A decade of default has pushed Venezuelan debt into bargain territory. Investors are eyeing the possibility of recovering even pocket change on every dollar owed. The arithmetic looks tempting at first glance.

But dig deeper and the story gets murkier. The structural problems haven't gone away. Political uncertainty remains a constant. Recovery timelines are anyone's guess. Sure, buying distressed sovereign debt at steep discounts can pay off—it has before. Yet the risk-reward calculus here deserves serious scrutiny. Sometimes the market prices assets cheap for a reason. Those chasing yield in broken economies often learn this the hard way.