Venezuela’s Spectacular Bond Rally Runs Into a $170 Billion Reckoning

Investors will win if the country stabilizes and oil starts flowing.

Petróleos de Venezuela’s El Palito refinery in Puerto Cabello.
Photographer: Jesus Vargas/Picture Alliance/Getty Images

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By Ezra Fieser and Nicolle Yapur

January 27, 2026 at 1:00 PM UTC

This article is part of the February 11, 2026 issue of Markets.

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Venezuela’s bonds lingered for years in financial purgatory. Investors held them as a lottery-ticket-like bet on the improvement of a dysfunctional country. Most steered clear.