been able to work on three such cases in one day. Now he hasn't had a case like this in three years. The former head of Venezuela's FBI counterpart calls himself a critic of the government, but sees crime reduction as an achievement.

“I welcome their success. I just don't know if it's going to be long, said Dao, 77, who now owns a law firm in Caracas.

Earlier, talk of abductions in Caracas was a constant topic, and residents tried not to go out in the evening. Arriving in Caracas this year, a NYT journalist saw a different picture: couples stayed in lit squares after dark, nightlife resumed in previously dangerous neighborhoods, and walking tours began to take place around the city.

One of these routes passes through Kota-905, an area controlled by the armed group until 2021. The abductees were held there, and now visitors are dancing salsa with locals and inspecting the dilapidated tower that served as the base for gang leader Carlos Luis Revete, nicknamed El Koki. The security forces defeated the group, and later found and killed its leader.

According to UN investigators, Venezuelan security forces killed at least 6856 people in 18 months in 2018-2019. After that, the scenes of the incidents were often changed to create the appearance of resistance during detention.

The newspaper links this practice with the “Operations for the Liberation of the People” launched under Nicolas Maduro – raids by security forces in poor neighborhoods, whose stated goal was to fight gangs. According to investigators, the victims of extrajudicial executions were mainly young men.

Luis Isquiel, a criminologist, believes that the brutality of the methods used explains why Venezuelan authorities say relatively little about reducing crime. He contrasted their position with the policies of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who made mass incarceration the basis of his campaign against gangs.

“It is one thing for Bukele to brag about the creation of one of the largest prisons in the world. It would be quite different if Delcy celebrated the murder of thousands of Venezuelans in the name of peace, Isquiel said, referring to Maduro's successor Delcy Rodriguez.

According to the NYT, other circumstances contributed to the decrease in crime. Among the millions of Venezuelans who emigrated were gang members. The economic crisis has left residents with less money and valuables to steal. The proliferation of electronic payments and the decline in cash in circulation have reduced opportunities for street robberies and short-term kidnappings for quick ransoms. In addition, authorities raided prisons from where some gangs operated their operations.

Rodriguez said in January that in 2025 the country’s homicide rate had dropped to three per 100,000 inhabitants. However, the criminologists interviewed by the newspaper were skeptical of this figure: the authorities did not provide corroborating data and have not published full crime statistics for several years. The Venezuelan government did not respond to the NYT's repeated requests for comment.

The actions of the security forces became the subject of international proceedings. Back in 2018, a group of Latin American states demanded an investigation into alleged crimes in Venezuela at the International Criminal Court (ICC). The appeal was based on a dossier collected under the auspices of the Organization of American States containing evidence of extrajudicial executions, unlawful imprisonments and deaths of protesters.

In July 2026, Venezuela notified the UN of its decision to withdraw from the ICC. Foreign Minister Felix Plasencia said that Rodriguez gave the order to denounce the Rome Statute. Lawyers interviewed by the NYT indicated that the withdrawal does not deprive the court of jurisdiction over the events already under investigation.

Residents of Caracas are not sure that the ensuing calm will remain, writes the NYT. Some interlocutors of the newspaper believe that instead of street gangs control over the territory and extortion passed to the police and military.