Professor Keymer Ávila is a researcher at the Institute of Criminal Sciences at the Central University of Venezuela and a professor of Criminology at the same university. He is one of the foremost scholars and critics of institutional violence and criminal justice policies in Venezuela. In this interview, Venezuelan Workers Solidarity members Elvira Blanco and Alejandro Quryat asked him about the nexus between racism and state violence in the Latin American country.
Elvira Blanco and Alejandro Quryat: In the present, under Nicolás Maduro’s regime, how do police or security forces interact with groups racialized or oppressed by racism? How do these forces respond when these groups organize for their rights?
Keymer Ávila: When we denounce that in Venezuela police forces have been carrying out a drop-by-drop massacre against young people in popular sectors, we are referring to racialized and poor youth. Here, the criminal justice system is as racist and as classist as in other countries in the region. The main difference could lie in its high levels of deadly force.
