CARACAS—The government thugs stormed Dr. Oscar Noya's offices late at night when nobody was around. They knocked down a wall, stole some fresh scientific records and even yanked out the electric cables. The whole malaria department at the Tropical Medicine Institute here was plunged into darkness.It wasn’t the first time something like this has happened. The government of Nicolás Maduro doesn’t like the institute’s scientific findings, which show a huge increase in malaria cases, a deadly metric of this country’s disarray. The Maduro regime’s thugs, known as colectivos, set out to intimidate anyone and anything seen as a threat. But this is a particularly striking example of autocracy out to demean and defeat science, no matter how many lives are at stake.It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas in Maduro’s Venezuela, but Only if You’ve Got U.S. DollarsThe day after the malaria department was pillaged, I met with Dr. Noya as he was surveying the damage. He didn't appear to b...
