Mexican science board tells researchers: don’t criticize

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s newly-politicized government science board is now ordering researchers not to publicly criticize the body, and says they have to clear any public comments through it press office. Local media reported Friday the National Council on Science and Technology has issued a new set of rules telling employees and outside researchers “to avoid negative opinions or comments” about the body. The council was already under fire after it helped prosecutors try to lock up 31 academics in a maximum security prison usually reserved for drug lords. Critics say the strange moves by supporters of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador threatens academic freedom.