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Science 29 May 2009:
Vol. 324. no. 5931, pp. 1126 - 1127
DOI: 10.1126/science.324_1126
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News of the Week

Venezuela:

As Research Funding Declines, Chávez, Scientists Trade Charges

Barbara Casassus*

Venezuelan academics were taken aback this month when during his weekly television program on 3 May, Aló Presidente, Hugo Chávez said that researchers should stop working on "obscure projects," such as whether life exists on Venus, and instead go into the barrios to make themselves useful. To many observers, it was another sign of the growing tension between Chávez and the academic establishment. Nerves were already on edge following Chávez's dismissal in April of science minister Nuris Orihuela, a geophysical engineer, and her replacement by Jesse Chacón Escamillo, an engineer and Army lieutenant who has been close to Chávez since at least 1992. Disaffected researchers say they fear that science funding is becoming more politicized.

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Venezuelan Science at Risk.
C. Bifano (2009)
Science 324, 1514
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E-Letters:

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On Venezuelan S&T
Orlando E. Albornoz
Science Online, 13 Aug 2009 [Full text]

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)