Modesto Seara Vázquez Explained

Modesto Seara-Vazquez
Office:Rector Oaxaca State University System
Birth Date:1931 9, df=yes
Birth Place:Allariz, Spain
Death Place:Mexico City, Mexico
Profession:Professor of international law and international relations
Education:Doctorate in international law

Modesto Seara Vázquez (11 September 1931 – 26 December 2022) was a Spanish-born Mexican jurist and academic. He lived in several countries (Spain, England, France, Germany) but has spent most of his life in Mexico. He has actively participated in Mexican life as a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and since 1988 as the Rector of the Oaxaca State University System in the State of Oaxaca.[1] He died in Mexico City on 26 December 2022, at the age of 91.[2]

Early years

Modesto Seara Vazquez experienced the political persecution to which his father was subjected by the Franco regime, a situation which was surely decisive in defining his political vocation and position for international issues, because the surveillance of his home in the run-up to the Second World War left him marked with that passion forever.

In 1950 he went to Madrid to prepare for his Aeronautical Engineering degree. Shortly afterwards he discovered his true vocation, which was the study of international issues, and he moved on to the law degree. He studied at the Faculty of Law of the Central University of Madrid (today Complutense University), being among the last generation to study at Calle de San Bernardo, before the faculty was transferred to the University City.

Education

His doctoral thesis, entitled "Études de Droit Interplanetaire", provoked a lot of interest and Le Figaro Literaire dedicated a long report written by Beatrix Beck, Goncourt Literature Prize, to support the thesis. Radio Paris also broadcast a series of interviews with Modesto Seara Vazquez entitled "The Interplanetary Law Seen from Paris". As a result, he was invited to present a paper at the Congress of the International Astronautical Federation (London 1959) in which he enunciated his theory of the functional regulation of space, later published in Vienna (1960), and which would be assumed by the majority of jurists.[3]

Academic activities

Mexico

On 1 March 1961 he began his collaboration with the National Autonomous University of Mexico, as a full-time research professor at the Institute of Comparative Law, now the Institute of Legal Research. At the same time he began to collaborate with the Faculty of Law and the School of Political and Social Sciences (now the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences) holding the chairs of Public International Law and International Organization.[4]

In 1961 he published his first book Introduction to International Cosmic Law, a revised and updated edition of his doctoral thesis, that years later was translated into English.[5] In 1963, part of the thesis was also published in Russian, in Moscow.

In Paris, Modesto Seara Vazquez met a great figure of Mexican life, Isidro Fabela, who was introduced to him by the military advisor of the Mexican Embassy, General Alberto Salinas Carranza, one of the founders of Mexican aviation. Isidro Fabela was traveling to Europe with his wife Doña Josefina. The advanced age of both made them fear to travel alone so they decided to bring with them Modesto Seara Vazquez. Isidro Fabela's friendship was decisive in the life of Modesto Seara Vazquez, since it opened many doors and integrated him quickly into the life of the country.

In that first decade of the 1960, Modesto Seara Vazquez had a very active academic life at National Autonomous University of Mexico, where he published a book on outer space law Cosmic International Law and a text on Public International Law, which would expand to 25 editions by 2016. All the editions of his books are subject to an update by him before he authorizes its publication.

United States

From 1965 to 1966 he was Professor at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, in an extremely enriching stay, where he lived with the essentially Mormon community of the State of Utah, one of the last theocracies in the Western world. In spite of his political ideas, different from those prevailing in that environment, he always had the respect of his hosts. While having different vacation periods, he got to know the whole western part of the United States and traveled frequently through the states of Utah, California, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. He also visited British Columbia, in Canada, where he stayed briefly in Vancouver.

Jewish Rights in the Soviet Union

Modesto Seara Vazquez joined an international movement in favor of the Jews of the Soviet Union, as part of the Latin American Committee, defending the right to leave. For more than two decades, he participated in many countries in different activities like lectures, seminars, conferences, etc. In October 1973, during the Yon Kippur war, he visited the USSR as part of a commission of four people that were sent to meet Jews who were denied an exit visa. That Commission visited Moscow, Kiev, Tbilisi and Leningrad.

Europe

In 1969 Modesto Seara Vazquez decided to spend his sabbatical year in Europe, half of it in Spain and the other part in Berlin (West) where he carried out research on Franco's foreign policy, using the bibliographic and periodical collections of the Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut, in Berlin. During this period he also gave lectures in East Germany at the Karl Marx Universität, from Leipzig and Universität Rostock.

The journalistic dimension: press and television

In the 70's he combined his academic activities with an intense participation in the Press and the Media. In El Sol de México he wrote editorial comments and several special articles, also on sundays he wrote the Sunday supplement in El Mundo desde el Sol which was a weekly commentary about the international life with a little bit of humor. He was appointed general advisor of Canal 13 (public television) where he also wrote weekly comments about the international life in the Séptimo día program. Apart from that he created a series of international reports named Paz y Conflicto which programs were The Impossible Peace (on the Middle East), April in Portugal (the carnation Revolution, in Lisbon, Portugal), They Will Not Kill Hope (about Chilean political life and the death of Salvador Allende), the New Empire (about the last years of the Iran of Shah Reza Pahleví), and so on.

Oaxaca State Universities

Theoretical phase

In 1983, Modesto Seara Vazquez decided to abandon politics and return to university life, working at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.[6] They were several years of an intense academic activity, both national and international where he increased his publications publishing new books and new editions, as well as essays. He runs the Mexican Yearbook of International Relations that he founded in 1980. In 1967 he created the Mexican Institute of Internacional Relations that years later was changed to The Mexican Association of International Studies.

In 1989 he was elected vice president of the International Studies Association (ISA). At the ISA-MAIE meeting held in Acapulco, Guerrero, he concluded his term as president of MAEI and he was elected honorary president of the association.[7]

In 1989 he was named National Researcher Emeritus, of the National System of Researchers of CONACYT.

Practical phase

1988 was a decisive year of Modesto Seara Vazquez's life. In that year the governor of the state of Oaxaca asked him to create a project to build a university in Huajuapan de León, in the Mixtec region, in the north of the state. Modesto Seara Vazquez developed the project and it officially began a new model of universities, that are conceived as universities for development. The definition he gave to this model of university was in the sense of transcending its educational function, and understanding it as a cultural instrument to transform society. He gave it four main functions: teaching, research, dissemination of culture and promotion of development.

The Technological University of the Mixteca opened its doors in 1990, with 48 students, five professors and two classrooms, in the middle of a land baptized by local humorists as "the Seara Desert". It was the beginning of a great adventure that led to an unprecedented academic university project. In 2019, The Technological University of the Mixteca has around 220 full-time research professors and about 1,800 students. It offers 12 bachelor and engineering degrees, 15 Masters Degree programs, five PhD Degree programs, and it has nine research Institutes, within 109-hectare campus with more than 100 buildings.[8]

As a result, the students of the Technological University of the Mixteca routinely rank among the top nationally (according to CENEVAL's General Knowledge Exams), in the fields of computer engineering, electronics, industrial or business sciences. In 2008 and 2011, a group of students achieved first place in the world in HCI (Human Computar Interaction, ACM), in the finals that took place in Florence and Atlanta and they were also number two in the same competition (Human Computar Interaction, ACM), first time in San Jose, California in 2017 and the second time in Paris, in 2013.[9]

Academic institutions

Books

Articles[29]

Recognitions

Eponymous

References

  1. Web site: Modesto Seara Vazquez. January 30, 2020.
  2. News: Murió Modesto Seara, rector del Sistema de Universidades de Oaxaca . 18 December 2023 . Eje Central . 26 December 2022.
  3. Web site: Modesto Seara Vazquez. January 30, 2020.
  4. Web site: Gaceta Políticas. Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales de la UNAM. Salazar Casiano. Juan Pedro. February 6, 2020.
  5. News: La cultura en México. Suplemento de Siempre. Gonzalez Casanova. Henrique. 1985. Personas y lugares.
  6. Web site: Sistema de Universidades Estatales de Oaxaca.
  7. Web site: Asociación Mexicana de Estudios Internacionales. January 30, 2020.
  8. Web site: Hechos 2019. Tres Décadas de servir a México 1988-2018. Universidades Estatales de Oaxaca.. January 30, 2020.
  9. Web site: Student Design Competition. January 30, 2020.
  10. Web site: Presidente de Honor. Asociación Mexicana de Estudios Internacionales. February 6, 2020.
  11. Web site: La Vuelta al Mundo en 80 años. Gonzalez Carrillo. Adriana. October 2016. Centro de Estudios Internacionales Gilberto Bosquez.
  12. Fernós. Antonio. 1976. Derecho Internacional Público. Book Review and Notes. 167.
  13. Villamil Castillo. Carlos. April 25, 1965. Comentario sobre un libro raro. Revista Mexicana de Cultura. 943. 5.
  14. López Portillo. Margarita. April 1976. Reseña bimestral de libros y folletos impresos en los E.U. Mexicanos. Boletín Bibliográfico Mexicano. 321. 8.
  15. Cid Capetillo. Ileana M.. January 2016. Después de la tragedia. A 70 años de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Revista de Relaciones Internacionales de la UNAM. 124. 175–183.
  16. News: Avilés Fabila. René. Excelsior. 1986. Ausencia de líderes. Problema de la Humanidad.
  17. News: Excelsior. Aviles Favila. René. November 11, 1995. Un momento para la reflexión profunda. February 6, 2020.
  18. News: Payan Velver. Carlos. La Jornada. August 1986. La Hora Decisiva.
  19. Aragones. José Ramón. La Hora Decisiva. Revista Española de Financiación y Contabilidad. 1–5.
  20. Kinast. Ewa. 1987. La Hora Decisiva. Sprawy Miedzynarodowe. 2. 161–164.
  21. News: Becerra Acosta. Manuel. Uno más Uno. August 1986. La Hora Decisiva.
  22. Warnke. Allan E.. 1985. Derecho y política en el Espacio Cósmico. The American Journal of International Law. 79. 264–265.
  23. Campos. Horacio. Debe legislarse el acceso espacial de OVNIS. Reporte OVNI. 41. 2.
  24. Nakamura. Osamu. April 1983. La política exterior de México: La práctica de México en el derecho internacional. Journal of International Law and Diplomacy. 82. 10.
  25. T.. M. V.. 1970. La paz precaria: de Versailles a Danzig. Revista de Política Internacional. 118. 1.
  26. Poulantzas. N.M.. 1965. Cosmic International Law. Journal of Air Law and Commerce. 31. 381–384.
  27. Alonso y Lamban. Mario. June 1966. Cosmic International Law. Temis. 19. 181.
  28. Oduntan. Gbenga. 2003. The Never Ending Dispute: Legal Theories on the Spatial Demarcation Boundary Plane between Airspace and Outer Space. Hertfordshire Law Journal. 1. 64–84.
  29. Web site: Artículos y Folletos. Seara Vazquez. Modesto. March 2020.
  30. News: Pérez Santiago. Paula. Faro de Vigo. June 4, 2011. La Xunta otorga las Medallas Castelao a Luis Espada, Tojeiro y al socialista Modesto Seara. February 7, 2020.
  31. Web site: Ingenieros de Montes de Honor. February 7, 2020.
  32. News: López. Valery. El Oriente. April 14, 2016. Recordemos a ciudadanos que han ganado Medalla Donají. February 7, 2020.

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