Indeed the man who largely created this mess died before the economy went from a disaster to an utter catastrophe:

Venezuela Doesn't Have Enough Money to Pay for Its Money

In a tale that highlights the chaos of unbridled inflation, Venezuela is scrambling to print new bills fast enough to keep up with the torrid pace of price increases. Most of the cash, like nearly everything else in the oil-exporting country, is imported. And with hard currency reserves sinking to critically low levels, the central bank is doling out payments so slowly to foreign providers that they are foregoing further business.

Venezuela, in other words, is now so broke that it may not have enough money to pay for its money.
It is certainly an excellent case in point that elections do matter sometimes a very great deal and an economy in tatters can still fall to formerly unthinkable lows.