Andrés Gómez Emilsson

Andrés Leonardo Gómez Emilsson (born September 23 1990) is founder of Elateneo/s High IQ Society, creator of the IQ Blue Test, member of several High IQ Societies and one of the winner's of Mexico's National Youth Award 2007 for his achievements in international knowledge competitions.He became recognizable by the general public after he shouted "Spurious!" to Mexican President Felipe Calderón in the National Youth Award 2007 ceremony, shortly after receiving the award from him, on October 3, 2008. He was detained for a few hours and released without charges. After this he granted an interview to political magazine Proceso, which ran a feature on him and used a photo of the event on its cover; received a personal phone call from Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard congratulating him and public praise from Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Biography

He was born in Mexico City, September 23 1990, to Luis Gómez and Elian Emilsson, both teachers at Mexico's National University, UNAM. Luis Gómez is a sociologist and teaches at UNAM's School of Social and Political Sciences. His mother is anthropologist and linguist.

He's enrolled in UNAM's CCH Sur, but currently studying in the Red Cross Nordic United World College in Norway, with a scholarship.

Achievements

Academic

* Winner of the 2007 Ing. Bernardo Quintana Arrioja Medal.
* Winner of the Red Cross Nordic United World College scholarship in Norway
* Winner of several national and international Math contests

Blue Test

An IQ measuring test created by Andrés.

Elateneo/s Society

A High IQ Society founded by him in 2005, whose main site is http://elateneos.freehostia.com/

Despite calling itself a High IQ Society, Elateneo/s describes its main goal as "to create a community where similar beings can communicate without restrictions."

To qualify as a member, an IQ in the top 1% is required. Several tests are accepted to determine qualifications; Andrés' own's Blue Test was used until February 17th, 2008. The reasons for its withdrawal aren't stated.Current testing policies can be found at [http://elateneos.freehostia.com/qualification.htm]

High IQ Society Memberships

Founding member:
* Elateneo/s [http://elateneos.atspace.com/ Home page]

Member:
* ISI-Society
* International High IQ Society Milenija
* High Potentials Society
* Mysterium society

Honorary Member:
* Pars Society
* HIQS-GT

National Youth Award 2007

He traveled from Norway to receive this award from the Mexican government. The award includes a medal, diploma and cash (approximately USD$15,000).After the incident in the award ceremony he was criticized for keeping the money; a few days later he announced he would donate half to his school, UNAM, and half to the institution sponsoring his stay in Norway, to where he returned.

National Youth Award incident

When President Calderón met the 19 winners before the ceremony at National Palace, Andrés Gómez told him he would not shake hands with him; Calderón said there was no problem and greeted the rest of the winners. Andrés received the award normally with the rest of the winners, but with his hand on his back to remind Calderón he would not shake hands with him.After giving the awards, President Calderón made a speech dedicated to another winner, Eufrosina Cruz, a Oaxacan indian who ran for mayoress of her town and won, but was expelled from town by the all-male traditional council. During this speech, Andrés stood up, pointed his right finger at Calderón and shouted "Spurious!", the moniker favored by the runner-up of the 2006 Presidential Election, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who claims he was the victim of a massive electoral fraud.President Calderón turned to face him, and addressing the general audience, reminded them of how the 1968 civil movement (conmemorated on October 2) started the way to civil freedoms for the Mexican people, but another student, Santiago Jiménez also shouted to contradict him, at the same time that Andrés stood up, negating visibly with his index finger and saying "No, no".

After this Santiago Jiménez was taken out of the room, while a pair of presidential bodyguards stood behind Andrés Gómez for the rest of the speech, after which both were taken into custody for some minutes, then put into a patrol and detained for a few hours. The President's Office chose not to press charges, so both were released.He doesn't appear in the official photograph of the event, because he was detained by them, and didn't took part in further activities. Santiago wasn't a winner but was invited to the event.

In a later interview, he simply said he had decided to attend the ceremony but not shake hands with Calderón; the shouting incident was unplanned. This caused him to become the poster child for AMLO's movement against President Calderón; Mayor Marcelo Ebrard spoke with him by telephone, expressing his agreement and support; López Obrador told about him "My "tocayo" is the real thing". ("Tocayo" means they share the same name, "Andrés").

External links

* [http://hi5.com/friend/16664580--Andres--Profile-html His Hi5 personal homepage]
* [http://www.etienne.nu/isis/mem169.htm Member profile at ISI-Society]

Media coverage

* [http://www.proceso.com.mx/noticia.html?sec=0&nta=62773 Proceso feature article summary, full version to suscribers only.] The issue ran with a photo of the event on its cover, with the title "The one who took his chances".
* [http://www.exonline.com.mx/diario/noticia/primera/politicanacional/el_cometa_pelirrojo_increpo_a_calderon/372003 Excelsior Online: The red-haired comet that addressed Calderón]
* [http://senderodelpeje.com/sdp/contenido/2008/10/03/49785 "Sendero del Peje" article]
* [http://www.el-universal.com.mx/notas/543885.html One of many articles "El Universal" newspaper ran on Andrés Gómez]
* [http://clon.uam.mx/spip.php?article735 Andés Gómez in radio. 690 AM and 88.1 FM]