We've read about the "Cubanization of Venezuela," such as shortages, repression and censorship of the free press.    My friend Daniel Duquenal, who writes a blog from Venezuela, reports that "....the "official" inflation rate is above 50%, and probably around 80% in real life."   Fausta's Blog is now calling Venezuela the next Zimbabwe!   Add to that the country is violent - very violent. Let's look today at the crime wave in Caracas and the country: "A non-governmental group that tracks violent crime in Venezuela says the country's homicide rate has risen again in 2013 and has quadrupled over the past 15 years. The Venezuelan Violence Observatory estimates that 24,763 killings occurred this year, pushing up the homicide rate to 79 per 100,000 inhabitants. It was 73 per 100,000 people in 2012. In 1998, the rate was 19. Venezuela's government has gradually blocked access to murder statistics as violent crime has worsened...(Read Full Post)