Popular video games are set to be banned under a cunning plan by the Venezuelan government to end all crime in the country.

President Hugo Chavez has decided that the country's problems of violent crime are not caused by poverty, or drugs barons, but are more to do with nerds playing counterstrike. He has just named violent toys and video games as enemies of the state and when a bill is rubber stamped by the  National Assembly they could be history.

Critics claim that the bill is little more than a PR  stunt by supporters of President Hugo Chavez to camouflage his government's inability to deal with Venezuela's rampant violent crime. Chavez stopped releasing complete annual murder figures in 2005 because the figure was climbing too high.

Last year, the Justice Ministry said homicides averaged 152 a week, or roughly 7900 for the year. It is more than five times the murder rate in Texas, which is a place where even the government sees fit to murder people.

Most people don't think that Chavez's bill will make the slightest bit of difference.  It might close a few internet cafe's but most gaming will go underground.  Pirated games can be played at home and besides the 'policing agency' for the law does not have enough staff to cope with current workloads let alone visiting internet cafes.