I listened to your podcast and I think you are making a lot of emotional arguments to focus on a very small part of the larger picture.

First of all, Venezuela went full blown socialist in several ways. Here are just a few.

1. The state imposed price controls and limited the production of basic goods by making production unprofitable. They basically drove the economy to a single commodity market.

2. They subsidized an unsustainable welfare state with oil revenue. Poor were promised housing, education, healthcare, and other expensive benefits. To pay for this, they sold oil in bulk overseas. So when the price of crude went down, so did their economy. Again, putting all their eggs in one government-run basket.

3. The monetary policy (and control of it) was imaginary. The state pretended to have control over the price of the currency. They thought they could control the price of property, goods, services and wages and simply print money to make up the deficit. They recklessly printed money to sustain that policy and made their fully imposed and mandated currency completely worthless.

Now I'm not saying embargos and deep state influence didn't play a factor. But it was kind of the fat man that broke the camel's back. A stronger camel could have taken the weight. A freer economy could have taken the weight. But this was a country which despised business and profiteering except in the hands of a few government oligarchs, just like every other socialist system. It was bound to fail with or without outside influence because it's a weak and inefficient system.