CAFA and other organizations have endorsed the IPEN statement, which reaffirms “university autonomy is a fundamental pillar for the development of knowledge, innovation and critical thinking”.
The Asociación Iniciativa Puentes por los Estudiantes de Nicaragua (IPEN) has recently issued a statement in support of university autonomy. The document highlights the fact that one year has elapsed since the arbitrary seizure of the Central American University in Nicaragua (UCA), an action that has been accompanied by the intervention of nearly thirty private universities in the country.
According to IPEN, “the UCA was a national and regional reference for educational quality and free development of thought and was the last academic space to support university autonomy in the country”. The statement points out that the confiscation of universities is a frontal attack on academic freedom and the Declaration of Inter-American Principles on Academic Freedom and University Autonomy of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). It also emphasizes that “university autonomy is a fundamental pillar for the development of knowledge, innovation and critical thinking”.
The CLAA has formally endorsed the document in collaboration with several prominent regional organizations, including the Central American Association of Philosophy (Acafi), the Costa Rican Association of Philosophy, the Nicaraguan Center for Open Education and Training Paulo Freire, Opportunities, Aula Abierta, the Intercultural Association of Human Rights, the Center for Transdisciplinary Studies of Central America, the Observatory of Universities and the Inter-American Legal Assistance Center for Human Rights.