Venezuelan here. Yes, it's dangerous. No, you shouldn't go alone. Yes, you should go.
In general, you will find expats to be alarmists...sometimes within reason but usually not. My recommendation, if you get 1-2 friends to go with you (male or female), you'll be OK, especially if any of you speaks decent Spanish.
If you stay in decent hotels (overpriced by world standards), the staff will do their best to keep you safe and tell you where to go and not to go. And they will speak English.
Caracas is great. And dangerous, yes. But if you stick to the right areas and get there using hotel taxis you will have no problems.