“From Central America we want to contribute to a more inclusive Latin America”

Zarelly Sibaja Trejos , a Costa Rican teacher and researcher who directs the Institute of Gender Studies at UNED, coordinates the Academic Accessibility Network, and actively participates in national and international inclusive education networks, such as the National Observatory for Inclusive Education and the International Network of Inclusive Higher Education (RIESI) of the Central American Higher University Council of the Central American Integration System (CSUCA-SICA), and who was recently elected to the CLACSO Steering Committee for Central America at the XXVIII Assembly of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences in Bogotá, Colombia, on June 8, 2025, held a dialogue with the Executive Director of CLACSO, Pablo Vommaro , during which she gave a diagnosis of the situation in her country and the region, particularly the situation of public universities.

He analyzed that “ in Central America there is a lot of political difficulty because every day there is an increasing effort to silence voices, to silence the press, to silence people. There are significant cuts to social welfare projects and low participation. At least in Costa Rica, while we are experiencing many of these things, there isn't yet as much fear of participating, but there are other Central American countries where the suppression of the ability to say what needs improvement, what is wrong, is severe. People have to leave their countries, people have been politically persecuted, arrested, simply for being against the government. So it is truly sad not being able to say what we think, what we feel, and not being able to achieve a more equitable society.”

Furthermore, he emphasized that in the region , “opportunities are being cut and rights are being taken away. At least in Costa Rica, some programs have been closed, and the education budget has been reduced in the last two years. Right now, for example, public universities are fighting for next year's budget, and it's a difficult negotiation at the political level because they don't want to allocate what is due to education. So we know that as these cuts continue, we will experience a significant setback. This has happened in other Central American countries, and it's happening to us now in Costa Rica. The situation is volatile, and we can't take for granted that even though we've already gained many rights, they will always be there. The fight must continue because there are many threats that could arise.”

Finally, Zarelly Sibaja Trejos stated that “the process that the CLACSO network is undergoing is important, it is important that we can make it grow, and our commitment on the Steering Committee for these three years is to contribute to that growth of CLACSO in order to achieve a more inclusive, more understanding and more humane Central America and Latin America.”