Venezuela’s crumbling scientific infrastructure has reached a crisis point in recent years under the policies of Nicolás Maduro’s socialist government and a devastating economic crisis. Now, the country has plunged into even greater chaos amid a contested 28 July presidential election, and there is grave concern but also hope among its embattled research community.
Almost immediately after the election, the National Electoral Council – which many consider to be in Maduro’s pocket – declared that Maduro beat opposition candidate Edmundo González with about 51% of the vote. Maduro appeared set to start a third six-year term as president, but the opposition said its review of vote tallies showed that González had won about 67% of the vote. Many onlookers, including the EU, have called for swift publication of the official voting records and independent verification of the result.
Fierce protests on both sides have followed, with a major crackdown by Maduro’s government on political opponents. It is estimated that over 20 people have died in the violence, and more than 2000 have been arrested. Opposition party leader María Corina Machado, who was barred from standing in the election herself, went into hiding. Meanwhile, González has refused to appear before the country’s high court for a hearing related to the election results, citing fears for his safety and an unwillingness to participate in a process that he believes would subvert the will of the Venezuelan people.
Humberto Rojas, a physicist at Central University of Venezuela in Caracas, says six students at his institution were detained in the post-election fallout and a humanities professor disappeared from the airport. He adds that, with the current university term not due to finish until 16 August, the science faculty has now moved lectures online to keep students and staff safe. They will continue to evaluate whether classes should remain virtual when the new term starts at the end of September.
‘The lack of funding for a long time is a main problem – in my area of work, which is electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy, we have had problems getting support for maintenance of our equipment and for acquiring new equipment,’ Rojas tells Chemistry World. Overall, he explains, the Maduro government has restrained financial support for the universities, and that includes the salaries of professors.
The situation of research universities in Venezuela and the country’s scientific enterprise has steadily worsened over many years.
Basic monthly salary of $19
Currently, the basic salary of full professors at universities in Venezuela is the equivalent of about $19 (£15) per month, and then government bonuses bring that figure to close to $175 a month, Rojas estimates. That compares to a monthly income of approximately $3000 for full professors in the country in 2002, which had fallen to around $1450 by 2017, he notes.
‘Right now, we’re talking about very, very low salaries, and that means that most of our personnel have left the university or had to take other jobs to be able to cover the basics,’ Rojas says. ‘And others have left the country to make their careers elsewhere.’
In fact, Claudio Bifano, an inorganic chemist and president of the Latin American Academy of Sciences (ACAL), estimates that 20% of Venezuelan scientists have emigrated in recent years.
‘This is a very significant number considering that our scientific community was small, and the researchers who have emigrated were among the best-trained and most productive,’ says Bifano. ‘As president of ACAL, through a project supporting ongoing research projects by Venezuelan scientists, I have been able to verify firsthand the needs they face – in obtaining reagents for their projects, repairing equipment or purchasing a spare parts, conducting fieldwork, and directing a thesis.’
He says there are ‘very few researchers left’ in Venezuela in several scientific fields, especially physics, chemistry and maths. ‘There are practically no mathematicians and physicists left in the country’s universities and research institutes, and there are no programmes to train new generations of researchers,’ Bifano warns.
‘Coupled with the difficulties in obtaining reagents and equipment for scientific research, it is understandable that laboratories in the country have been closed, productive research lines have had to be discontinued, and many postgraduate programmes have been terminated,’ he adds.
Benjamin Scharifker, a physical chemist at Simón Bolívar University in Caracas and former rector at the Metropolitan University in Caracas, agrees that research at Venezuelan universities is practically suspended. Like Bifano, Scharifker also highlights issues like the lack of reagents and obsolete equipment that cannot be repaired. ‘Very, very, very little research being done,’ he says, emphasising that at his institution there are approximately 20 labs in the chemistry department, but few are currently active.
‘At the moment, two or three of them are doing experiments … the rest are either closed, or their students have gone abroad,’ he adds. ‘Some are doing some work remotely, collaborating with groups abroad, but they are not doing any experimental research.’
Lack of transparency
Another major obstacle appears to be a lack of transparency in the way that Venezuela’s national research funding programmes operate. According to Bifano, the scarce resources that the government allocates to research, through the Ministry of Science and Technology, are not distributed through a clear evaluation process. Instead, this money is allocated according to the ministry’s own criteria, which depends on its own priorities and who is proposing the project , he says.
At Simón Bolívar University, Scharifker says he isn’t aware of a single chemistry professor with any research projects financed by the government. ‘Many people have of course written proposals, but they have been denied,’ he says. ‘There is not an open system of evaluation of research proposals, and all of the proposals that are approved are from people who are close to the government.’
Ismardo Bonalde, an physicist at the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research and former president of the Academy of Physical, Mathematical and Natural Sciences of Venezuela, agrees that ‘a significant percentage of research projects’ submitted to the government are not financed via peer review.
According to Bonalde, the last time that he ran any experiments in his lab was around 2018. His work requires cryogenic liquids, and while he does have nitrogen he does not have any helium because it is too expensive. As a result, he has been forced to shift his focus towards theoretical physics.
Bonalde adds that Venezuela’s scientific productivity has fallen dramatically over the last 15 years. He coauthored analysis last year showing that the nation was the 5th most scientifically productive country in Latin America prior to 2008, generating approximately 3000 scientific papers annually. However, the country has since slipped to number 11, producing only around 1000 publications annually – a drop of more than 60%.
Hopes for new leadership
If Maduro remains in power, the country’s scientific heavyweights predict a continuing decline for the research sector. ‘Scientific activity has decayed significantly in Venezuela during the two previous terms of Maduro as president, and a further term would be catastrophic,’ warns Scharifker. ‘Until we have a change of government and we recover democracy, it is very difficult to have expectations for universities to function properly and for research to come back to its previous level.’
‘If Edmundo González finally gets to be president, then what we expect is for the institutions to work – maybe we would have peer review at our research council, for example,’ he adds.
Rojas is also optimistic that a González presidency could implement significant policy changes that improve the economy. This, he hopes, would generate extra resources for areas like nanoscience, tropical disease medicine, and other fields that have been suffering from a lack of financial support.
‘I’m very hopeful – this is a political earthquake, and that means that all the pieces have to move,’ Rojas says. ‘Of course, the first reaction of the government is to strengthen its grip, but the 70% of the population that is against them can’t be ignored.’
No comments yet