The crumbling of Venezuela's economy has now outpaced all economic disasters in modern history. Venezuela's fall is the single largest economic collapse outside of war in at least 45 years, economists say."It's really hard to think of a human tragedy of this scale outside civil war," said Kenneth Rogoff, an economics professor at Harvard University and former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund. "This will be a touchstone of disastrous policies for decades to come."To find similar levels of economic devastation, economists at the I.M.F. pointed to countries that were ripped apart by war, like Libya earlier this decade or Lebanon in the 1970s.But Venezuela, at one point Latin America's wealthiest country, has not been shattered by armed conflict. Instead, economists say, the poor governance, corruption and misguided policies of President Nicolás Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chávez, have fueled runaway inflation, shuttered businesses and brought the country to its knees. And in recent months, the Trump administration has imposed stiff sanctions to try to cripple it further.As the country's economy plummeted, armed gangs took control of entire towns, public services collapsed and the purchasing power of most Venezuelans has been reduced to a couple of kilograms of flour a month.In markets, butchers hit by regular blackouts jostle to sell decomposing stock by sunset. Former laborers scavenge through garbage piles for leftovers and recyclable plastic. Dejected retailers make dozens of trips to the bank in hopes of depositing several pounds' worth of bills made worthless by hyperinflation.Here in Maracaibo, a city of two million on the border with Colombia, nearly all of the butchers in the main market have stopped selling meat cuts in favor of offal and leftovers like fat shavings and cow hooves, the only animal protein many of their customers can still afford.The crisis has been compounded by American sanctions intended to force Mr. Maduro to cede power to the nation's opposition leader, Juan Guaidó. The Trump administration's recent sanctions on Venezuela's state oil company have made it difficult for the government to sell its main commodity, oil. Together with the American ban on trading Venezuelan bonds, the administration has made it harder for Venezuela to import any goods, including food and medication.Mr. Maduro blames the widespread hunger and lack of medical supplies on the United States and its opposition allies - but most independent economists say the recession began years before the sanctions, which at most accelerated the collapse."We are fighting a savage battle against international sanctions that have made Venezuela lose at least $20 billion in 2018," Mr. Maduro told supporters in a recent speech. "They are pursuing our bank accounts, our purchases abroad of any products. It's more than a blockade, it's persecution."Shortages have sunk much of the population in a deepening humanitarian crisis, though a core group of military top brass and high-level officials who remain loyal to Mr. Maduro are able to tap into the remaining resources to survive - or even enrich themselves through illicit means.Oil is collapsing and things are about to get monumentally worse for Venezuelans. Learn everything you need to know in this book.