Big read: Oil-rich Venezuela on brink of collapse

With more oil reserves than anywhere else in the world, Venezuela should be drowning in riches. Instead, the country, and its 30 million inhabitants are on the brink of collapse: financially, and, for many, physically. In Caracas, the capital, men scavenge daily in the putrid Guaire River. They pour down from the barrios, raking their hands through stinking, toxic mud in the hopes of finding the tiniest bit or metal, jewellery — anything of value — that they could sell for food. More…