Explainer: Inside Venezuela's Massive Sovereign Debt Default

The fall of President Nicolas Maduro has brought Venezuela's long-running debt crisis back into the global spotlight. One of the world's largest unresolved sovereign defaults, Venezuela's financial troubles date back to 2017, when years of economic collapse and sweeping US sanctions cut Caracas off from global capital markets. Since then, penalties, unpaid bonds, and legal claims have continued to pile up, leaving the country isolated from international finance and facing an uncertain economic future.