Former University President Murdered Stepping out of his house

Sniper at the scene of University President murder

The former president of Mexico’s Benemerita Universidad Autonoma de Puebla, or BUAP, was gunned down, the Puebla state Attorney General’s Office said Wednesday.

Samuel Malpica Uribe, who had reported corruption at the institution, was killed on Tuesday night, the AG’s office said.

The 58-year-old academic and leftist activist was shot as he was leaving his house in Puebla city by unidentified gunmen, who left their weapons at the crime scene.

Investigators are looking at a number of possible motives, including the allegations Malpica made about the existence of a corruption network at the BUAP, the Puebla state government said.

Malpica was planning to stage a hunger strike to press for an investigation of the BUAP, the slain academic’s wife said.

“His public demands were based on the irregularities ... committed by previous administrations against the state’s top higher education institution,” the Puebla state government said.

Malpica filed an official request on June 13 with the state comptroller’s office for an investigation of the alleged irregularities.

“They have been violating the institution’s regulations ... covering up the financial mismanagement there,” Malpica said last month.

Malpica served as president of the BUAP from 1987 to 1989 and made an unsuccessful bid to become Puebla’s mayor in 2008 on the Workers’ Party and Party of the Democratic Revolution ticket.

The former university president was arrested on fraud charges in 1992 during the administration of Gov. Mariano Piña Olaya of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.

Malpica was never convicted and said he was a victim of “political persecution.” EFE