On March 3, 2017, Venezuelan authorities arrested Santiago Guevara of the University of Carabobo in apparent retaliation for opinion pieces he had recently written in a Spanish newspaper. Guevara has reportedly been charged with a series of national security-related crimes.
Guevara, 65, is an economist who has taught at the University of Carabobo for the past 42 years. His research focuses on economic development and predicting. For the past 20 years, Guevara has led many economic development projects in Venezuela.
Endangered Scholars Worldwide deplores this unjustified arrest and calls upon Venezuelan authorities, all international organizations, academic and professional associations, and other groups and individuals devoted to the promotion and defense of human rights of the academics and scholars to protest and condemn this arbitrary arrest; to call for Guevara’s immediate and unconditional release; and to urge the officials of the Venezuelan government to respect, guarantee, and implement the provisions and principles of human rights as specified in international conventions and treaties to which Venezuela is a party.
We at ESW believe that arrests and detentions intended to limit academics’ freedom of expression undermine academic freedom and society at large.