The Mexican President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obradorasked this Friday to the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) file a complaint so that the judicial authorities can resolve the case of Yasmín Esquivel, a minister of the Supreme Court accused of plagiarizing her thesis.
Hopefully the UNAM files a complaint,” he said at his morning press conference. “That they assert autonomy, that they are not engaging in politicking,” he added.
The president of Mexico, who proposed Esquivel in 2019, explained that the third constitutional article gives autonomy to the UNAM to file a complaint before public ministriesonce an investigation has been carried out at this university and an irregularity has been found.
Why are they looking for him so much if they have already carried out the corresponding procedure, they have already carried out an investigation?” questioned López Obrador.
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He added that, according to the Mexican Constitution, “what is appropriate is to file a complaint, prosecute the case”, so that the Judiciary decides if there was plagiarism and then orders the Ministry of Public Education (SEP) “to cancel the register of professions.
That is the procedure, why do they give it so much attention ”, he insisted.
Enrique Graue, rector of UNAM, will give Esquivel status this afternoon
His statements come hours before the scheduled message from the rector of UNAM, Enrique Graueafter the scandal that broke out last December, when the media LatinUs exposed Esquivel’s alleged plagiarism while seeking the presidency of the supreme courta position won by Minister Norma Piña.
The UNAM determined on January 11 that the bachelor’s thesis delivered in 1987 by the Mexican Supreme Court Minister Esquivel “is a substantial copy” of a degree work by another studentEdgar Ulises Báez, delivered in 1986.
But the university sent the case to the SEP, arguing that the academic institution had legal loopholes that did not give it the power to withdraw a bachelor’s degree.
The SEP reversed that it should be the UNAM that asks to invalidate the title, because the General Directorate of Professions (DGP) “lacks the powers to intervene in any way in the matter.”
Minister Esquivel has been controversial for being the wife of one of the government’s favorite contractors and for voting in favor of the current president’s issues, such as the consultation to prosecute former presidents and the reform of the Electricity Industry Law.
Specialists have warned that if Esquivel lost her title, she would have to leave the Supreme Court because she did not have a law degree, as established by law, and this would unleash a crisis of legitimacy of the votes in which she participated.
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