The Caracazo happened in a country.
The Caracazo , or sacudón , is the name given to the wave of protests , riots , looting , shootings and massacres that began on 27 February 1989 in Venezuela 's capital , Caracas , and the surrounding towns . Venezuela ( [ vɛnəˈzweɪlə ] ; [ beneˈswela ] ) , officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( República Bolivariana de Venezuela ) , is a federal republic located on the northern coast of South America . The country has extremely high biodiversity ( ranked 7th in the world 's list of nations with the most number of species ) , with habitats ranging from the Andes Mountains in the west to the Amazon Basin rain-forest in the south , via extensive llanos plains and Caribbean coast in the center and the Orinoco River Delta in the east .