The protection of Yasmín Esquivel does not seek to silence the UNAM, says lawyer

Angelica Enciso L.

Newspaper La Jornada
Tuesday February 21, 2023, p. 13

Alejandro Romano Rascón, lawyer for Minister Yasmín Esquivel Mossa, ruled out yesterday that the provisional suspension obtained by his client seeks to silence the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in the conflict that arose over the authenticity of the thesis of the member of the Supreme National Court of Justice (SCJN).

The appeal that favored Esquivel challenged specific authorities and tried to prevent the lynching of the minister, added Romano. The lawyer told reporters that he provided the University Ethics Committee with evidence proving that the minister is the author of her bachelor’s thesis.

Esquivel filed an amparo lawsuit against the guidelines for the integration of the Ethics Committee that investigates the alleged plagiarism in the preparation of that thesis. A court ordered UNAM not to divulge information about the case.

Roman said that There is nothing as wrong as maintaining that the appeal filed by Minister Yasmín Esquivel seeks to silence the UNAM.

He added that it is precautionary benefit obtained by any person who comes in defense of a fundamental human right, such as honor, so as not to be lynched, so that his good name is not attacked and his reputation is not destroyed.

He added that the appeal goes in relation to specific authorities, who carried out acts that we believe are notoriously arbitrary to the detriment of Yasmín Esquivel. Nothing to do with the alma mater, the highest house of studies, it is at a higher level, just like university autonomy.

The lawyer explained that the evidence presented yesterday consists of statements by Martha Rodríguez, the thesis director, and Édgar Ulises Báez, whose thesis was found by university authorities to be very similar to Esquivel’s.

Romano said that he also presented expert opinions and testimonies from people who state that Esquivel is the author of the thesis that he presented to obtain a law degree.

noted that the main inadmissible violation is that the authority first determined that she copied a substantial part of her thesis and then called her to appear. It must be the other way around, she pointed out. First, the interested party is called to present evidence.

He added that by issuing the resolution stating that Esquivel copied the thesis, What UNAM did was prejudge and when this is done, an arbitrary act is incurred.

He said he appeared on behalf of Esquivel on February 13. That same day, in the afternoon, the University Ethics Committee notified that the next day we could see the file from which the notification for us to appear had been detached, that is, we first appeared and then we saw the file.

Now the committee must assess the evidence and act in accordance with what the authority deems appropriate, the lawyer concluded.