Conducting Research in Central America in the Face of Closing Academic Spaces

In April 2022, the Central America Research Alliance (CARA) and the Research Technical Assistance Center (RTAC) held a webinar where researchers from Central America and Mexico shared their experiences working in contexts of closing academic freedom and provided viewers with a list of recommendations for how to cope and continue working in these conditions. During the webinar, presenters told participants how in the last three years they have been asked to resign or removed from committees and other senior management positions, denied funding opportunities, harshly questioned by government officials and the police, and even spied on and had their private conversations taped. In this policy brief, CARA summarizes the situation of academics and higher education institutions in Central America. In Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua, such institutions have served as repositories of historical memory and centers of open, democratic discussion. Precisely because of this, undemocratic regimes, especially that in Nicaragua, have engaged in persecution and even outright censure of higher education and research. Taking this situation into account, CARA puts forward recommendations for individual researchers, higher education institutions, and any involved stakeholder. Recommendations include informing researchers and their associates, practicing self-care, and promoting networks of institutional and personal support.