Once again, the community of the Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE) took to the streets to denounce what they call “an authoritarian assault orchestrated by the Conacyt leadership to cover up the illegalities committed against #CIDE and destroy its collegiate bodies.”
After not being able to validate the process of electing the director of CIDE, José Romero Tellaeche, the National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt) intends to carry out modifications to the statutes of said institution, thus, under the instruction of the director of the Council , María Elena Álvarez-Buylla, convened this Friday, January 14, the First Extraordinary Session 2022 of the General Assembly of CIDE Associates, which is made up of Secretaries of State and institutions such as Colmex, FCE and Banco de México, among others.
Upon hearing the news, the Cideíta community called for a peaceful sit-in in the Senate of the Republic, under the slogan “Resignation, autonomy and budget”, starting at 10:33 this Thursday, CIDE students and teachers met on Paseo of the Reformation carrying blankets with legends such as “University Autonomy” and “Join the people!”
Says Mariel Miranda, a student at the institution through Twitter: “Tomorrow, eight people will decide between defending the CIDE community, or overlapping the whim of Dr. Álvarez Buylla and Romero for destroying that school. From here we write to them so that they know that what they are going to vote for will define the future of generations”
What you are at stake?
Javier Martín Reyes, lawyer and political scientist at CIDE explains that this is part of a hostile context towards the institution and in general towards the country’s academic community, “we have gone through the imposition of a director, appointed contrary to what the statutes mark. from CIDE, a series of arbitrary decisions, dismissals; with no participation from the students, who have not been able to express themselves and have been excluded in the designation process”. In addition to decisions that have violated the labor rights of the people who work there.
“In this complicated context, now what is seen is a decision by Conacyt, where it is illegally intended to make reforms to the statute”, so that the director of CIDE is no longer chosen by a collegiate body as is currently the case, also so that the second most important position, which is the academic secretary, can be occupied by a person who is not from CIDE and who does not have seniority, and lastly, the attempt to weaken the most important academic body, which is the Academic Council, a body that it makes the most important decisions, represented by all the divisions, it is a collegiate body and it is also the main counterweight to the general management. “With the modifications that are intended, the Academic Council would no longer decide anything.”
He assures that this is a “clear attempt to destroy one of the fundamental pillars of the institution”, but the underlying problem is that the authorities of Conacyt and its director have not shown any willingness to dialogue, “we are asking them to let us do our work, research, teach, spread knowledge critically”. On the contrary, the decisions that have been made are intimidating, for example, in the CIDE facilities there used to be a private guard with unarmed women and today there are already armed elements of the Federal Protection Service, of the Ministry of Public Security.
It concludes that the calls for dialogue have been much more rhetorical than real, which is why it is thought that dialogue can no longer be with Conacyt.
The intervention of third parties is requested
This Thursday’s contingent undertook a brief walk towards Insurgentes Avenue and back to the Senate, with the call: “We want dialogue, not imposition”, after an hour of vehicular closure and march on Paseo de la Reforma, the protesters they planted outside the Chamber of Senators.
A commission was received by legislators belonging to the Science and Technology Commission of the Movimiento Ciudadano party, who received the position, which from the outset shows the urgency of stopping the approval of the points of tomorrow’s session. The only thing that was achieved is a compromise to raise an agreement point for Elena Álvarez Buylla to appear before the Senate, but this would happen until February 1 when the legislative period begins.
Even yesterday, Senator Verónica Delgadillo, from Movimiento Ciudadano, reported that she registered a point of agreement for Álvarez-Buylla to appear before the Permanent Commission of the Congress of the Union, in order to detail the process of appointing José Antonio Romero Tellaeche as director general of the CIDE and respond to the petition presented by the student community.
The specific demands of the students are three:
A call to Mexican society to express their concern in a peaceful and respectful manner, through social networks and in letters addressed to the authorities regarding the crisis they face.
They respectfully request the Assembly of Members of CIDE to guarantee compliance with current regulations and take care to grant the Center greater democratic mechanisms.
The request for the intervention of the Senate of the Republic and the Ministry of the Interior as intermediaries in the conflict.
Legality and autonomy
Once again, the Cideíta community and supporters will meet this Friday, January 14, starting at 8:30 in the morning at the CIDE facilities. Although the 2022 extraordinary session of the General Assembly of CIDE Associates will be virtual, they assured that they will not stop raising their voices.
The student movement celebrates 45 days of having carried out the so-called “recovery of facilities” in almost half a century of CIDE’s history, “never before have we been forced to carry out such an action, the student community is looking for CIDE and the research centers and public universities, voice and vote, legality and autonomy”.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx