Declaration of Central America on the occasion of the International Colloquium Social Sciences and Violence in Central America: between sieges and resistances

Having met in Guatemala City on December 4, 5 and 6 within the framework of International Colloquium “Social Sciences and Violence in Central America: Between Sieges and Resistance”, in which participants from the CLACSO Working Groups on Violence in Central America; Feminisms, Resistance and Emancipation; and Ruralities and Political Transitions in Central America and Colombia with local social scientists and representatives of institutions and social movements.

WE EXPRESS

We are issuing an alert regarding the alarming signs of authoritarianism in the Central American region, which affect our academic territories and undermine university autonomy—a historic achievement of Latin American universities and a fundamental human right to education. We have observed serious incidents such as:

• The co-optation of the University of San Carlos of Guatemala, which, since 2021 when its rector was arrested on suspicion of influence peddling and then by manipulating the elections called in 2022, placed a person without the academic or legal qualifications at the head of this three-hundred-year-old university, causing an institutional, political and academic crisis: repression and persecution of students, teachers and workers through legal criminalization, expulsion from the USAC and exile from the country.

• The threats, intimidation, and multiple forms of violence experienced by the Nicaraguan university community, which since the protests against the Ortega-Murillo government's policies in 2018, have included the confiscation of its property, as well as the expulsion, persecution, exile, and murder of professors and students. Furthermore, the closure of nearly 30 universities in retaliation for their critical stance, most notably the Central American University (UCA), has transformed the country into a place devoid of spaces for critical thinking and the construction of social knowledge.

• Other ways to undermine universities include economic strangulation, as evidenced by the alarming underfunding faced by public universities in El Salvador and Costa Rica, whose budgets have been limited, intervened in, and questioned for not aligning with the neoliberal interests of the governments of Nayib Bukele and Rodrigo Chaves, respectively. In addition to the above, in the case of El Salvador, the central campus of the University of El Salvador has also been occupied, which limits the development of activities typical of public higher education.

• The increasingly visible risks of conducting social research in contexts of denial of access to public information, zero funding for the social sciences, and personal risks of conducting fieldwork in territories occupied by organized crime and drug trafficking groups.

These situations have effects of precarious employment and academic conditions, but also, as we observed during the Colloquium, the processes of commodification of education are accelerating, resulting in academic spaces functioning under the neoliberal logic, contrary to the spirit that has animated them of criticism and contributions to social justice in countries where inequality, racism and patriarchy continue to exclude millions of people.

Our concern regarding the social, economic, political and environmental problems that manifest themselves in the dispossession and sacrifice of territories, and extractivism material and intellectual, primarily affecting womenLoss of biodiversity. In addition to multiple risks for populations, defenders of territory, especially indigenous and Afro-descendant people, who are being expelled from their environments, threatening their community existence through increasingly violent mechanisms such as assassinations of leaders and criminalization through judicialization and exile.

Another effect of this deepening of neoliberal capitalism is the internal and international migration of millions of Central Americans, especially young people, who are not given educational or employment opportunities and who migrate risking their safety and their lives.

The forms of violence we are investigating disproportionately affect girls, adolescents, and women subjected to sexual violence, as evidenced by the thousands of cases of sexual abuse and rape, and forced pregnancies that limit their life plans. Social, economic, and political inequalities continue to affect them, and despite some legal advances, their lives remain marked by exclusion, racism, and the continuum of violence in all spheres, including academia, migration routes, homes, workplaces, streets, the media, and the digital world. According to approximate data, in Central America, one in four women between the ages of 15 and 49 has experienced violence at some point in their lives. This is exacerbated for Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and mixed-race women in rural areas, as well as women with disabilities and women of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. This violence goes unpunished due to the inaction of state institutions and societal permissiveness. 

It is also important to highlight the lack of access to justice in cases of violence during the wars in El Salvador and Guatemala, especially the crimes against humanity committed against indigenous peoples in Guatemala. 

IN THE MIDST OF THIS PANORAMA OF REGRESSION OF RIGHTS:

• We identified multiple forms of resistance in all social, legal, and memory struggle territories, including the academic one, which are visible in the exchanges held within the framework of this Colloquium, with community, university, and social movement leaders that constitute networks articulated around ethical horizons and social justice.

• We reiterate our commitment to public, secular and free education as a human right that must be guaranteed for all people, and to actions to preserve university autonomy that safeguards and protects this right.

• We demand the guarantee of decent working conditions for the professional and academic practice of the social sciences within a framework of genuine university autonomy and rights to Gender equality, free expression, freedom of teaching and academic freedom.

• We express our unrestricted solidarity with the academic students, teachers and administrative staff of the universities of Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador who suffer persecution, criminalization and in some cases exile for their critical and ethical positions.

We demand that Central American states guarantee human rights for a dignified life for the Central American population, with special attention to indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples and people in the most vulnerable situations. 

December 6th 2024
Guatemala City
CLACSO Working Groups
Violence in Central America
Feminisms, resistance and emancipation
Ruralities and political transitions in Central America and Colombia

This statement expresses the position of the aforementioned Working Groups and not necessarily that of the centers and institutions that make up the CLACSO international network, its Steering Committee or its Executive Secretariat.