The business of death in Caracas – in pictures

Relatives of a crime victim carry his coffin to a funeral. Venezuela's annual rate of 39 murders per 100,000 people is among the world's worst Photograph: Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

Oswaldo Rivas smokes a cigarette while changing at a casket store Photograph: Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

Laudelino Morales chisels a tombstone at his factory near the Southern Cemetery Photograph: Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

A photograph of a male crime victim, printed on ceramic, at a tombstone factory near the Southern Cemetery Photograph: Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

Atilio Gonzalez, left, a priest from the South Cemetery, talks with the relative of a crime victim before the victim's burial at the South Cemetery Photograph: Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

A worker takes a picture of a fellow worker inside a coffin at a caskets factory Photograph: Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

Ponciano Capote makes a flower arrangement in an undertaker's flower shop Photograph: Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

A man makes a flower arrangement in a florists Photograph: Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

A worker digs a grave in the East Cemetery Photograph: Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

A worker builds a coffin at a caskets factory Photograph: Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

A worker collects the remains of a deceased person following a cremation Photograph: Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

A worker carries the remains of a person following a cremation Photograph: Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

Relatives of a gunshot victim cry over his coffin during his funeral ceremony Photograph: Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters