City officials, gay-rights advocates and others joined the march Monday evening to denounce a rise in hate crime reports in a city that generally sees itself as a capital of diversity and tolerance.

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No wonder the capital is such a popular setting for crime fiction, from Margery Allingham to Ruth Rendell.

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Since then, however, a wave of serious crime, including the rape and murder of a young girl, has reopened the debate on capital punishment.

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The New York City native and Columbia Law School graduate is a strong proponent of tough law enforcement in the crime-plagued capital city.

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Since mid-July, Caracas, Venezuela's capital, has been racked by a spree of vigilante killings as crime-weary residents take the law into their own hands.

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Other crime syndicates have already tried to establish a presence in the capital.

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But recently it has also taken on a title that it would have much preferred to leave to Sydney: Australia's capital of crime.

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Undoubtedly, Venezuela will remain divided no matter the next president, but fair and transparent elections will help ensure the next administration has the political capital to tackle needed reforms -- from a stagnant economy to rising crimes rates, rampant transnational crime and the rebuilding of the nation's powerful state-owned oil company -- that will benefit all Venezuelans.

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