The XIII Congress of Universities postponed discussing the resolutions proposed by the Institutional Political Commission because some subcommittees had not finished their work and mainly because there were differences of opinion in the plenary on the questioning of the political-partisan interference and the MAS government in the universities.
Given this scenario, the delegations left this matter for later, although they did not define when they would return to the political proposal.
“It has been an inconsequential congress from the point of view of products that could change the university. Everything has been relegated to the election of the Executive Committee of the Bolivian University (CEUB). From the beginning it seems that there was a whole plan to reach that goal. They shortened the Congress”, lamented the teaching delegate and member of the political subcommittee, Guido Zambrana, in contact with EL DEBER.
He refuted that the commissions worked only a day and a half without great debate or depth in the topics.
The Institutional Political Commission had to mark the actions and respond to the questions of the population about the attack in Potosí which caused the death of four students; the university crisis with leaders, students and teachers “dinosaurs”; the cooptation of the CEUB and others.
“To all of the above are added the Government’s attempts to control all the institutions to reproduce the worst practices of control and co-optation of the leaders, and even the control of the Bolivian university is being implemented through the Economic and Social Plan of the Government and the assigned budget”, indicates a part of the proposal of the political subcommittee that was not approved by the plenary session of Congress.
On the other hand, they identified as one of the external factors causing the crisis political party and government interference towards the Bolivian University with a “patronage model and prebends” and the “constant” violation of university autonomy.
When asked whether or not there is interference by the MAS in the universities, the rector of the Universidad Mayor de San Simón (UMSS), Julio Medina, emphatically said no.
Zambrana clarified that the work of several commissions was also postponed and in an “unclear” manner it was announced that they were going to be discussed in other spaces, although the place or date was not specified.
The CUB has 60 days
According to Medina, the four representatives of the Bolivian University Confederation (CUB) have 60 days to call for elections throughout the country to legally and legitimately form the student board.
“The student (Wálter Nakashim) does not have the legality so far. But the CEUB is recognizing him and has up to 60 days to elect him at the national level, ”explained the authority.
The plenary defined the Amazonian University of Pando as the venue for the XIV Congress of Universities.
