The case of the president of the Bolivian University Confederation (CUB), Max Mendoza, 52 years old and a student at a free public institute since 1989, became known after a stampede in a student assembly that left four dead and 70 injured.
“We have criminally denounced” Mendoza for having turned his position “into a business,” said the pro-government legislator Héctor Arce, at a press conference.
Mendoza “is 52 years old, has been studying for 33 years at a university, has failed more than 200 subjects, has zero in more than 100 subjects [y] I had a salary of 21,860 bolivianos (about 3,150 dollars) per month” as a student leader, added the deputy.
In Bolivia “it is business to be a university leader, why study [y recibirse] if it has many benefits?”, he affirmed.
Mendoza first studied business administration and has been studying law for 25 years, although a bachelor’s degree takes five years in Bolivia.
In Bolivia, it is known that public university student organizations receive contributions from the State, but not that their leaders have a “salary”.
The criminal complaint against Mendoza, who has been a leader of the CUB for four years, is for the alleged crimes of “illicit enrichment, benefit by reason of the position, uneconomic conduct and embezzlement.”
According to local media, there are more student leaders eternalized in their positions for the benefits they obtain.
In a heated assembly held on May 9 at the state-owned Tomás Frías University in the Andean city of Potosí, an attendee threw a tear gas grenade, causing an avalanche that left four university students dead.
Mendoza was pointed out as one of the promoters of the assembly that sought to favor loyal leaders.
The student leader has not appeared in public to respond to the accusations.
Four people have been arrested as part of the prosecution’s investigation into the deaths of the students.
