That is a shocking statement. 1) I did not know Venezuela is in such a bad state. 2) I cannot believe that a freaking government is trying to "create" money through an ICO.
One could argue that sanctions only serve to increase corruption by eliminating non regime sources of income for the local populace.
The high price of oil was merely masking the disaster he created. It allowed massive cash injections and lavish spending on social programs to compensate for serious issues that price controls, import/export controls, corrupt nationalized businesses, mass emigration of top business talent, etc caused.
Edit:
I think that there are two big problems with having your country depend on a single easy to obtain resource.
First, it doesn't provide incentives for society to improve its values, since the export doesn't require too much people with good values, and the consequences of failing to improve won't be felt immediately.
Second, it gives a big incentive to groups of corrupt individuals to seize power. If you control the money making machine, then you're set, you can make away with people since they're largely not part of the equation.
Putting all power into the hands of the government will always be inefficient and prone to corruption. Coincidentally comrade Chavez's daughter is the richest person in Venezuela.