Venezuela mobs kick, burn thieves in lynching epidemic

Swearing in fury, the crowd strips the man naked and stomps on his head as he sprawls on the ground.

“You want things that come easy? Then take this, you b*****d.”

In Venezuela, this is what robbers get when they are caught by passers-by.

It is not just the country’s economy and political system that are sick, but society itself, experts say. An epidemic of lynchings is one of the most gruesome symptoms.

AFP journalists filmed a lynching close-up in a busy street in the capital Caracas. A witness said he stopped the man who had tried to rob a woman at gunpoint in a bakery. Then the mob took over.

“You’re lucky we didn’t burn you,” a voice yelled, as police lugged the man, limp but breathing, into the back of their car.