2023-06-20 03:36:23
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Mexican government on Monday defended an order issued to CIDE academics not to post criticism on social media that could “cause damage to the dignity” of their bosses, nor share it in emails.
The order announced over the weekend is aimed at researchers and employees of the Center for Economic Research and Teaching, an independent state-funded body.
CIDE has been a focal point of resistance to attempts by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to make academic institutions more nationalist, state-oriented, and pro-government.
Critics called the new rules amounting to a gag law, requiring anyone associated with the center to “refrain from disseminating messages and/or expressions through digital media such as social media, email, or chat apps.” mobile messaging, which may cause damage to the dignity and integrity of any public person”.
The Ministry of Public Function said on Monday that “these commitments do not seek to restrict freedom of expression; on the contrary, they are aimed at guaranteeing said right”.
Juan Antonio García Palermo, a scientist at another state-funded research institute, wrote Monday on social networks that “we must not lose sight of the fact that social networks have become the new public squares where issues are discussed.”
It is not the first confrontation between the current government and academics.
In April, López Obrador enacted a law that made the then National Science and Technology Council (CONACyT) — which grants research grants and other financing — include representatives of the Army and Navy on its governing board.
In 2021, CONACyT ordered its researchers not to criticize the organization, noting that any public comments they made had to be previously approved by its press office.
Previously, the council helped prosecutors attempt to jail 31 academics in a maximum-security prison on charges that they spent research funds they were authorized to use at the time.
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