‘Afraid to talk’: researchers fear the end for science

As President Nicolás Maduro continues a crackdown on his political opposition, researchers in Venezuela are increasingly considering leaving the country, writes Luke Taylor for Nature.

Maduro’s government has detained more than 1,600 people, including students and professors, since the National Electoral Council declared him the winner of July’s contested presidential election, according to Foro Penal, a human-rights organisation based in Caracas. Edmundo González, who ran against Maduro in the election, fled for Spain on 8 September to avoid being arrested.

Scientists, some of whom spoke to Nature on the condition of anonymity because they fear retribution from the government, say that Venezuelan research was already censored and underfunded before the election, but that they anticipate things will get even worse. They point to a bill passed by Maduro’s administration last month that regulates non-governmental organisations, which some researchers rely on for funding or to help publish their research. This latest chapter in Maduro’s reign could spell the end for independent science in the country, they say.
Full report on the Nature site