The legal battle for the rectorship of the University of San Carlos (Usac) remains in a decisive stage.
The group’s legal team Dignity and Rescue Usac (DIRE) maintains that the most advanced actions are two provisional protections that keep the election process on hold, with the expectation of a final decision before the July 1the date on which Mazariegos plans to take up his re-election, as explained in a press conference this Wednesday.
“We believe that before July 1 we could have a definitive resolution from the first instance judges,” said the lawyer. Edwin Orozco.
The lawyer indicated that they hope that the judges respond to their request to annul the session of the University Electoral Body held on April 8 and, with it, the election of Mazariegos.
“The main effect is that the meeting of the university electoral body on April 8 is completely canceled and therefore the election of Mr. Walter Mazariegos and the process would have to be repeated,” he said.
As part of the processing of the actions, he explained that the Attorney General’s Office (PGN) and the Comptroller General of Accounts supported the provisional protections, while the Public Ministry He held a different position. The arguments are presented in the final phase of both processes, so they consider that the final resolution could be known in matter of days or weeks.
Legal route
He lawyer Mario Trejo, Also a member of the legal team, he explained that the questions raised in the amparos are raised in two ways.
The first corresponds to the resources directed against the commission and the authorities that endorsed the April 8 election, whose immediate objective is to directly annul that electoral event.
The second route groups together the protections promoted by electoral bodies excluded by the Higher University Council (CSU) days before the election. In these cases, the goal is to reverse the annulments, allow the complete integration of the University Electoral Body and subsequently repeat the election.
“In the end all the protections are aimed at annulling the April 8 election,” Trejo summarized.
20 legal actions and how they are divided
Apart from that, Orozco He explained that the 20 actions are divided into different blocks. 13 correspond to electoral bodies which, according to the legal team, were arbitrarily excluded or annulled by the CSU. Among them are bodies of students, teachers and professional associations.
Added to this are three protections for the processing of revocation appeals which, in the opinion of DIRE-USAC, were not appropriate in university electoral matters and were used to prevent the participation of certain electoral bodies.
There are also specific actions related to the electoral bodies of Humanities and Architecturewhose participation was supported despite the fact that there were pending resolutions or suspensions.
In this context, he also highlighted differences in how justice is being received in relation to the university election, according to the instance, in his opinion due to criteria of independence.
“We see that the actions of First Instance Judges leads to more impartiality. When these actions are known by Appeals Chambers, the resolution is totally different; There is a total abyss because the magistrates can feel influenced by having to go through nomination committees and Congress every five years,” he said.
How the election was carried out
The validity of the April 8 election was another issue raised by Aníbal García, also a member of the group, who stated that the reduced integration of the electoral body was decisive for Mazariegos to obtain the necessary votes for his re-election.
He explained that originally 171 voters were to participate, including the acting rector, but due to exclusions only 75 voters participated.
According to García, university law establishes that for re-election, two thirds of the valid votesso Mazariegos needed at least 50 votes.
He added that, in the opinion of DIRE-USAC, electoral bodies such as Architecture, Humanities and Chemical Engineers They should not participate because there were pending resolutions, and without those votes Mazariegos would not have reached the required qualified majority. “If he adhered to the law, he only had 35 votes; he could not be rector,” he pointed out.
Officials question right of defense
Given the lack of direct statements by the university authorities to the media, the institutional position has been made known through its official channels.
In a video released on May 5, the deputy director of Legal Affairs of the Usac, Ana Lucía Recinos, confirmed that the university was notified of a provisional resolution that suspends events related to the election. Nevertheless, denounced defects in the judicial process.
“The Higher University Council was not notified nor is it part of the protection process, which prevented the right to defense from being exercised,” said Recinos, who also questioned the jurisdiction of the Fifteenth Civil Court of First Instance to hear the case.
The official added that the university has already filed legal appeals and complaints against the resolutions issued, under the argument of the defense of university autonomy. For his part, Mazariegos has not spoken directly publicly about the questions.
Academic impact and criminalization
Beyond the courts, the doctor Rodolfo Changpromoted as a candidate for rector by DIRE, expressed his concern about the academic crisis that has caused the closure of the central campus.
“They are outraged that they force us to give virtual classes when we could do them in person. They are inventing situations to keep it closed,” Chang denounced.
The academic also warned about the criminalization of students and teachers who oppose the process: “Young people are expelled and teachers are punished. Many do not intervene because there is real coercion and pressure.”
Finally, the members of DIRE-USAC indicated that they expect a new institutional landscape with the eventual arrival of the next attorney general, Gabriel Estuardo García Luna, scheduled for this Sunday, May 17.