This Tuesday, December 14, the community of the Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE), marched along Paseo de la Reforma avenue towards the Senate of the Republic together with colleagues from the University of the Americas Puebla (UDLAP) and the University of Guadalajara (UDG). The objective was to find an interlocutor instance, since the National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt) has not been that figure that responds to their demands.
Around 12 noon, they arrived at the upper house building where, for the first time, an instance of the State was received, in this case, 20 legislators who were members of the Education and Science and Technology commissions. Lorena Ruano, a CIDE academic and part of the commission that entered to dialogue, considered the meeting with “a truly plural group of senators” an important achievement. He said that they heard about the problem and promised to seek avenues of action. “It is the first time that an authority really listens to us and how good the Legislature has been. We find reception to our demands, openness, an interesting and well-articulated debate ”.
“We think that this may be the beginning for a real dialogue to take place. We need a mediator because so far we have not achieved it with Conacyt, ”he said.
From the CIDE student community, Yamileth Guido said: “We are very happy with the dialogue in the Senate, we deeply appreciate the provision. For the first time, authorities listened to the student body’s petition and promised to follow up, to act as a third agent. We expect a prompt resolution, we want to have more voice and vote in the decisions of our institution ”.
Yamileth told El Economista that the senators were concerned about the issue and with a “common front with education.” He explained that in the presence of Senator Ricardo Monreal, president of the Political Coordination Board, this group of senators promised to inform student representatives on the progress in a timely manner.
He warned that the strike will continue depending on whether the demands are resolved or not, in addition, the dialogue of Conacyt will no longer be sought: “she (María Elena Álvarez-Buylla) has already shown us that she is not available for dialogue, that is why we are looking for a third agent and at this moment it will be the Senate ”.
Minutes later, Senator Monreal confirmed: “What was agreed here will be resolved.” He specified that it will be the president of the Education Commission, Antares Guadalupe Vázquez Alatorre, who will make the corresponding steps, which will be supported by the Political Coordination Board. In addition, it was agreed to find a date for a possible appearance of the director of Conacyt, María Elena Álvarez-Buylla, who was already on the table at the initiative of the National Action Party.
Although he confirmed that the Senate does not have legal powers to resolve the conflict in the research center, Monreal assured that it does have the legitimacy to serve as interlocutors, call public servants to appear and seek mechanisms for the relevant authorities to take up the case. .
They ignore and repudiate Romero Tellaeche
Javier Aparicio, researcher and professor at CIDE, explained that one of the most important points in the meeting was the request to legislate and give the center full autonomy, in line with the recent guidelines of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. “We believe that for the exercise of a free education, so that they do not tell us that we are bureaucrats, a parastatal, and that we have no choice but to wait for the director of Conacyt to decide, it is essential to have autonomy (…) No We believe that our freedoms and rights are subject to what budget item or secondary law gives us shelter ”.
He reiterated on behalf of the community that they will not recognize José Romero Tellaeche as the general director of CIDE, because there were legal defects in his appointment, “Dr. Romero not only disrespected us as interim director, he not only ignored the legality and statutes of the CIDE, but rather Conacyt appointed him without submitting his appointment to a vote of the CIDE Board of Directors, the highest internal governing body, that violates the legality of the center. For this reason there is also a grievance on the part of Conacyt, for trying to impose a general director who is repudiated by a majority ”.
In addition, he referred to the request for the resignation of María Elena Álvarez-Buylla, but assured that that would not be the solution to the problem, since “undesirable directors can be replaced by other equal”, that is why they went to the upper house, “To go down the path of seeking legal autonomy for this institution.”
Free UDLAP!
While the CIDE community waited for the commission that was received in the Senate, students and professors from the University of the Americas Puebla (UDLAP), who joined the march, shouted slogans also seeking the attention of the authorities, Free UDLAP !, was heard, and asked for the support of motorists honking the horn.
Ana Lorena Flores Camacho, a ninth-semester psychology student and part of the judicial branch of the UDLAP Student Council, shares with this newspaper that last week a march was held in Puebla, at Casa Aguayo, the seat of the Puebla government. “We were received by the Secretary of Education, the Undersecretary of Higher Education and the Secretary of the Interior. A commission of five people was received. There an alleged dialogue table was held in which they spoke for 45 minutes, the authorities agreed that the university would open the next day, that is, Friday, December 10, and that they would be in charge of managing everything so that it would open under the direction of the interim rector, Cecilia Anaya. They told us that they could not give us anything in writing and that there was no time, that we would have to trust ”.
The day arrived and what was agreed did not happen, the students went to knock on the doors of the UDLAP, but they are still chained and with padlocks. Ana Lorena explains that there are still state police “who have acted in a despotic and arrogant way with the students who approach”, there are also private security police, who although cordial, have orders not to let anyone pass to campus, “so both for us students, the university continues to be kidnapped ”, he assures.
For this reason, they decided to hold a parallel demonstration with the CIDE, “because we believe that in the end both institutions are fighting for a free education. This is an alliance and we hope that more institutions will come together so that our governments will turn to us ”.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx