VHeadline News Editor Patrick J. O'Donoghue reports: The government has been shaken by the murder of National Guard (GNB) Major Delio Amado Hernandez Acosta (36) in Caracas on Saturday night.

The Major was in charge of the Safe Caracas anti-crime plan for the western sector of the city. First news reports indicated that two individuals shot at the officer as he was on his way to work and killed him despite a bullet-proof jacket and made off with his Cherokee Jeep and service pistol.

Interior & Justice (MIJ) Minister Tarek El Aissami has been cautious in updates on the case and it would appear that the murder of a top anti-crime official has taken the government by surprise and started an internal revision process.

One of the criticisms from pro--government observers is that the government has allowed the opposition almost complete monopoly on the serious and destabilizing crime situation and that it is time that the government and the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) faced up to what most people consider Venezuela's number one problem and priority. Some have gone as far as suggesting that the struggle is not between the government and the opposition but the government and new and old organized crime rings.

In a separate incident two GNB sergeants were shot dead in the Bolivar municipality of Tachira State yesterday. The two soldiers were on duty at a checkpoint when four individuals opened fire killing the two men before making off. The GNB activated an operation to find the killers and according to a report in State RNV Radio, one man has been arrested in connection with the case.

• Meanwhile, MIJ Minister El Aissami has once more criticized opposition Tachira State Governor Cesar Perez Vivas, stating that the latter has “given himself body and soul to Colombian paramilitarism,” arguing that the year before the governor took office Tachira wasn't like it is now.

In an interview with TV presenter Jose Vicente Rangel on Sunday, Executive Vice President Ramon Carrizalez declared that members of the football team assassinated several days ago were being prepared for paramilitary activity inside Venezuela.

Patrick J. O'Donoghue
news.editor@vheadline.com