The social violence that resulted from the repression of the riots and looting that took place on February 27, 1989, have been re-appropriated and reinterpreted by the Bolivarian Revolution ideology, becoming fuel for further political action by the Hugo Chavez government. This paper is based on a review of the literature on the Caracazo episode, particularly the concept of a moral economy, and on a comparison with the riots that followed a natural disaster in December 1999. The paper makes a contribution to our understanding of the mechanisms of impunity that are at work in the Venezuelan State.