Thousands protest Mexico’s new science law
Myriam Vidal Valero | 19 May 2023 | Nature
Opposition politicians hold a protest in Mexico’s Senate.Credit: Luis Barron/Eyepix Group/Future Publishing via Getty
More than 14,000 people have signed a letter protesting against the approval of a new science law in Mexico on 29 April. Researchers are organizing a march against it later this month and even calling for a strike. They say that the legislation — the General Law on Humanities, Sciences, Technologies and Innovation — consolidates power over science with the government and ignores the wishes of the research community. And they are angry that Mexico’s ruling party, that of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, rushed the law through — the approval didn’t follow normal parliamentary procedures, the researchers say.
The process was “atypical” and “irregular” says Fidel Sánchez, a bioinformatics researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City.