Laura Poy Solano
La Jornada Newspaper
Thursday, October 16, 2025, p. 6
Elena Álvarez-Buylla, director of the then National Council of Humanities, Sciences, Technologies and Innovation (now Secretariat of Science, Humanities, Technology and Innovation), rejected the public campaign against her and her family for alleged damage to public assets.
Regarding the complaint from the Superior Audit of the Federation (ASF) regarding a contract of 57 million pesos, regarding which a sanctioning administrative responsibility procedure (PRAS) was determined for 35 million pesos, in a letter spread on its social networks it states that “they were identified at the time by the Internal Control Body (OIC) of the then Conahcyt and by the ASF itself, in relation to the use of resources from one of the trusts.”
He explains that these allegations are due to the fact that the company involved “did not present the administrative deliverables adequately, despite the fact that the Administration and Finance Unit paid the corresponding invoices.”
Álvarez-Buylla, a renowned expert in the study of the evolutionary ecology of development and 2017 National Science Prize winner in the fields of physical-mathematics and natural sciences, highlights that confronting the vested interests in science and academia, which for years “took advantage of Conacyt without rigorous observance that would show their excesses and waste in an illegitimate or non-standard manner, has had a very high cost.” high”.
He emphasizes that during his administration, in which the process of extinction of 91 trusts of the then Conahcyt took place, instruments that he considered inefficient and opaque in the management of resources, 21,800 million pesos were recovered for the treasury, of which, 7,651 corresponded to insolvent projects and more than 14,000 to passive resources in the extinct trusts.
It is pertinent to specify, he adds, that the PRAS is an instrument aimed at individuals or representatives of specific companies, and the corresponding complaints are based on it, which is why he emphasizes that it does not appear in any of said documents. It states that the work for which the company was hired “was carried out and the resource came from the public account.”
It highlights that the Legal Affairs Unit and the OIC of Conahcyt made observations on the tender in question, and the responsible area “determined to proceed with the early termination of the contract”, which generated “the removal of public servants from the responsible unit, as well as the opening of the relevant procedures within the framework of the corresponding audits.”
He also remembers that he gave instructions for Legal Affairs to follow up on the audits and observations of the ASF, in addition to the fact that the Tax Administration Service audited the firm providing the service.
He emphasizes that his assets have been public during his time in the federal administration, and assures that his income “is the product of honest, transparent work that adheres to legality, the result of an honorable academic career.”
