rectors behind bars

Embezzlement, improper use of resources, irregular exercise of public function, embezzlement, tax fraud, abuse of power and even money laundering, are some crimes that various prosecutors have charged rectors and former rectors of different universities in México. Public universities are an appetizing loot, an inexhaustible source of public resources that in the hands of corrupt people can generate millionaire fortunes for personal or group benefit.

In Hidalgo, Gerardo Sosa Castelán, former President of the Board of Trustees of the Autonomous University of the State of Hidalgo, was linked to the process for the crimes of embezzlement, money laundering and tax fraud as a result of the investigations carried out within the framework of the “Master Scam”. ”. Arrested while driving in a luxurious vehicle on the Circuito Interior, in México City, the former local deputy for the PRI was brought before a judge, accused of carrying out a series of irregular operations for more than 151 million dollars between accounts from the University and Swiss banks, for this reason the DEA followed in his footsteps and ordered the freezing of university accounts.

In Oaxaca, Eduardo Martínez Helmes, former Rector of the Benito Juárez Autonomous University, who held office from 2012 to 2016, was arrested. Linked to the process for the crime of aggravated tax fraud, he was arrested after participating in a meeting with the University Union of Masters. Three amparos filed against the Oaxaca State Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Corruption were not enough for the academic, as well as before the arrest warrant issued by the control court that was studying his case, valued as a fraud to university assets for more than 355 million pesos.

In Morelos, the arrest of former Rector Alejandro Vera Jiménez was also ordered, accused of breach of trust against the Administrative Workers Union of said university. Consigned in front of dozens of diners in a restaurant in Cuernavaca, the former university official tried to resist, but was subjected to being pushed and pulled by police elements who were complying with the arrest warrant. The former public servant was accused of diverting more than 600 million pesos from the university budget.

In Tabasco, the accusation was against the Rector of the Popular University of Chontalpa, José Víctor Zárate Aguilera, for embezzlement of funds from university workers, in particular for the withholding of employer fees that the university deducted, but never informed the State Social Security Institute. Due to the facts, the FGE estimated the damage at more than 30 million pesos. It is important to note that the former Chancellor left his post at the head of the educational institution to run as a candidate for local deputy for the PRI in 2012.

Earlier this year in Nayarit, Rector José Ignacio Peña González was arrested for embezzlement of resources at the Autonomous University of Nayarit. The State Criminal Investigation Agency made public the apprehension of the official in the municipality of Tepic, as well as the presentation of the defendant before a control judge of first instance for the imputation of the crimes of document falsification and abuse of authority. Together with the Chancellor, other officials of the university community were linked to proceedings for various crimes including “abandonment of functions” and “fraud”, for the alleged sale of teaching positions and “aviadurías” of people who received resources from the Nayarita University without exercising its function.

These are the most recent cases of arrests of rectors and former rectors at national public universities. If we look closely, we can see that, in the last 20 years, more than 20 former rectors and top-level university officials have had problems with the law. Detention by university authorities is more common than we imagine. This is due, on the one hand, to the patrimonial vision of public resources that some university students have, as well as to the lack of transparency and accountability of the groups that hold power in the highest houses of study. And being clear in the face of the evidence of the facts, they are also explained by the political problems that many former rectors make their own when they decide to participate openly in campaigns and electoral processes. The big question in the case of the Autonomous University of Sinaloa en: Will Jesús Madueña follow the fate of his peers in Oaxaca, Morelos, Nayarit, Tabasco or Hidalgo? Or could it be that the justice authorities in Sinaloa Will they do what to the wind to Juárez? Then we follow…

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