Mexico City.- Édgar Ulises Báez Gutiérrez, author of the thesis that Minister Yasmín Esquivel allegedly plagiarized, denied that he supposedly copied part of the judge’s work as she would have the university authorities believe.
In an interview with the Eje Central portal, the former student of the UNAM Law School defended his degree work and said that it is easy to know who plagiarized whom, it is enough to know that he graduated in 1986 and Esquivel in 1987, a year two months later.
“Logic dispels everything: the one that is titled first evidently has the original text,” he said.
Last Friday, Esquivel, who aspires to win the election to the presidency of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) that will be held tomorrow, reported that he had presented an alleged testimony from Báez Gutiérrez in which he agreed to have taken references and text of his research when it was still in progress.
The alleged testimony, which caused the UNAM to postpone its ruling, was delivered to the Academic and Scientific Integrity Committee of the FES Aragón by Martha Rodríguez Ortiz, who was the thesis director of both Esquivel and Báez Gutiérrez.
In the interview with Eje Central, Báez Gutiérrez, who was bedridden and convalescing from pneumonia and a cataract operation, pointed out that he has not testified about the case that academic Guillermo Sheridan uncovered on December 21.
“As I said before, logic explains everything: a person who graduates later cannot allege plagiarism of a previously published work. Not wanting to assimilate or understand it is playing a duck,” he said.
The now lawyer said that he does not know the minister, but that it is possible that during his internship, Rodríguez Ortiz shared references and topics among the students he was advising to obtain the degree.
“The synod in a format told us: ‘these issues are the most relevant right now.’ of trust do exist by law, but not in fact,” he said.
Yesterday, the rector of the UNAM, Enrique Graue, reported that the Academic and Scientific Integrity Committee had already determined that the thesis that was plagiarized was the one presented in 1986, that is, the one made by Báez Gutiérrez, however, after the presentation From the alleged testimony in which the former student accused himself, it was decided to postpone the decision.
Báez Gutiérrez said he was willing to appear before the university authorities once his health allowed it and considered that it is an act of dishonesty by Esquivel to have plagiarized his thesis and not recognize it.
“That reflects a lack of human values. Not only lawyers, any person is obliged to respect the law and respect human values,” he said.
