Various aspects of this university: Students, Plaza Che Guevara and the campus.
Photo: Óscar Pérez
In a brief statement, the Vice Chancellor of the Bogotá headquarters of the National University declared a red alert at the higher education institution. The reason, she says, is due to the presence of hooded people and the disruption of public order in the Central Plaza.
Also, he assures, there are disturbances at the gates on 26th Street and 45th Street. “For this reason, as a preventive measure, an evacuation order is given on campus starting at 4:30 p.m.,” the bulletin reads. .
This situation arises after it became known that Ismael Peña, who had been elected as the new rector of the National University, took office in a notary office, without having the endorsement of the Minister of Education, Aurora Vergara.
As we had reported in El Espectador, Vergara had refused to sign the minutes that show how Peña’s election process was carried out in el Higher University CouncilWell, in his opinion, it was not transparent. While she asked for details of the interventions of the CSU members, this body preferred to keep them anonymous.
Peña’s decision, in fact, caused annoyance in the Ministry of Education, which spoke out this afternoon. “Any maneuver for the possession of the designated rector of the National Universitywhich is not respectful of the legality and validity of the established procedure, must be rejected,” the minister said in a statement.
Regarding the possession of Peña before Notary 14, the ministry stated that “the idea of taking possession of the designated person cannot be validated without compliance with all the requirements, since it is a rupture, not only of the procedure, but of the democratic principle, the legality of the process and the validity of the act of election itself,” and added that compliance with the regulations and formal requirements are a guarantee of principles and not “simple means susceptible to interpretation.”
For his part, Leopoldo Múnera, who was the candidate with the most votes in the consultation carried out among the U. Nacional community, also expressed his position regarding what happened today. “Those who consider themselves the bastions of institutionality and autonomy are taking the National University of Colombia down the path of illegality and deepening the crisis, without taking into account the consequences of their actions,” he wrote in X.
