California has a special summer blend of gas that has an unusual vapor pressure due to somewhat unique additives. The only people that make CA blend gas is, surprise surprise, in the high cost of business state, California. California effectively has a closed petroleum economy which has a dramatic impact on fuel prices. It's completely disconnected from Venezuela.
Why don't the gas stations just sell regular gas and not this special sauce that's inflating the price?
I would guess laws and regulations.
You should investigate. At least $1.21/gal of that is going to the government. State/Federal gas tax + sales tax + regulatory fees and other regulatory fees. Also California mandates specific formulations which adds to the costs compared to other locations, and add to that the general increased cost of any operations in the state, including higher wages. That extra cost you pay is not going to the ones pulling crude out of the ground. Not saying that Venezuela isn't mismanaging its natural resource revenue, but your high prices are not a contradiction of the fact that their revenue is impacted by an historically low crude price.
I like how you think you can infer the way the rest of the world should be just based on your local petrol prices.
Meanwhile in Europe prices are approaching USD 9 / gallon. (And yes, that includes a lot of taxes.)