IMPOSED DIRECTOR OF THE ENAH STOPPED FROM TAKING OFFICE

MEXICO CITY- Wednesday morning at 9 a.m., Alejandro Villalobos and four security guards attempted to enter the administration offices of the National School of Anthropology and History (ENAH in its Spanish initials) but were stopped by about 30 people. After tussling for a few minutes, Villalobos and his group were forced to leave.

Villalobos was chosen by the institution that oversees the ENAH to direct the school. But during elections held in September last year, Villalobos came in second to candidate Gumersindo Vera.

At question is the autonomy of the ENAH and the elections that decide the ENAH's director. The ENAH is under the direction of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH in its Spanish initials). According to the rules, the INAH decides who directs the ENAH, an activist-oriented school. However, the history has been that the students, workers and professors of the ENAH vote to elect the school's director. In turn, the INAH has respected the election results and the directorship has been decided by the ENAH community's votes.

On Sept. 18 2007, the ENAH directorship was won by Gumersindo Vera with 39.34 percent of the votes. Villalobos followed with 31 percent and a third candidate, Patricia Hernandez, garnered 29 percent. Six hundred and fifty-four students, 212 professors, and 106 workers from the ENAH cast ballots; about 30 percent of the population. Three months later, right before holiday vacations, the director of the INAH, Alfonso de Maria y Campos, made it public that the INAH had chosen Villalobos to direct the school, stating that Villalobos was the "adequate person for the position."

Cecilia Urban, an ENAH professor, disagrees with the INAH's decision. "For us the academic community, this violates a democratic tradition, a process that we put a lot of work into. He (the director of the INAH) did not consider what this process involves," she said. "His decision goes against the will of the community."

Indignation arose in the ENAH community. Radio Zapote, the free radio that transmits from the second floor of the school's principal building, announced that it was under threat of eviction after the school sent a letter saying the radio's studio would be "remodeled".

Various groups said they would not accept the admission of Villalobos as director. Vera, the winner of the elections, is organizing resistance with many of the ENAH professors. "If we allow the INAH to override the decision of the community, then we will have a debilitated school and we are going to throw away what has been the historic tradition of our school," he said.

When classes began after holiday vacations on Jan. 7, a group of professors aligned with Vera set up camp outside of the ENAH's administration offices, promising to block Villalobo's assumption as director. Officials from the INAH arrived to confiscate a video tape from the school's audiovisual department. The video documented a candidates' debate from Sept. 11 where all three of the candidates swore not to accept the INAH's naming of the director if the election results were not favorable to the institution.

Once Villalobo's entrance was blocked on Wednesday, ENAH students convened an assembly where it was decided that the student sector would reject the electoral process, reject Villalobos, initiate a stoppage of activities, close the administration of the school and struggle for a new regulation of the school. The students chose to reject the election results because of cited irregularities during the voting day and the process's design.

Paco, an ENAH student, said that the electoral process is set up where the student and professor sectors' votes weigh for 40 percent each of the final vote and workers only receive 20 percent.

"The electoral process is a fraud," he said. "We want the vote to be universal and that the ENAH have its self-determination."

Serch from Radio Zapote believes that the bigger picture does not involve promoting one candidate over the other. "It's not about who is the most 'adequate' to direct the school. It's about the INAH respecting the decision of the school and that we change the regulations so that the ENAH community decides," he said.

At heart of the issue is a pattern on a national level where the federal government of Felipe Calderon ignores the democratic procedures undertaken by its citizens and imposes its own will. Many would argue that this began with the 2006 election where Calderon was named president despite widespread allegations of fraud and with a .34 percent advantage over the opposition candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

"I think that this is a general policy of the state. If we allow them to hit the ENAH like this, then every other institution will be hit," Vera said. "In front of this situtation, we cannot stand with our arms crossed."