Bogota, Colombia – Venezuela’s autocratic president, Nicolás Maduro, has already crushed the opposition, arrested judges and politicians, and even stopped US citizens to use as a bargaining chip in international negotiations.
Now he is going after a profession that was usually not considered risky in Venezuela: economists.
Experts say the government seeks to control the narrative about the increasingly profound financial crisis in the country, aiming for independent experts who share data on the economy in collapse.
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About two dozen economists and others involved in the publication of financial data have been detained in the last two months, according to a human rights group and the Venezuelan government itself.
“It’s basically a ‘shoot the messenger’ policy,” said Phil Gunson, an analyst at the International Crisis Group living in Venezuela for over two decades.
The Venezuela Central Bank has not released reliable data on key indicators such as inflation, leaving economists in charge of filling these gaps with independent estimates.
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“It is kind of the theory of the bell of the economy,” he added, referring to Maduro’s effort to drown out any bad economic news. “If you believe her, then her light continues to shine.”
The government campaign has scared economists and others responsible for financial information sites. Even those who live abroad are afraid to speak publicly, fearing reprisals against their families or employees.
Among the economists detained is Rodrigo Cabezas, 69, former Finance Minister and Professor of Economics, who was a member of the Government Party, but then moved away and criticized Maduro’s economic policies.
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Cabezas’s daughter Rodna Cabezas said in an interview that, on June 3, state -owned energy officials arrived at the family home in Maracaibo, northwestern Venezuela, alleging an electricity problem. They asked the father to accompany them to resolve the issue.
But then she said her father called to warn that it was a trap and intelligence agents were holding him. The family has no news since then, nor has it received any government information.
“We don’t know where they took him,” said Cabezas.
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The family hired a lawyer, who also failed to contact him. Her father needs to take medicine daily for high blood pressure, he said.
“It’s very difficult,” she said. “I no longer have tears from crying so much. It’s like a knife stuck in my heart.”
Venezuela’s economy collapsed a decade ago, caused by government mismanagement and aggravated by US sanctions.
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With hyperinflation reaching 300,000% and local currency, Bolivar, losing value quickly, Venezuelans began to store their economies in US dollars.
Venezuela’s Central Bank defines an official exchange rate for Bolivar, but most people use an unofficial rate, called the parallel dollar, released by websites such as the dollar monitor, which reflects the real value of the dollar on the streets.
The official rate usually shows Bolivar a little stronger than it really is, creating a more favorable image of the economy. But inflation is firing, analysts say, making Bolivar lose value and leaving Venezuelans who receive local currency with difficulties to exchange for dollars.
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“The dollar exchange rate is one of the key variables that the government tries to control,” said Gunson.
He said the government believes it could prevent the devaluation of Bolivar by silenced people like economists who report the non -official rate. (And the precise numbers of inflation are no longer available because the government no longer publishes them and pursues independent economists who do so).
Other countries in the region, such as Argentina, have already been accused of manipulating economic data in times of crisis.
Experts say that repression in Venezuela against economists and independent financial groups reflects a broader strategy of the mature government to suppress data and silence dissent in order to control public perception.
The Venezuelan government has not disclosed official epidemiology statistics since 2016 and has kept a secret data on increasing hunger child mortality.
Under President Joe Biden, the US has relieved oil sanctions that helped to devastate the country’s finances, hoping to pressure the government to hold free and fair elections.
With inflation decreasing, everyday products became more affordable and poverty began to fall.
But last year, Maduro declared victory in a widely considered fraudulent election by many governments, including the US.
President Donald Trump imposed new sanctions and revoked an important license for Chevron to operate in Venezuela, whose economy is strongly dependent on oil. The economic collapse of the country has left many Venezuelans tired and hopeless that the government will find a solution, analysts say.
According to the Provéa Human Rights Group, at least five economists were arrested between May 29 and June 5. Some were released, but two, including Rodrigo Cabezas, remain missing, without information about their whereabouts or accusations.
At least 20 people linked to the dollar monitor were arrested for reporting on the parallel dollar, according to Diosdado Cabello, the main vice president and interior minister of Maduro.
Cabello, in his weekly TV show, denounced economists “who say Bolivar is worth nothing – these people are playing with fire.”
Authorities, he added, are behind “disguised consultants” who would be feeding financial instability.
But the Venezuelan Financial Observatory, an independent group that publishes data on the country’s economy, said that “it is not a crime compiling and disclosing price figures.”
Financial websites such as Dollar Monitor and El Dorado cryptocurrency platform – where people buy cryptocurrencies using bolivars to exchange for dollars – closed in response to government pressure.
“I assume responsibility for any negative impact generated by the application,” said Video Guillermo Goncalvez, one of El Dorado’s founders.
The situation of heads and the other missing economists is a family history for human rights activists.
In recent years, it has become common for Venezuelan authorities to stop people and keep them indefinitely in secret places, without contact with family or lawyers.
“Nowadays, nothing surprises us,” said Gunson. “It seems that there are no more rules. The law, the constitution, nothing else matters.”
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