Mexican scientific council tells researchers: don’t criticize

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MEXICO CITY (AP) The newly politicized Mexican government science council has reportedly ordered researchers not to publicly criticize the organization and said they must delete all public comments through its press office.

The council was already under fire after helping prosecutors attempt to lock 31 academics into a maximum security prison usually reserved for drug lords.

Local media reported on Friday that the National Science and Technology Council issued a new set of rules asking outside employees and researchers to avoid negative opinions or comments about the body.

It is not known what the proposed sanction would be for such offenses, but they could apparently be the subject of disciplinary proceedings. The Council has not publicly confirmed the existence of the new rules, a copy of which was published by the newspaper El Universal.

But the union representing workers on the council confirmed that the new rules were sent out on September 30.

Protests were heard by researchers in Mexico and abroad last month after prosecutors accused academics and members of a science advisory board of money laundering, organized crime and embezzlement, for allegedly spending too much money. A judge refused to issue arrest warrants in the case.

Members of the advisory board, established to promote scientific debate, said the $ 2.5 million had not been badly spent and had been operating by the board’s own rules for more than 15 years. The idea that overspending was the main problem was questioned again on Friday, when the council released a slick and seemingly expensive five-minute video to defend itself.

Critics say the bizarre measures by supporters of President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador could threaten academic freedom.

Part of the problem is that the current director of the government’s science council, Mara lvarez-Buylla, appears to be trying to inject the politics of the Lpez Obradors administration which he calls the fourth transformation in science.

In a letter apparently accompanying the new rules, lvarez-Buylla told board members and researchers that employees should not only be outstanding professionals, but should also have a commitment to society, the environment, human rights. man and especially public ethics promoted by the Fourth Metamorphosis.

In the past, she has criticized some researchers for reporting in English, despite being the common language in some technical areas, saying they should speak in Spanish. She criticizes Western science and technoscience for turning knowledge into a commodity and called for collective knowledge generation processes more closely linked to social concerns.

Western science has produced the most spectacular and perhaps the most unnecessary breakthroughs, such as reaching the moon, said lvarez-Buylla in 2020.

It doesn’t help that Mexico’s Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero has decided to bring the most serious possible charges of money laundering, organized crime and embezzlement against people with no criminal record and respected in their own right. profession, and sought to put them in the country’s most dreaded prison, which is normally used to house drug lords.

Gertz Maneros’ office defended the charges, saying academics used federal funds for scientific research on a private organization, bought furniture, vehicles, property, and paid salaries and other services.

The office said it would re-lay the charges.

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