A Venezuelan scientist and thorn in the side of the country’s Chavez government is threatening to go to court over his dismissal from an institute he lead in the 1980s.

Biologist Jaime Requena says his removal from the Foundation Institute of Advanced Studies of Venezuela was politically motivated. He has previously criticised the government (including in this letter to Nature) and claimed scientific productivity in Venezuela is at its lowest in years.

He told SciDevNet, “Up to the moment no legal action has been taken because my attorneys are studying the options that we have.”

Luis Carbonell, chairman of the Human Rights Commission of the Venezuelan Association for the Advancement of Science, says Requena has not been told what alleged misconduct led to his sacking.

“Requena is a man internationally recognized for his work, but disagrees with the regime of President Hugo Chávez,” he says (El Nacional, via Google Translate). “The problem is that his removal has not complied with due process. He received the communication, but by law he is entitled to defend himself …”

The El Librepensador website noted that there have been other cases of researchers allegedly being dismissed for their political views. “But in Venezuela, the dismissal of researchers for meddling in politics is not a new matter,” it noted in April.

Requena was dismissed from the same institute before, but was reinstated after a previous court battle.

Image: Flag of Venezuela / Wikipedia