Iris Velázquez/Agencia Reforma
Friday, February 17, 2023 | 15:46
Mexico City.- The Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE) denied trips to researchers who would go to Canada to participate in a Latin American congress on panels on autocracy and academic freedom, which they questioned as an attempt to censor critical voices.
surprise notification
In their inbox, this Thursday afternoon, researchers received emails notifying them of the refusal of the travel expenses requested to attend the (LASA) Congress to be held in Vancouver, Canada from May 24 to 27.
This meeting is held annually and brings together experts and researchers from different countries, who exchange points of view and share their work. The event is considered the most important worldwide for Latin Americanists.
The email was signed by Saúl Mendoza Palacios, CIDE Academic Secretary during this administration, in which José Antonio Romero Tellaeche serves as director. José Antonio Aguilar Rivera, tenured research professor of the Political Studies Division of this center, publicly expressed his estrangement for him after his application for per diem was denied.
In an interview with REFORMA, the expert with almost 30 years in the institution and with more than two decades of having attended this congress, described this decision of the Cideíta authorities as blunt and an unprecedented event.
“This is the first time I have encountered an obstacle to do it (attend the congress). There have always been to some degree, budgetary restrictions etc., but they were something else, that is, sometimes one had to choose between going to a conference or to a congress, there was a limitation on the number of days that could be paid, etc., but I had never faced a refusal to attend the congress per se”, he commented.
Aguilar Rivera, who was also a member of the executive council (management body) of the Latin American Studies Association, from 2004 to 2007, would have three participations in the two days, with the themes: “Latin America: the ‘new’ forms of politics autocratic”, “Challenges for the implementation in Latin America of the inter-American principles on academic freedom and university autonomy”, and “Translating democracy for Latin America throughout the 19th century-Part II”.
CIDE and the Government vs. critical voices?
The interviewee considered that although there is still no explanation about the reasons, beyond the budget, a political background is envisioned.
“We can speculate, nothing more, that there is an intolerant, ideological and partisan vision in the CIDE and in the Government in general, which sees with annoyance that academics and researchers have critical positions, both of the management of the science and technology in the Country, in the context of the discussion of the new Science, Technology and Humanities Law.
“And also of the Mexican Government as a whole, because the other panel in which I was contemplated was a panel on autocracies and autocratization processes in the world. So, it seems to me that it is very upset and does not see favorably that CIDE researchers have critical positions and it is part of the attack on CIDE that we have suffered since the end of 2021,” he said.
In addition to him, in the LASA Congress the participation of Dr. Catherine Andrews from the Center’s History Division is planned, who was dismissed as Academic Secretary of the association in November 2021 by the current director José Antonio Romero, which was qualified as an authoritative action.
Investigator José Antonio Aguilar Rivera indicated that the decision to make his case public is intended to prevent more actions like this from being repeated.
“It is very worrying, because if the attempt to censor CIDE researchers is consolidated and takes hold, the very reason for that institution’s existence disappears, it would become something other than a university, it is not a center of investigation, but rather a government propaganda apparatus, and well, those of us who have made our professional lives there, well, we do not agree to allow it, to see it happen with arms crossed,” he said.
What did the Academic Secretariat reply?
Immediately, the professor expressed his disagreement. He sent an email to the Technical Secretary, Saúl Mendoza Palacios, and requested an explanation in writing from the director of CIDE, José Antonio Romero Tellaeche.
The second has not answered, but the first did yesterday at 10:00 p.m., with a response that he considered confusing.
“I think there is a misunderstanding, I apologize for the lack of clarity. The Academic Secretary does not approve the flight purchase request. Regarding travel expenses, the Academic Secretary does not manage resources of any type. The Academic Secretary will gladly sign what regarding the request for days that you want to attend the event”, says the email sent by Mendoza to the professor.
The nonconformist considered that this ambiguity leaves in uncertainty the possibility of attending or not the notorious congress.
“So, exactly what they are saying is left as in limbo and precisely because there is a contradiction between the email that I reproduce that I uploaded to Twitter and what he told me yesterday at 10:00 p.m. I asked the director general to please clarify in writing exactly what his position was regarding my participation in the LASA congress”, he stated.
Their requests are threefold: the guarantee of non-retaliation for making this case public, the certainty of having the authorization to participate in this academic conference, and that the resources be allocated to cover the trip as it is an onerous expense.
“And as has happened at CIDE for 30 years, CIDE should support its researchers in publicizing their work abroad and thus preserve the world prestige that has taken a lot of work to earn,” Aguilar stressed.
