Venezuela's autocratic administration is now turning its attention to economists, attempting to stifle their voices amid soaring inflation and escalating economic turmoil.
**Venezuela's Government Targets Economists in Economic Crisis**

**Venezuela's Government Targets Economists in Economic Crisis**
As the financial situation worsens under renewed sanctions, Venezuelan authorities clamp down on economic experts.
Venezuela has long felt the pressure of international sanctions imposed by the United States, and with inflation rates skyrocketing, the situation has now escalated further as President Nicolás Maduro's regime shifts its focus to independent economists. In a bid to control the narrative surrounding the worsening financial crisis, the government has detained numerous economists and data analysts who have recently published critical assessments of the country’s economy, according to human rights organizations.
Phil Gunson, an analyst from the International Crisis Group, refers to this situation as a “shoot-the-messenger policy,” where individuals providing objective insights into economic statistics face dire repercussions. This attempt to suppress dissent has seen approximately two dozen people arrested in the last two months alone, exposing how the Venezuelan government operates amidst a dual-currency system where the bolívar exists alongside the more stable U.S. dollar, often favored in everyday transactions.
The Central Bank of Venezuela, in recent years, has failed to provide reliable economic data, effectively forcing economists to rely on their independent analyses to document inflation and other vital economic indicators. As a result, independent reports revealing the actual state of the country's economy are seen as a direct threat to the government’s efforts to control public perception. In these turbulent times, the crackdown on economists highlights the lengths to which the Venezuelan government will go to quell any information that contradicts its narrative.