Venezuela’s autocratic president, Nicolás Maduro, has crushed the opposition, jailed judges and politicians, and even arrested American citizens to use as leverage in international negotiations.

Now, he is going after a profession that has not typically been considered risky in Venezuela: economists.

Experts say the government is seeking to control the narrative around Venezuela’s deepening financial crisis by targeting independent experts sharing data about the country’s cratering economy.

Roughly two dozen economists and others involved in publishing financial data have been detained in the past two months, according to a human rights group and the Venezuelan government.

“It’s essentially a shoot-the-messenger policy,” said Phil Gunson, an analyst with the International Crisis Group who has lived in Venezuela for more than two decades.

The Central Bank of Venezuela for years has not released reliable data on key indicators like inflation, leaving economists to fill the gaps with independent estimates.