You're basically saying that Venezuelan officials understand good market and monetary policy. And yet their domestic price controls, which are the _direct_ cause of the country's current dire straits (and not the price of oil) suggests that they don't understand or accept the most basic of economic rules which even market skeptics (like Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad, credited rightly or wrongly for Malaysia avoiding the worst of the 1997 Asian financial crisis) grudgingly accept.

So it's really quite a puzzle. I tend to think all the explanations play a part: 1) maintaining kickbacks and cash flow to powerful players, 2) keeping face wrt Chavism, and 3) ensuring that the national oil company remains (at least in their eyes) a global player.