This research focuses on the city of Caracas, as the epicenter of the political life of the country with highest levels of socio-economic segregation, urban poverty, and homicide. Both the city and the country are “paradoxical” cases, as violence soared while programs addressing social inequality, exclusion and poverty were quite successful. The results show that political polarization during the Bolivarian Revolution, institutional weakening, delegitimization of civilian security forces, and absence of a coherent public security policy were more closely linked than social exclusion to homicidal violence. The paper starts with an in-depth description of violence in Caracas. It then moves on to the exploration of the drivers behind the violence, with a focus on political and institutional processes. It concludes with an assessment of these processes in the development of violence in Caracas and Venezuela.