Portraits of Venezuelans whose children were killed by gang bullets

Venezuela ranks among the first in the world in the number of violent deaths per capita. In 2015, according to various sources, from 18 to 28 thousand people were killed in the country, 4 thousand of them in the capital — Caracas with 3 million people. Many of these deaths are the result of robberies, kidnappings, gang trials, sometimes the cause is police violence. Photographer Lewis Kobelo talked to women whose children were killed and took a series of portraits in their homes.

(18 photos in total)

Source: Vice

Esteban, the son of Albis Hernandez, was shot by a policeman. The young man was 17 years old. Esteban and a friend were riding a moped from school, both were in school uniforms.

At this time, it became known that someone had robbed a local bakery. Her owner told the police that they were two young guys.

When the police ordered the guys on the moped to stop, Esteban's friend got scared and continued driving. One of the policemen opened fire and hit Esteban in the back. The teenager died on the spot. The owner of the bakery later confirmed that Esteban and his friend had not robbed him.

Richard Alexander was shot in the head while he was walking to the store. His mother, Consuelo Palacions, still doesn't understand why her son was killed.

All she knows is that her son was attacked by two men with baseball bats and the fight ended with a shot (or two, she doesn't know for sure). The body was found two days later in a vacant lot near the store.

Nine-year-old Omar on his way home from school found himself in the middle of a shootout: his family lives in one of the most dangerous areas of the city, Petar, where the rules are set by gangs of armed hooligans 15-20 years old.

Omar and his mother got off the school bus at the very moment when the warring factions started shooting. Gloria was holding Omar's hand and felt the weight of his body as he fell. The bullet hit him in the head.

Maria del Carmen's sons, Ronnie and Jorge, were killed by bandits in their own neighborhood. Their portraits hang on the wall in Maria's new house: he and his third son moved when the bandits threatened to kill him as well.

Maria claims that her children did not participate in anything illegal — they just wanted to leave the area, but they were stopped. Now she is responsible for the upbringing of her granddaughter — the daughter of one of the murdered sons.

This is Maria Elena, who lost three children and a nephew. The eldest, 39-year-old Wilmer, was shot in the face as he got off the bus. Like little Omar, he was accidentally injured in a gang shootout. The 20-year-old Yender was shot three times, three days later he died in the hospital.

Daughter Eliana was shot when she was 12 years old, she died on the doorstep of her house. Maria Elena's nephew Erasmus died from a bullet at the age of 20.

29-year-old veterinarian Julian Julian was killed when they tried to steal his car. His mother Olga says that her son was a "good guy."

One day, during his lunch break, he left work for fried chicken. On the way to the car, he saw a man approaching him with a gun in his hand. The stranger tried to get into the car, Julian resisted and received five shots. The killer fled, but did not take the car.

Ingris' son William was killed at a street party — Ingris is sure that it was done by a young man of a famous Venezuelan model.

William tried to break up his friend's fight with the model's boyfriend — as a result, he was killed himself. His alleged killer left the country and was not punished.

Janet Bassil's son became famous during the Venezuelan protests of 2014: the protesters were dissatisfied with the fact that the authorities could not cope with crime, hyperinflation and violence. Violence was often committed at these protests as well: During one of the rallies, on February 12, Bassil was shot by a policeman right in the center of Caracas.

Many world media wrote about Bassil's death.

Carmen's son, Jimmy Vargas, also died during the protests — in San Cristobal in February 2014. He was standing on the roof of the building and fell due to the shots of rubber bullets and the effects of tear gas.

The last news that Carmen received from her son was a message: "Will you cook me something to eat? I'm going home."