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PUERTO RICO: STRIKERS OFFENSIVE BEGINS TO PENETRATE OBSCURE PLACES

The Forum

PUERTO RICO: STRIKERS OFFENSIVE BEGINS TO PENETRATE OBSCURE PLACES
Jesús Dávila

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, February 13th 2011(NCM) The orgy of violence unleashed by the national police in an effort to contain the student uprising had the unexpected result of opening a breach in the wall of internal support for Governor Luis Fortuno so wide that it has allowed begun the flow of complaints and information about criminal plans and the squandering of treasures property of the University of Puerto Rico.

At the same time the University strike continues unabated and this weekend a human wave surrounded the UPR, blocked traffic with a sit in on one of the main thoroughfares and later entered the main University campus where the students once again took over the Tower -to the cheers of the crowd- and even danced defiantly less than a meter of the besieged police.

In this way the tone of the crisis rises at a time when various social protests are taking shape and when the president of the Puerto Rican Bar Association, Osvaldo Toledo, chose civil disobedience in response to an order from the United States District Court and is being held in a federal jail. The protest by attorneys in a case in which their Headquarters can be seized, joins and is fueled by the University crisis.

Last Saturday 72 social civic and political entities- including all the opposition parties- joined the gigantic march.

“Last night at the UPR you charlatan hit my Lola, last night at the UPR you charlatan come hit her now” parents and student sympathisers sang at a police alignment that observed from a prudent distance, referring to last Wednesdays violent incidents. So choking was the scandalous conduct of riot police against the students, that it provoked a crisis within the pro government operatives to the point that some of the police involved were removed and the president of the UPR, Jose Ramon de la Torre, had to resign after demanding the withdrawal of the Police from the eleven campuses in the system.

At the same time the first report arrived of a student being fired from their job in a tourism business as retaliation for their participation in the strike.

In fact, professors, administrative employees and the cleaners and maintenance Union closed down the campus on Thursday and Friday in order to prevent further violent confrontations, leaving an atmosphere of uncertainty in the face of the fear that the coming week will bring a “blood bath”. In this instance, however, it’s not only about the typical rumors in cases such as this.

The Puerto Rican Association of University Professors reported having information about a meeting on Monday at the highest governmental levels in which it was evaluated that “everything was working out fine” in the UPR crisis and that the only thing missing was a death to be blamed on the students. After this was made public NCM News obtained specific information about the participants in this alleged meeting and their links to Santa Catalina Palace, the government headquarters.

The fact is that on Tuesday anti riot units known as “shock troops”went too far against the female students in the vicinity of the school of social sciences, following which a crowd forced them to retreat and then roamed throughout the streets and buildings on campus. The next day the police began video taping students who painted slogans in the traditional “street of consciousness”in a blatant violation of the law which which categorizes the crime of “carpeteo” (filing), which is the creation of a police file of citizens conducting legal activities.

A group of students surrounded the police and attempted to physically prevent the continuation of the illegal practice and a few minutes later the shoving, beatings stone and even paint throwing began. Riot police, arrest units and a squad of mounted police went into action with indiscriminate beatings to all who came in proximity and arresting indiscriminately those they caught, leading the courts to find no merit to the detentions.

The mob dispersed and reappeared on the other side of the campus in a march that quickly grew to over a thousand demonstrators which resumed marching through the campus. When they arrived in front of the General Studies building two police attempted to confront the crowd which forced them out of the way having one of their hats fly through the air.

Once again the police arrived, but when they tried to brake through with their motorbikes the students opened the way only to surround them and pull them of their vehicles. The mounted units fared no better as the students threw stones aimed at the riders who had to retreat. As the riot police arrived the crowd of student vanished only to reappear minutes later surrounding the University Tower where since mid morning the Brotherhood of unaffiliated Non Educational Staff maintained control of the rectory demanding the immediate withdrawal of the Police.

The day came to an end with two community marches in support of the University and a report that attorneys for the Confederation of University Professors had began preparing criminal complaints against the police for the torture of students.

But the most surprising event occurred when a student member of the Board of Trustees, Rene Vargas made a formal request for copies of the inventory of the wealth of properties without heirs -which by law the UPR has been given over the last 80 years- and was told that these properties are sold as soon as they are received. This raises the dual problem of where is the accounting that guarantees all benefits are being received and the bigger question is how could the Governmental Development Bank accept these properties which no longer exist as part of collateral for a one hundred million dollar line of credit.

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NCM-CHI-SJ-NY-13-02-11-05

NCM News is a global system of information distribution which is not affiliated with any other interest, whether economic, institutional or political, nor is it a subsidiary of any organization, entity or government. The editorial Policy of NCM News is exclusively that which is disseminated in its editorials and promotes pacifism, justice and freedom of peoples without doctrinal ties. The media, agencies, and other systems that disseminate NCM News notes do so with complete freedom and have their own points of view and their own editorial policies.

(NCM crisissiete)
URGENTE
PUERTO RICO: OFENSIVA HUELGARIA COMIENZA A PENETRAR LUGARES OCULTOS
Jesús Dávila
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, 13 de febrero de 2011 (NCM) – La orgía de violencia desatada por la Policía nacional para tratar de contener el alzamiento estudiantil tuvo el inesperado efecto de abrir una grieta en el muro de apoyo interno al Gobernador Luis Fortuño, tan ancha que por ella salen denuncias e informes comprometedores sobre planes criminales y la dilapidación del tesoro de la Universidad de Puerto Rico.
Mientras tanto, la huelga universitaria sigue imparable y este fin de semana una marejada humana rodeó la UPR, obstruyó el tránsito sentándose en una de las principales avenidas y luego penetró en el campus universitario principal donde los estudiantes volvieron a tomar la Torre –ante los vítores de la multitud- y hasta bailaron desafiantes a menos de un metro de los asediados policías.
Así, sube de tono la crisis en momentos en que van tomando forma diversas protestas sociales y cuando el presidente del Colegio de Abogados, Osvaldo Toledo, optó por la desobediencia civil contra una orden del Tribunal de Distrito de Estados Unidos y es mantenido en la cárcel federal. La protesta de abogados, por un caso en el que podría arrebatárseles su edificio, abona y recibe la candela de la crisis universitaria.
El sábado pasado 72 entidades sociales, cívicas y políticas –incluidos todos los partidos de oposición- se sumaron a la gigantesca marcha.
“¡Anoche en la Iupi charlatán le diste a mi Lola, anoche en la Iupi charlatán, ven dale ahora!”, le cantaban desde la marcha padres y simpatizantes de los estudiantes a un cordón de policías que observaban a distancia prudente, en referencia a los sucesos violentos del miércoles. Tal fue la conducta escandalosa de las unidades contra disturbios cargando contra los estudiantes, que provocaron una crisis en el propio oficialismo al punto en que fueron retirados varios de los guardias involucrados y el propio presidente de la UPR, José Ramón de la Torre, tuvo que renunciar tras demandar la salida de la Policía de los once recintos del sistema.
De igual forma, llegó el primer informe de un estudiante despedido de su empleo en una empresa turística como represalia por su participación en la huelga.
De hecho, los profesores, los empleados administrativos y el sindicato de mantenimiento y limpieza mantuvieron cerrado el campus jueves y viernes para prevenir más choques violentos, lo que ha dejado una atmósfera inestable ante el temor de que la nueva semana traiga el temido “baño de sangre”. Esta vez, sin embargo, no se trata sólo de los rumores típicos en estos casos.
La Asociación Puertorriqueña de Profesores Universitarios denunció tener información sobre una reunión el lunes en los altos niveles del Estado en la que se evaluó que “todo está saliendo bien” en la crisis en la UPR y que “sólo falta” un muerto para achacárselo a los estudiantes. Luego de que la APPU hiciera la denuncia, NCM Noticias obtuvo información específica sobre los participantes en la presunta reunión y sus vínculos con el Palacio de Santa Catalina, sede de la gobernación.
El caso es que el martes las unidades contra disturbios conocidas como “Fuerza de Choque” comenzaron a propasarse con las estudiantes en las inmediaciones de la facultad de ciencias sociales, ante lo cual una multitud de estudiantes les hizo retirarse y luego recorrió calles y edificios del campus. Al día siguiente, la policía comenzó a grabar con cámaras de video estudiantes que pintaban consignas en la tradicional “Calle de la Conciencia” en abierta violación de la ley que tipifica el delito de “carpeteo”, que consiste en levantar expedientes policiales contra ciudadanos que realizan actividades legales.
Un grupo de estudiantes rodeó a los policías y trató de impedir físicamente que continuase con la práctica ilegal y pocos minutos después comenzaron los empujones, macanazos, pedradas y hasta lanzamiento de pintura. Entraron en acción la fuerza de choque, la unidad de arrestos y una escuadra montada para repartir palizas a mansalva a todo el que pasara cerca y arrestar hasta sin saber por qué a los que alcanzaban, lo que resultó en que el tribunal no halló causa contra los detenidos.
La tropa estudiantil se esfumó para reaparecer al otro lado del campus con una marcha que pronto creció hasta pasar de mil manifestantes, que volvió a recorrer el campus. Al llegar al nuevo edificio de Estudios Generales, dos policías intentaron enfrentar la muchedumbre, que les sacó a la fuerza y una de sus gorras voló por el aire.
Llegaron otra vez las escuadras, pero cuando intentaron penetrar con sus motoras los estudiantes les abrieron el paso sólo para encerrarlos y tirarlos de sus vehículos. La unidad montada no tuvo mejor suerte y los estudiantes le lanzaban las pedradas apuntando a los jinetes, que tuvieron que retirarse. Al llegar la fuerza de choque, la tropa estudiantil volvió a esfumarse para reaparecer minutos después rodeando la Torre de la Universidad, donde desde media mañana la Hermandad de Empleados Exentos No Docentes y la APPU mantenían tomada la rectoría demandando el retiro inmediato de la Policía.
El día culminó con la entrada al campus de dos marchas ciudadanas en apoyo a la Universidad y el informe de que los abogados de la Confederación de Asociaciones de Profesores Universitarios ya comenzaron a preparar las querellas criminales contra policías por la tortura de estudiantes.
Pero el hecho más sorprendente ocurrió cuando el miembro estudiantil de la Junta de Síndicos, René Vargas, solicitó formalmente que se le entregara copia del inventario de propiedades correspondientes a los caudales sin herederos –que por ley la UPR recibe desde hace 80 años- y se le indicó que esos bienes se venden tan pronto llegan. La situación levanta el doble problema de dónde están las cuentas para que se garantice que se recibe el beneficio completo y el más grave sobre cómo pudo el Banco Gubernamental de Fomento aceptar tales bienes que no existirían como parte de las garantías de una línea de crédito de cien millones de dólares.
NCM-SJ-13-02-11-05

NCM Noticias es un sistema global de distribución informativa que no está afiliado a ningún otro interés, sea económico, institucional o político, ni es subsidiario de organización, entidad o gobierno alguno. La Política editorial de NCM Noticias es exclusivamente la difundida en sus editoriales y promueve el pacifismo, la justicia y la libertad de los pueblos sin ataduras doctrinales. Los medios, agencias y demás sistemas que difunden notas de NCM Noticias lo hacen con completa libertad y tienen sus propios puntos de vista y sus propias políticas editoriales.

The Crisis at the University of Puerto Rico: Updates, February 12, 2011

The Forum, ,

From: V. Alba
Familia
Yesterday the people of Puerto Rico held a massive demonstration of support of the student strike at the University of Puerto Rico. Estimates by diverse long time , experienced activists ranging from upwards of 10,000 to as high as 25,000 people describe the gigantic outpouring of support for the student demands that fuel the strike.

The march which began at about 2:30 PM in the Plaza of Rio Piedra made its way to the edge of the UPR campus. From there the march made its way around the entire campus. I personally marched about 1/4 mile back from the front of the march. Reaching the top of the incline of the broad avenue and looking back all that one could see was an ocean of humanity which stretched from sidewalk to sidewalk on this four lane wide roadway as far as the eye could see.

The march then went into a highway were an 11 minute (1 minute for each campus of the UPR) sit down act of peaceful civil (dis)obedience was held. The police stood by unable to stop the action and relinquished their role to blocking the traffic.

The end to the Police presence on campus has been a central demand of student strikers, Their acts of acknowledged torture, unnecessary excessive violence and sexual assaults particularly on female students culminated with the UPR presidents letter to the police commissioner, asking for the police withdrawal from campus before he resigned.

The yet to be determined, massive number of people who marched the march, the young and grey haired, parents , children, workers and activist spoke for a nation.

The campaign that the students of the University of Puerto Rico have been waging is amongst the most responsible, intelligent, and effective student campaigns. It has become an example to be studied and emulated by other student movements around the world as well as the labor, environmental and other social movements in Puerto Rico.

The student movement of the UPR is providing one more reason why the education of the UPR must be fought for and won

By Gloria Ruiz Kuilan | gruiz@elnuevodia.com
El Nuevo Dia (February 12, 2011)

translated from Spanish by NiLP

With the sounds of Pleneros, batucada and slogans to protest the presence of the police in Rio Piedras campus of the University of Puerto Rico, thousands of people marched today through the streets of Rio Piedras in support of students in the demonstration dubbed “I love the UPR.”

At about 2:30 p.m. coming out of the Plaza de la Convalescence, in the center of town Rio Piedras, was the mass demonstration led by the leadership of the Puerto Rican Association of University Professors (APPU), students and members of various political organizations, professional, civic and community organizations.

Notable was the participation of students accompanied by parents or relatives who sympathize with the claim of the university community to leave the uniformed Rio Piedras campus.

Beatriz Miranda, mother of a student of this campus, said she participated in the march “to let them know (the government) that these guys are not alone.

This is an outrage against the students,” said the woman, who lives in Bayamon.

The march went around the campus and went through the main access points to the Rio Piedras campus, where police officers were stationed, who were the target of call to leave by the protesters.

***

University of Puerto Rico president resigns

The Associated Press (February 12, 2011)

The president of the University of Puerto Rico has resigned amid student protests against a new fee. Jose Ramon de la Torre submitted his resignation letter on Friday, a day after dozens of students clashed with police on campus. He said he was stepping down for personal reasons. De la Torre spokesman Peter Quinones provided a copy of the letter.

Sen. Eduardo Bhatia said in a statement that de la Torre’s departure does not solve the university’s problems and demanded that police leave campus. Bhatia also requested that the island’s governor and university officials meet with students. Students have organized several protests against an $800 yearly fee imposed to reduce the system’s budget deficit.

National March: I ♡ The University of Puerto Rico/Yo ♡ la UPR: Marcha Nacional

Corrientes, , ,

Feb 12, 2PM
Plaza Convalecencia, Río Piedras Puerto Rico

Yo ♡ la UPR
¿Donde? Plaza Convalecencia, Río Piedras

La marcha saldrá a las 2:00 pm por las calles de Río Piedras, bordeando el Recinto hasta llegar frente a Plaza Universitaria.

En los pasados días hemos visto a través de los medios televisivos como se ha recrudecido la violencia de Estado en la lucha universitaria. Hemos contemplado como se toca a compañeras en sus partes íntimas por parte de la policía, como se tortura jóvenes en el suelo, como se dispara balas de gomas y gas lacrimógeno a diestra y siniestra sin importar las escuelas aledañas. Es por esto que hacemos un llamado a la organización y reunión de todos los sectores que queremos que esto se resuelva sin que se derrame una sola gota de sangre o bajas por ninguna de las partes involucradas.

Este próximo sábado, vispera de San Valentin necesitamos manifestar todo nuestro amor por la UPR, todo nuestro amor por la educación pública y todas nuestras esperanzas puestas en la culminación de este conflicto. Debemos hacerle un llamado como pueblo al gobierno y a la administración que esto se resuelve con 4 puntos sencillos:

1. Cero Cuota
2. Más Fondos para la UPR
3. Fuera la Policía de la UPR
4. Cero Sanciones

La actividad Yo ♡ UPR es convocada por el Grupo Multisectorial, que agrupa organizaciones universitarias, comunitarias, sindicales, políticas y religiosas.

POLICIA BORINCANO, LUIS FORTUÑO NO ES TU HERMANO!

The Forum

Igual que en Vieques, el Gobierno de Puerto Rico utiliza a la policía – en este caso, contra los estudiantes de la UPR – para defender los intereses de los que buscan controlar y privatizar los recursos del país, incluyendo la educación universitaria!.

POLICIA BORINCANO, LUIS FORTUÑO NO ES TU HERMANO!
Vieques es la UPR!…. la UPR es Vieques!
rrabin/nmedina cprdv

Reforzada de policías la UPR para recibir estudiantes
Harán cumplir la prohibición a manifestaciones


Rubín confirmó que a partir del lunes aumentará el despliegue policial en la UPR. (archivo)
Por Gloria Ruiz Kuilan / gruiz@elnuevodia.com

Mañana, cuando comienzan las clases en la Universidad de Puerto Rico (UPR) Recinto de Río Piedras y los estudiantes se proponen hacer una manifestación en el campus, aumentará la presencia policial, dijo el teniente coronel de la División regional de San Juan, Juan Sergio Rubín. Además, adelantó que los miembros de la Uniformada -que incluirá la Fuerza de Choque- ímpedirán que se violente la resolución de la rectora Ana Guadalupe que prohibe las manifestaciones dentro del recinto riopedrense. “Vamos a estar preparados -en términos de los miembros de la Fuerza- para cualquier cosa que surja allí”, dijo Rubín en entrevista telefónica con este diario. “Vamos a usar allí todos los recursos que estén disponibles, la Unidad de Operaciones Tácticas y otros recursos”, continuó.

Respondió en la afirmativa al preguntársele si tras el receso de clases y con el inicio del segundo semestre, aumentarán el despliegue policial en el Recinto de Río Piedras. Sin embargo, por razones de estrategia no ofreció cifras. Rubín recordó que estudiantes portavoces del Comité de Representación Estudiantil (CRE) anunciaron la semana pasada que realizarán una manifestación denominada “Entra y Sal Pa’ Fuera”, de la cual no dieron detalles, pero a la que invitaron a todo el país. “El lunes tienen este tipo de actividad que ellos no han dicho si es una pacífica. Simplemente le han dado un nombre y nosotros nos estaremos preparando para cualquier situación que surja”, dijo Rubín. “Nosotros vamos a hacer valer la resolución de la rectora. Ellos conocen que obviamente hay una prohibición de la Rectora en términos de cualquier tipo de manifestación y nosotros vamos a hacer valer la resolución de la rectora”, sentenció cuando se le cuestionó si habrá arrestos.

Responden los estudiantes
Los portavoces del CRE, Xiomara Caro y Waldemiro Vélez, opinaron que el alza en presencia policial en la UPR sólo demuestra el “carácter represivo del actual gobierno”. “No es sorpresa. La presencia de la Policía lo único que hace es crear mayor inestabilidad”, dijo Caro. “Las manifestaciones siguen en pie. Hay que continuar con más razón porque entendemos que el aumento policial es una manera de intentar callar nuestro punto de vista, que es defender la universidad. No nos podemos dejar amedrentar”, señaló la estudiante de Derecho. Mientras, Vélez dijo que una vez más se violenta la política institucional de la UPR de no confrontación en la que no se cree, “pero sí en la macana y no en el diálogo”. “Se gasta $1.5 millones en horas extras para la Policía, pero no hay dinero para la universidad”.

http://www.elnuevodia.com/reforzadadepoliciaslauprpararecibirestudiantes-882998.htmlz

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Reforzada de policías la UPR para recibir estudiantes

The Forum, ,

Igual que en Vieques, el Gobierno de Puerto Rico utiliza a la policía – en este caso, contra los estudiantes de la UPR – para defender los intereses de los que buscan controlar y privatizar los recursos del país, incluyendo la educación universitaria!.

POLICIA BORINCANO, LUIS FORTUÑO NO ES TU HERMANO!
Vieques es la UPR!…. la UPR es Vieques!
rrabin/nmedina cprdv

Reforzada de policías la UPR para recibir estudiantes
Harán cumplir la prohibición a manifestaciones

Rubín confirmó que a partir del lunes aumentará el despliegue policial en la UPR. (archivo)

Por Gloria Ruiz Kuilan / gruiz@elnuevodia.com

Mañana, cuando comienzan las clases en la Universidad de Puerto Rico (UPR) Recinto de Río Piedras y los estudiantes se proponen hacer una manifestación en el campus, aumentará la presencia policial, dijo el teniente coronel de la División regional de San Juan, Juan Sergio Rubín.

Además, adelantó que los miembros de la Uniformada -que incluirá la Fuerza de Choque- ímpedirán que se violente la resolución de la rectora Ana Guadalupe que prohibe las manifestaciones dentro del recinto riopedrense. “Vamos a estar preparados -en términos de los miembros de la Fuerza- para cualquier cosa que surja allí”, dijo Rubín en entrevista telefónica con este diario. “Vamos a usar allí todos los recursos que estén disponibles, la Unidad de Operaciones Tácticas y otros recursos”, continuó. Respondió en la afirmativa al preguntársele si tras el receso de clases y con el inicio del segundo semestre, aumentarán el despliegue policial en el Recinto de Río Piedras.

Sin embargo, por razones de estrategia no ofreció cifras. Rubín recordó que estudiantes portavoces del Comité de Representación Estudiantil (CRE) anunciaron la semana pasada que realizarán una manifestación denominada “Entra y Sal Pa’ Fuera”, de la cual no dieron detalles, pero a la que invitaron a todo el país. “El lunes tienen este tipo de actividad que ellos no han dicho si es una pacífica. Simplemente le han dado un nombre y nosotros nos estaremos preparando para cualquier situación que surja”, dijo Rubín. “Nosotros vamos a hacer valer la resolución de la rectora. Ellos conocen que obviamente hay una prohibición de la Rectora en términos de cualquier tipo de manifestación y nosotros vamos a hacer valer la resolución de la rectora”, sentenció cuando se le cuestionó si habrá arrestos.

Responden los estudiantes
Los portavoces del CRE, Xiomara Caro y Waldemiro Vélez, opinaron que el alza en presencia policial en la UPR sólo demuestra el “carácter represivo del actual gobierno”. “No es sorpresa. La presencia de la Policía lo único que hace es crear mayor inestabilidad”, dijo Caro. “Las manifestaciones siguen en pie. Hay que continuar con más razón porque entendemos que el aumento policial es una manera de intentar callar nuestro punto de vista, que es defender la universidad. No nos podemos dejar amedrentar”, señaló la estudiante de Derecho. Mientras, Vélez dijo que una vez más se violenta la política institucional de la UPR de no confrontación en la que no se cree, “pero sí en la macana y no en el diálogo”. “Se gasta $1.5 millones en horas extras para la Policía, pero no hay dinero para la universidad”.

http://www.elnuevodia.com/reforzadadepoliciaslauprpararecibirestudiantes-882998.htmlz

El Nuevo Día / Puerto Rico
Noticias
06 Febrero 2011

EL ATENEO PUERTORRIQUEÑO SE EXPRESA ANTE LA CRISIS POLÍTICA, SOCIAL Y ECONÓMICA QUE AFECTA A PUERTO RICO

The Forum

El señor Presidente del Ateneo Puertorriqueño, el Dr. José Milton Soltero Ramírez expone, que desde su origen, el Ateneo Puertorriqueño surge en función de la defensa de la Nación. El debate de las ideas y el pensamiento de la Nación, es su razón de ser.
En la defensa de estos principios se justifica su existencia. Sin éstos, el Ateneo Puertorriqueño no tendría por qué existir. A través de su historia, en todos y cada uno de sus momentos, el Ateneo Puertorriqueño ha estado presente y ha tomado partido frente a las más importantes coyunturas de la Nación.
En el pasado cercano el Ateneo Puertorriqueño ha tomado partido en la defensa del idioma español, en la lucha por la desmilitarización de Vieques, por la reafirmación de la Bandera Puertorriqueña y por la descolonización de nuestro país. Por medio de su Comisión de Status el Ateneo resuelve que Puerto Rico necesita una democrática solución de status, de tipo no colonial y fuera de la cláusula territorial. El Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño (PIP) recogió todos estos principios y sometió una Resolución la cual fue aprobada por unanimidad en la Asamblea Legislativa y luego fue vetada por el ex gobernador Aníbal Acevedo Vilá. Hoy, el Presidente del PIP, el Lcdo. Rubén Berríos Martínez, ha vuelto a presentar su propuesta a los presidentes del Partido Popular Democrático (PPD) y del Partido Nuevo Progresista (PNP); veremos a ver cuál es su respuesta. El Ateneo Puertorriqueño toma posición y se alinea en el campo de la descolonización y apoya en su totalidad la propuesta sometida del PIP.
EL PROPÓSITO Y PRINCIPIO FUNDAMENTAL DEL ATENEO PUERTORRIQUEÑO ES DEFENDER LA NACIÓN PUERTORRIQUEÑA; por lo que ante las coyunturas que puedan atentar contra la Nación, el Ateneo Puertorriqueño se definirá SIEMPRE A FAVOR DE LA NACIÓN. En el caso de la descolonización, el Ateneo pondrá todos sus empeños en ayudar al pueblo a poner en práctica todas aquellas acciones que nos conduzcan a afirmar nuestra nacionalidad.
Continuando con esta, que es la misión histórica del Ateneo, ahora tenemos que tomar posiciones y éstas siempre estarán en la trinchera de la Nación. Quedarnos en el “status quo” por el solo hecho de que recibimos una ayuda financiera que nos hace la vida económica más fácil, NO ES MÁS IMPORTANTE que los principios que mantienen nuestra sagrada misión.
Hoy enfatizo que el Ateneo Puertorriqueño contribuirá al debate de ideas que enriquezcan a la Nación. Es por esto que el Ateneo ha tomado las siguientes posiciones y determinaciones:
LA DESCOLONIZACIÓN DE PUERTO RICO:
Hasta que Puerto Rico no se descolonice, el Ateneo Puertorriqueño seguirá buscando la solución a esta coyuntura, puesto que la colonia atenta contra la vida misma de nuestra Nación.
La única solución descolonizadora es la obtención de la soberanía y la única forma de obtenerla es la independencia y en función de ésta podremos asociarnos, anexarnos o conservar la independencia. Las Naciones Unidas, a través de su Comité de Descolonización, aclaró ante el intento de Timor de ser anexada por Indonesia, que esto no era posible, pues un pueblo invadido por otra nación tiene que conseguir primero su soberanía y desde ahí solicitar su asociación o integración a otro pueblo.
LA UNIVERSIDAD DE PUERTO RICO (UPR):
La alta gerencia de la Administración de la UPR, ha realizado acciones que atentan contra la existencia misma de la UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL. El Ateneo Puertorriqueño, -la primera universidad que tuvo Puerto Rico-, no concibe una universidad pública sin el adjetivo NACIONAL.
La UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL es aquella que produce la discusión intelectual, que crea el quehacer del pensamiento que responde a los grandes problemas nacionales, los cuales son únicos, aunque no exclusivos, de Puerto Rico. No podemos aceptar que se considere a la UPR como un centro de estudios supeditado a la aceptación económica de sus egresados y por tanto a la demanda que tengan sus ofertas educativas.
Una UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL es la mayor y mejor oferta para educar al pueblo y por consiguiente, la ciudadanía. Nuestra sociedad puertorriqueña no podrá producir soluciones si no vive y se desarrolla en un ambiente que discute, observa y crea las formas y los mecanismos que ayuden a solucionar los grandes problemas que afecten a la Nación.
Por lo tanto si las acciones de la Administración de la UPR atentan contra la permanencia de la UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL, tenemos como Ateneo Puertorriqueño, que tomar partido por aquel grupo que defienda a ésta, y éstos son LOS ESTUDIANTES DE LA UPR. Por ello, el Ateneo Puertorriqueño dedicó la fiesta nacional de celebración de la Bandera Puertorriqueña a la lucha de los estudiantes por una universidad pública, nacional y acorde con las necesidades de nuestro pueblo. Y continuará su respaldo a éstos en la lucha por una Universidad de la Nación Puertorriqueña.
Finalmente, expresamos, que el crear una política cultural gubernamental le corresponde al Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. Pero crear una política de defensa de la Cultura Puertorriqueña en su más amplia acepción, le corresponde sin discusión y por derecho histórico al Ateneo Puertorriqueño, que fue fundado por los Padres de la Patria en el año de 1876.
Estos fueron, son y serán los principios que le han dado vida al Ateneo y con ellos seguiremos haciendo lo que nos corresponde. Para sostenerlo contamos con el intenso trabajo cultural y de AFIRMACIÓN NACIONAL realizado y por realizar de sus comisiones de Historia, Ciencias Políticas y Morales, Artes Plásticas, Literatura, Música, Cine, Teatro, Ciencias Físicas, Naturales y Matemáticas, nuestro Conservatorio Nacional de Arte Dramático y nuestro Archivo Nacional de Teatro y Cine.

Serrano Denounces Vote Stripping of Territories, D.C. by House Republicans

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January 5, 2011 –Washington, DC – Congressman José E. Serrano today announced his strong disapproval of the decision by House Republicans to take away the territorial and D.C. delegates’ right to vote on the House floor. Along with the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico, delegates from D.C., Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands will not be allowed to vote in the Committee of the Whole, a right the Democrats gave them four years ago.

“This is a shameful step backwards that House Republicans took today, and it is a slap in the face of the millions of citizens and people living under the U.S. flag in these territories. They have had the ability to have their voices heard in the U.S. House of Representatives for only four short years, and there is no excuse for taking that right away from these duly elected leaders.

“I have spent much of my career here in Washington seeking equality for those living in the territories. Had my parents not left Puerto Rico, I would certainly have been in the situation that these people find themselves in through no choice or fault of their own. I have worked to give them dignity and a say in matters that affect them. House Republicans have taken away civil liberties through their decision and I find it outrageous.

“On behalf of the millions living under the American flag in D.C. and the territories, I call on Speaker Boehner and the House Republicans to reconsider this terrible decision and restore their voice in the House of Representatives.”

###

Congressman José E. Serrano has represented the Bronx in Congress since 1990.

Please don’t confuse me with a nigger!

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A new poem to address the ignorance of our inner city youth in 2011!
Please publish and share with your contacts
Let us start this year by addressing the word and the pants of our youth:

Please don’t confuse me with a nigger!
By Alberto O. Cappas

Please don’t confuse me with a nigger!
I’m a Black Man; I’m a proud African American;
I’m a Latino; I’m a proud Puerto Rican!
I plan to pursue an appropriate education based on my goals;
As I read years ago, Education is the passport to the future, for
Tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.

Please don’t confuse me with a nigger!
Beware of negative images and values,
For what so ever you sow, so shall you reap!
As I learned years ago from a man who reached the mountain top,
I know that today we are not judged by the color of the skin,
But by the content of the character that one displays.
I wear my clothes appropriately, especially my pants,
Let us not be compared!

Please don’t confuse me with a nigger!
Black Men love their women with their heart;
Niggers love women for their bodies;
Black Men use money as an instrument to advance the race;
Niggers use money as a weapon to destroy the youth of the race.

Please don’t confuse me with a nigger!
A nigger comes in all colors;
Take the time and discover the word in the books of history,
And not on the streets of ignorance!
Please, please!
My love ones are my friends, my brothers and my sisters;
They are not my niggers!

PRdream mourns the passing of Frank Bonilla 1925-2010

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Professor Frank Bonilla (born 1925) is an American academic of Puerto Rican descent who became a leading figure in Puerto Rican Studies. After earning his doctorate from Harvard University, where his dissertation was supervised by Talcott Parsons, he held faculty positions at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University and the City University of New York. He is a key figure in the establishment of the Puerto Rican Hispanic Leadership Forum and the Center for Puerto Rico Studies at the City University of New York. He was an early supporter of PRdream.com.

Biography
Bonilla was born in New York City in 1925. His parents were both from Puerto Rico and had moved to the United States early in their lives. His mother emigrated to the United States in hopes of attending college, and his father had been a cigar maker and had served in the U.S. Cavalry. They were on the same boat going to the United States, and it was there where they met and began their courtship.

Bonilla was raised in East Harlem, a neighborhood full of diversity of culture and race. He said that children were very often exposed to multiple languages at an early age and that they became bilingual to interact with people in their day-to-day lives. Bonilla spent his first years of high school attending a Franciscan high school in Illinois, where he showed academic and leadership skills. His favorite subjects were classical Greek, Latin, Spanish, French, and German. He was also elected President of his class. Bonilla then transferred to Morris High School (Bronx, New York). After he graduated from Morris high in 1943, he was drafted and assigned to a weapons platoon. Bonilla was taught to be a mortar gunner and was assigned to the 290th Infantry Regiment, 75th Infantry Division.

World War II service

The 290th Infantry Regiment, 75th Infantry Division was involved in the Battle of the Bulge. Bonilla served in this battle at the front of the line for nearly a month.

After serving at the front lines, Bonilla sustained an injury and had to be hospitalized in France. After a brief three week hospitalization, Bonilla was reassigned to a replacement depot in France. It was there that he was invited to join the Puerto Rican National Guard near Frankfurtand assigned as the company clerk. He soon realized that the Puerto Rican soldiers had a divide. The Puerto Rican soldiers raised in the United States were looked down upon by those who had grown up in Puerto Rico, and referred to the emigrated Puerto Ricans as “American Joes”. Bonilla said of this experience, “The military experience helped to consolidate my sense of being Puerto Rican and also a sense of wanting to study and be a scholar.”

Post-war career

Bonilla returned to the United States after he was discharged from the military and made use of the educational benefits of the G.I. Bill to attend the College of the City of New York. He graduated cum laude in 1949 with a B.A. in business administration. He went on to pursue a master’s degree in sociology from New York University, which he earned in 1954. He attended Harvard University and received a doctorate in sociology soon after.

Dr. Bonilla played a key role in the formation of the Puerto Rican Hispanic Leadership Forum to help manage the needs of Puerto Ricans in New York. He also played an instrumental role in the formation of the Center for Puerto Rico Studies at the City University of New York, where he served as founding director until his retirement in 1995. He died after a long illness on December 28, 2010.

Frank Bonilla: Centro Profile

Dr. Frank Bonilla, Thomas Hunter Professor Emeritus, Hunter College of the City University of New York, devoted his life to understanding and exposing the political and economic forces that engender exploitation and injustice and to joining community struggles against racial and ethnic oppression, especially in education. The fruits of his labor are found in the thriving of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at CUNY’s Hunter College; in his pioneering research on the political economy of Puerto Rico and migration to the United States; and in his extensive contributions to collaborative research on Latinos in a globalizing economy. Moreover, Bonilla is known to a multitude of Latinos and African Americans for serving as a bridge-builder between communities of color and to advocacy groups and progressive policymakers across the United States for his determination in the global quest for human rights and dignity.

Education and Early Career Born in New York in 1925 of parents who migrated to the U.S. from Puerto Rico, Bonilla lived as a child in East Harlem and the Bronx, though several years of middle and high school were spent in Tennessee and Illinois. In many of his writings and speeches, he described his school years in the South as a transformative experience. The concept and implications of “race” in the United States first became constituted for him at the Mason-Dixon Line where, though his New York birth certificate categorized him as “white,” he was instructed by the driver of a Greyound Bus to surrender his seat and move to the back. His subjection to forced segregation as a person of color in the South, combined with the social, political, and economic marginalization of Puerto Ricans in New York, informed his career choices and life trajectory. Following his graduation from Morris High School in the South Bronx, Bonilla was drafted into the U.S. Army, served with the 190th Infantry Regiment, 75th Infantry, and fought in World War II’s Battle of the Bulge. When an injury removed him from the front lines, he joined the ranks of the Puerto Rican National Guard in Germany. Upon returning to the U.S., he earned his B.B.A. in 1949, graduating cum laude from the College of the City of New York, his M.A. in Sociology from New York University in 1954, and his doctorate in Sociology from Harvard University in 1959.

Bonilla began his academic career in 1960 as a member of The American Universities Field Service in Latin America. Starting with a project initiative on behalf of UNESCO and the Economic Commission for Latin America, his research for the next three years in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and Brazil investigated the relationship between social development and education in Latin America. In this period, Dr. Bonilla lectured at seven U.S. campuses and at the Pontifícia Unversidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro.

When Bonilla joined the Political Science Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (1963-1969), he pursued his interests in Latin America as a senior staff member at MIT’s Center of International Studies. He joined an extensive investigation into Venezuelan politics, conducted in collaboration with the Center for Development Studies of the Central University of Venezuela (CENDES), served as Program Advisor in Social Science to the Ford Foundation in Brazil, and lectured as Visiting Professor at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. His support for his Latin American students and collaboration with Latin American colleagues continued for decades following his return to the United States.

Bonilla’s years of residence and research agenda in Latin America yielded several notable books. The Failure of Elites (1970) presented a far-sighted study of how oil companies and the U.S. state in the 1960s acted as socializing agents in Venezuela, producing leaders in business, politics, and the armed forces who became partners of multinational capital but lost the capacity to act on behalf of national development. Bonilla found that Venezuelan elites in the period had little or no sustained contact with the mass of people and no sense of obligation to meet the needs of the population. The second book, Student Politics in Chile (1970), co-authored with Myron Glazer, contributed a vital piece to the comparative study of campus politics in Latin America by offering a comprehensive view of the Chilean student movement from the early 1900s to the 1960s.

As Professor of Political Science and Senior Associate of the Institute of Political Studies at Stanford University (1969-1972), Bonilla created opportunities for dialogue among Latin Americans, Chicanos, African Americans, and Puerto Ricans in the United States. In 1972, Brazilian, Venezuelan, Panamanian, Jamaican, Argentinian, African American, Chicano, and Puerto Rican scholars and students attended a seminar to explore ways to establish a common framework for analyzing inequality and dependence. The seminar produced Structures of Dependency, the volume of essays edited by Bonilla and Robert Girling that challenged the dominant dependency paradigm used by the Left academy to analyze Latin American political economies. In his contribution, Bonilla noted as one major flaw of dependency theory its failure to identify strategies that would permit oppressed nations to act against imperialism.

The Stanford seminar was also an occasion for developing critical perspectives on theoretical and methodological approaches in the study of Latinos and other minority groups in the U.S. As an early advocate of the militant efforts of minority students and faculty to establish space within U.S. universities and to accomplish their own intellectual work, Bonilla joined students, faculty, and community activists in New York in proposing a research institute for investigating the Puerto Rican experience. When the proposal was accepted and funded by CUNY and the Ford Foundation, the search committee formed in early 1973 unanimously chose Bonilla as the first Director of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies. (See “Finding Aids” for an account of the mission, historical development, and achievements of the Centro.) The forming of the Centro and his appointment as Director was a profoundly significant personal achievement, as it gave Bonilla the opportunity to return to New York to serve his community in ways that would have a profound and long-lasting impact.

Tenure at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies

Most significantly, in his twenty-year tenure as Director, Bonilla provided the intellectual, political, and organizational leadership that helped to define the field of Puerto Rican Studies and to firmly establish the Centro as a vital academic and community resource. Within a short time of its founding, the Centro’s organizational structure and research agendas were shaped by commitments to collective governance, scholarship in service of community, and broad accessibility.

As Director of the only university-based institute in the United States devoted to the interdisciplinary study of the Puerto Rican experience, Bonilla oversaw research in history, political economy, demographic transitions, and social and cultural development. His most well-known contributions were made to the History Task Force, through his close collaboration with Ricardo Campos. In the published version of its findings, Labor Migration under Capitalism (1979), the History Task Force critiqued the dependency framework as inadequate for explaining the colonial relationship between Puerto Rico and the U.S. and located the root of massive post-World War II labor migration from the island to the U.S. paradoxically in the development model known as “Operation Bootstrap.” In a subsequent study, “A Wealth of Poor: Puerto Ricans in the New Economic Order” (1981), Bonilla and Campos further illustrated the flaws of the political-economic model which caused persistently high levels of unemployment, extreme social stress, and “brain drain” from Puerto Rico to the United States.

Bonilla was also greatly concerned about the disproportionate levels of imprisonment in communities of color and the need for prison reform. Bringing the experience of similar initiatives with him from Stanford, he encouraged the Centro’s Prison Task Force to develop a program of college study for inmates in New York. He worked resolutely worked for community empowerment by joining dozens of community-based and policy advocacy organizations and coalitions intent on combating institutional racism and promoting educational opportunities for minorities; in many cases, he was the principal public spokesperson. He served on the Boards of Directors of the Empowerment Institute of the Community Service Society of the City of New York, a 140-year-old nonprofit organization involved in social and education issues, and of Open Mind, The Association for the Achievement of Cultural Diversity in Higher Education. A small sample of additional affiliations includes the Social Science Advisory Board of the Poverty and Race Research Institute, the National Puerto Rican Task Force on Educational Policy, and the Puerto Rican Organization for Growth, Research, Education and Self-Sufficiency (P.R.O.G.R.E.S.S., Inc.). Throughout his life, he remained committed to strengthening bonds between African Americans and Puerto Ricans. Of special note are his participation in the National Commission on Minorities in Higher Education, his advocacy of redistricting policy reform, and his invited testimonies before the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus on the deleterious effects of U.S. colonialism in Puerto Rico.

Despite his extensive community commitments and administrative responsibilities, Bonilla was a passionate educator who was broadly accessible to his students at CUNY’s Graduate Center, where he taught in the Political Science Department from 1973 to 1993 and in the Sociology Department from 1977 to 1993. In 1986, he was appointed Thomas Hunter Professor of Sociology at CUNY’s Hunter College. As a popular dissertation advisor at the Graduate Center, Dr. Bonilla mentored many students who remained close to him long after completing their degrees. Throughout his life, he encouraged new scholars to understand the political implications of social scientific research and to embrace their potential role in the service of liberation of oppressed peoples.

Ten years after his retirement, Bonilla was honored by the staff and friends of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at its 30th Anniversary Celebration in 2003, where he received a Lifetime Achievement Award presented by Rossana Rosado, publisher and CEO of El Diario-La Prensa, the oldest Spanish-language daily newspaper in the United States.

Inter-University Program for Latino Research

One of the most enduring projects Bonilla launched as the Centro’s Director is the Inter-University Program for Latino Research (IUPLR), co-founded with three colleagues in 1986. What began as a national consortium of eight university-based research centers grew to include more than twenty universities and to serve as a model for other initiatives that pursue interdisciplinary research cooperation in Latino Studies. Bonilla served IUPLR as Managing Co-Director from 1988 to 1993 and Executive Director from 1993 to 1995. He remained on IUPLR’s National Board of Advisors for several years following his retirement.

As Director of IUPLR, Bonilla was the principal coordinator of the project entitled, “Latinos in a Changing U.S. Economy.” The multinational team he assembled tracked the impact of international, national, and regional forces in shaping labor force participation and earnings of Latinos in the U.S. He was one of the driving forces as well in convening the conference in Northern Italy that brought together scholars, policy makers, and activists involved in analyzing the globalizing economic forces at the center of the “Latinization of the United States,” and the emerging political consequences and opportunities. Borderless Borders: U.S. Latinos, Latin Americans, and the Paradox of Interdependence (1998), co-edited by Bonilla, Edwin Meléndez, Rebecca Morales and María de los Angeles Torres, is the acclaimed product of the conference.

Additional Publications, Activities and Honors

Frank Bonilla was a prolific writer and advocate of collaborative research among scholars of the Latino diasporas. He wrote, edited, co-authored or co-edited dozens of books, monographs, articles for refereed journals, and chapters in edited books. He delivered papers internationally on human rights, minority experiences in the U.S., and research methodologies; encouraged cultural and educational exchange programs between the U.S. and Caribbean countries; and acted as confidant and critic to countless aspiring scholars and community organizers.

Among his many honors, Bonilla received the Distinguished Alumni Award from CCNY in 1972 and the Ralph C. Guzmán Award of the American Political Science Association in 1986 for Excellence in Scholarship and Service to the Profession. He was recognized by Mercy College in 1987 and by the University of Washington, D.C. in 1993 with Doctor of Letters Honors Causa Awards, by Hunter College with the President’s Medal in 1993, and by the Council of Dominican Educators with its Service Award also in 1993. In 2003, he was the first recipient of the Public Intellectual Award of the Latino Studies Section of the Latin American Studies Association; and the Award was subsequently named after him.

Retirement Years: Family, Recreation, and Ongoing Intellectual and Political Concerns

Bonilla has been a central figure in his large, extended family. Among his three children, five grandchildren, great grandchild, siblings, and many nieces and nephews, he is known to cherish family gatherings and to give generously of his time to his loved ones. He spoke proudly of the “mosaic of kinship” in his family that depicted the “multiracial reality of Puerto Ricans and other Latinos as well as Afro-Americans that is now exploding in the U.S.” Though the passions that drove him to apply his intellectual talents to the pursuit of justice left Bonilla with little time for leisure, his recreational pastimes included swimming, fishing, biking, reading, and writing. For some years in the 1980s and 1990s, he enjoyed these pleasures at his home in Montauk, on the East End of Long Island, New York.

Though formally retired by the late 1990s, Dr. Bonilla continued to emphasize the importance of promoting Latino academic and policy research capabilities and bringing Latino voices and perspectives into the U.S. foreign policy arena. In his words, “we must continue to seek a place within the university from which to articulate the social and intellectual problems of our community while reaffirming the intent to define and control our own intellectual agenda…. To create new knowledge and quickly and comprehensibly transfer it to a long-denied community is the principal goal of all our effort….”

University of Puerto Rico Protests: More Updates from NILP

The Forum

C O N T E N T S
* “Puerto Rico students renew protests over tuition rise,” Reuters (December 22, 2010)
* “Puerto Rico Student Strike Intensifies, Public Education and Civil Rights at Stake” by Maritza Stanchich, Ph.D., San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center (December 21, 2010)
* “A Welcome Change of Approach to University Strikes” By Dr. Brad R. Weiner. The Huffington Post (December 22, 2010)
* “Cuban National Assembly Expressed its Solidarity with Puerto Rican Students, ” Radio Cadena Agramonte (December 24, 2010)
* Open Letter to US Attorney General Holder on UPR Situation by Puerto Rican Scholars (December 16, 2010)
* National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights Press Release (December 22, 2010)

Puerto Rico students renew protests over tuition rise
Reuters (December 22, 2010)

SAN JUAN (Reuters) – Students in Puerto Rico kept up protests on Wednesday against a new fee at the U.S. Caribbean territory’s main public university after a week of demonstrations that led to arrests of several protesters.

The students are protesting a new $800 annual fee set to take effect in January and aimed at helping the University of Puerto Rico offset a budget deficit.

Puerto Rico, a U.S. commonwealth, has been mired in a deep recession since 2006 and Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuno has cut spending and raised taxes on multinational firms operating on the island to reduce a $3.2 billion government deficit.

Dozens of student protesters gathered outside the university’s main campus on Wednesday, chanting slogans and singing songs.

The student protests had turned violent on Monday when a group threw rocks, bottles and smoke bombs inside classrooms as police used batons to break up the demonstration. At least 17 students were arrested in the melee.

Eight of those arrested appeared before judges late on Tuesday and two were charged with weapons violations and assault against public officials. The others were charged with misdemeanors including obstruction of justice.

The new fee comes on top of existing annual tuition costs of around $1,530.

However, critics of the university protests say a majority of students qualify for annual grants totaling $5,550, enabling students to absorb the cost of the new expense.

(Writing by Kevin Gray; Editing by Greg McCune)

Puerto Rico Student Strike Intensifies, Public Education and Civil Rights at Stake
by Maritza Stanchich, Ph.D.
San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center (December 21, 2010)

Listen to live coverage of the student strike from Puerto Rico on Radio Huelga: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/radiohuelga

Facebook updates: http://www.facebook.com/RadioHuelga

Video of police violence: http://www.primerahora.com/violenciaenlaupr-455182.html

Coincident with massive, at times explosive, student protests in Rome and London, University of Puerto Rico has again become a flashpoint with a student strike beginning Tuesday that turned the main campus into a militarized zone of police, riot squads, and SWAT teams, complete with low-flying helicopters and snipers. What began as a conflict over a steep student fee hike is now seen as a larger struggle to preserve public education against privatization.

Resistance to the imposed $800 student fee has triggered repressive state measures: police have occupied the main campus for the first time in 31 years and Monday the local Supreme Court, recently stacked by the pro-Statehood political party in power, outlawed student strikes and campus protests. More than 500 students defied the ruling by demonstrating on campus Tuesday, brandishing the slogan “They fear us because we don’t fear them” (“Nos tienen miedo porque no tenemos miedo”). This current strike revisits accords to negotiate the $800 fee, which in June ended a two-month shut down of 10 of 11 UPR campuses, as UPR faces a $240 million budget shortfall precipitated by the state not honoring its own debt to the institution.

Civil rights groups have declared a state of high alert in the wake of disturbances last week and statements by leading public officials seen as creating a hostile climate that inhibits free speech rights. In response, about 15,000 UPR supporters marched on Sunday from San Juan’s Capitol building to La Fortaleza governor’s mansion, under a balmy bright blue tropical sky in this U.S. Territory of about four million U.S citizens, though little known to most Americans beyond being a tourist destination.

In the standoff leading up to this week, top university officials have repeatedly threatened that a strike may prompt them to shut down the main campus at Río Piedras, which serves 20,000 plus students, employs about 1,200 professors and 5,000 non-teaching staff, and hosts millions in scientific research funding (system-wide the UPR serves about 65,000 students). In addition, 10 of 11 University of Puerto Rico campuses remain on probation by its accrediting agency, The Middle States Association, in the areas of long-term fiscal viability and effective administrative governance, of which the current student mobilization is a symptom, not a cause.

Tensions mounted last week leading up to a two-day student walkout when Capitol Security, a private security firm contracted by the university for $1.5 million, demolished entrance gates to the campus. Hired guards were young with little or no training or evaluation, bore no identification badges and some were armed with sticks and pipes in a climate of intimidation perhaps not seen since dockworkers strikes of the 1940s. Many of the guards had been recruited from marginalized Afro-Puerto Rican communities, such as Villa Cañona in Loíza, which has been the site of documented police abuses, lending a disturbing dimension of institutionalized racism, according to community leaders there.

Several violent incidents were reported, including a student who was seriously beaten and injured by guards. One video purportedly of students breaking security van windows was repeatedly aired in the local media as the justification for the police occupation of the campus, just as students had peacefully concluded the two-day walkout last Wednesday evening.

“UPR has a long history of infiltrators and saboteurs involved to instigate such incidents,” said William Ramírez, Executive Director of the Puerto Rico chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. The purported incident capped off a series of provocations. Gov. Luis Fortuño in a televised appearance openly declared that leftists would no longer be tolerated on the campus. His Chief of Staff Marcos Rodríguez Ema publicly taunted that students and professors who dare protest will get their asses kicked out (“vamos a sacarlos a patadas”).

The university administration has also designated areas limiting protests to outside the campus, and on Monday Chancellor Ana Guadalupe formally prohibited all protests or group activities of any type on the campus through January 15. The chancellor also issued an edict this week requiring all students to carry their student identification cards at all times.

According to Ramírez, Fortuño’s public statements targeting leftists, designated protest areas off campus and protest prohibitions are violations of constitutionally-protected First Amendment rights. The police presence and heavily-equipped riot squads also create a climate of intimidation that restricts expression, he added.

“Rather than responding to violence, they have created a violent environment,” Ramírez said, adding that under such conditions, in which a police occupation is deployed as a preemptive measure, “it is almost guaranteed that violence will occur.”

In response to the campus police presence, a majority in a meeting of about 300 professors Thursday voted to refuse to hold classes on campus while under siege, with senior professors recalling the trauma of deadly campus police violence during the last occupation in 1981. On Saturday, Police Chief José Figueroa Sancha announced plans for a permanent police precinct on the campus, using drug interdiction as the justification despite common knowledge that drug puntos or selling points operate a steady business a short distance from the university. Normally the campus operates with its own contingent of security guards.

Some student leaders who are not pro-strike have also voiced complaints about the police takeover of campus. Omar Rodríguez, Student Council president for the College of Education and founder and editor of the 30,000+ member-strong Facebook page Estudiantes de la UPR Informan, reported that he was attacked without provocation by private security guards and that the police stood by and laughed when he pleaded for their intervention.

“The exaggerated police presence is unnecessary and intimidating,” he said, adding that it was pedagogically absurd to expect students to concentrate properly on their studies in such an environment.

Making the best of these tensions, student strike leader Giovanni Roberto reached out to dialogue with Capitol Security guards in working-class solidarity. “They brought us the youth who are precisely the reason we are struggling, so that they could have access to the university,” he said.

It is estimated that the new $800 fee will force 10,000 UPR students to leave the university, though the state legislature and the Fortuño government have enacted last-ditch efforts to create funds for student jobs and scholarships. Numerous proposals from credible sources detailing fiscal alternatives to the fee seem to fall on deaf ears.

The strike itself has yet to build broad support, however. Widespread concern that a strike will jeopardize the institution’s survival has mobilized some against the strike, including students, despite majority opposition to the $800 fee. While students from other UPR campuses held walkouts or approved strikes, yet other campuses recently voted down such measures. And non-striking students at the Río Piedras campus, including previous strike leaders, signed a public proclamation to keep the campus open and classes running normally.

Nevertheless, strike organizers are gambling that the blunders of the administration will win support for the students as well as mobilize other groups. The largest professors’ organization, Asociación Puertorriqueña de Profesores Universitarios, and the non-teaching staff union, La Hermandad de Empleados No-Docentes, issued standard calls to members to respect pickets. And president of the UTIER electrical workers union, Ángel Figueroa Jaramillo, issued a public call for support from Tuesday’s campus demonstration.

Whether or not this current conflict has the potential to destabilize the Fortuño administration depends in part on a broader context of economic well being. Fortuño and a legislative majority from the extreme right came to power with a broad mandate to punish the previous party in power for the worst economic downturn in decades, with no mid-term or recall elections in Puerto Rico as a check on current policies.

A self-described Reaganite, Fortuño has become a darling of the Republican Party for imposing highly unpopular austerity measures through legislation called Ley 7 (Law 7), laying off 20,000 public sector employees; targeting government agencies, including UPR, with crippling cuts aimed at perceived ideological enemies; and declaring null and void all public sector labor contracts for three years. Such a move, reminiscent of President Reagan’s firing of striking air traffic controllers, should have stateside unions wary of Republican Party policy interest.

In fact the fee as a mechanism to destroy the social mission of the affordable public university of excellence was instituted by then Gov. Reagan at University of California, which saw a 32% fee increase last November and an additional 10% more recently, despite protests and arrests there.

It has also been reported that the Fortuño administration has already begun negotiations to sell off — or long-term lease — UPR campuses to private colleges, including those owned by major contributors to his campaign. And this just as a student loan default crisis associated with mediocre private colleges in the United States threatens to spiral into as costly a mess as the mortgage crisis.

The events unfolding cohere with the popular thesis of Canadian author Naomi Klein, known as “disaster capitalism.” However, students are mobilizing in Puerto Rico and worldwide around deep cuts to public higher education and subsequent privatization, in movements that may just be getting their first wind.

“From San Diego to Rome, from San Juan to London and Amsterdam, 2010 will be remembered as the year of student protests internationally,” commented Antonio Carmona Báez, Ph.D., a political science lecturer at the University of Amsterdam. “Not since 1968 have university students stood up around the globe — simultaneously — against authority, this time to save public education.”

Maritza Stanchich, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Puerto Rico.

A Welcome Change of Approach to University Strikes
By Dr. Brad R. Weiner
The Huffington Post (December 22, 2010)

A few days ago in this blog space, my colleague, Dr. Maritza Stanchich, posted an overview of yet another student strike at the University of Puerto Rico. Her viewpoint is clearly pro-strike and runs counter to the opinions of many University of Puerto Rico faculty, students, and employees. Allow me to present a different viewpoint of the same conflict.

The standard mechanism for student strikes at the University of Puerto Rico is to forcibly deny everybody else at the institution their rights to study, to teach, to work, and to do research. This mechanism is illegal on many levels. It denies others their basic civil rights. It violates University of Puerto Rico student regulations that clearly state students have no right to impede academic activities. It flies in the face of the university’s Non-Confrontation Policy that says no groups or individuals have the right to impede academic or administrative activities.

Student strikes are not protected under Puerto Rico’s laws because students do not have an employee-employer relationship with the university. In the numerous legal actions brought by the University of Puerto Rico in the Superior Court, and, most recently, before the Puerto Rico Supreme Court, the courts have ruled that student strikes are, in fact, illegal and are not a valid exercise of freedom of speech. The courts have ordered student strikers to cease and desist from their actions. For 25 years, the illegality of the strikes at every level has not led the university to be proactive about maintaining access to the campus. In the current case and as a part of the Open University Policy, the University of Puerto Rico administration has taken action by bringing in the state police to assure free access to the campus and to guarantee the rights of those who want to continue offering classes, taking classes, and doing their jobs.

During my 23+ years of employment at UPR, I have repeatedly been denied free access to my laboratory and my office, my places of work, by whichever group that chooses to violate my civil rights as a pressure point for their cause. In my younger assistant professor years, I just jumped the fence to go to work and avoid controversy. More recently, I have begun to fight for my rights. In 2005, ten professors (I was one) sued the university to guarantee our access to our laboratories. After winning a preliminary injunction in federal court, we settled our case with the university when the board of trustees emitted a certification guaranteeing that all campuses would be open, regardless of strikes. In the 62-day strike earlier this year, I was physically threatened, pushed, spit upon, and insulted by groups who tried to deny me access, but I insisted on my rights.

Contrary to what Dr. Stanchich portrays as a peaceful movement, this type of abuse and violence is routine during strikes at the University of Puerto Rico. Numerous student strikers hide their identities by covering their faces with hoods and masks, and they carry weapons, such as metal tubes, sticks with nails in them, baseball bats, and slingshots with lead pellets. Just last week, in an effort to disrupt normal activity and create terror, hooded students threw smoke bombs into classrooms filled with students. Following such incidents, and unlike prior occasions when such intimidation occurred, Puerto Rico police are now present, and they have ably maintained campus access for all university employees and students. For many years, I have waited for the university or the government of Puerto Rico to defend my civil rights. This is the first time they have done so. In that sense, I am very satisfied with the actions taken by the university administration.

Over the last 30 years, the Río Piedras campus of the University of Puerto Rico has been moving towards becoming a first-rate research institution. It is beginning to succeed. According to the National Science Foundation’s latest data, 24% of Hispanics in the United States who obtain a PhD in Science, Mathematics or Engineering, passed through the University of Puerto Rico for some part of their education. The UPR-Río Piedras Strategic Plan, Vision 2016 — endorsed by all campus academic and administrative bodies — asserts the importance of research, knowledge creation, and scholarly activity. In keeping with that objective, the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras has grown its existing graduate programs, created new doctoral offerings, and expanded its external funding profile with federal agencies.

As required for research institutions, the university has a contractual obligation and responsibility to comply with federal and state laws governing research and laboratory operations, including the safe stewardship of highly specialized equipment, dangerous chemicals, and human and animal research. The university has acted correctly in bringing in the appropriate level of security to safeguard not only the interests of the institution and its constituents, but of the general public as well.

Many of the recent UPR student conflicts have received national and even international attention. As a result, my stateside colleagues invariably have many questions. I always try to carefully explain the issues. Inevitably, I get the following question: “How much do students at the University of Puerto Rico pay for tuition and fees?” My answer: $1200-$1500, depending on the number of credits. Per semester? No, per year. At that point, the discussion usually ends in disbelief because they cannot believe (1) how low the tuition and fees are, and (2) how it possibly can be an issue, given the cost of higher education everywhere else, including other institutions in Puerto Rico.

When we add to the equation the multiple sources of financial assistance available to UPR students, e.g. Pell Grants, student loans, etc., it should be clear that the issue of resources is not the primary reason for the student conflict. Of course, it goes without saying no one wants to increase the costs of education. Moreover, I fully understand some UPR students have difficulty paying the current modest tuition and will have even greater problems meeting the new $400 per semester fee. For that very reason, the government has created several special scholarship funds totaling more than $30 million dollars to address the needs of that sector.

With the awarding of over 300,000 degrees, the University of Puerto Rico has distinguished itself over the last 100+ years. UPR alumni from a wide range of academic disciplines have brought honor to the institution through their service to Puerto Rico and to the nation. Yet, today the institution is on the brink of losing its Middle States Commission on Higher Education accreditation and being de-certified for U.S. Department of Education Title IV funds.

The current situation at the University of Puerto Rico threatens not only the present and the future of the institution, but also the past. Alumni may soon find themselves with a degree from a non-existent university. I, personally, am proud to be an integral part of a public research institution that has made a difference in so many students’ lives. It would be a great tragedy to lose such a successful institution because a small minority cannot accept the will of the majority and the economic realities of the times. The time to put politics aside, analyze the real data, and reach the conclusion that serves the greater good has arrived.

Brad R. Weiner is Professor of Chemistry and Dean of the College of Natural Sciences at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras.

Cuban National Assembly Expressed its Solidarity with Puerto Rican Students
Radio Cadena Agramonte (December 24, 2010)

Havana, Cuba, Dec 23.- The Cuban National Assembly issued a declaration condemning the police repression against Puerto Rican students, and claiming for international solidarity with their cause.

The Juventud Rebelde newspaper published the declaration, which was signed by the commissions of Foreign Affairs, Education, Science and Culture, Youth and Childhood Care, and Women’s Equal Rights.

The document notes that, for several days, hundreds of students are protesting against increasing of the enrolment fees of the University of Puerto Rico, in Rio Piedras.

It states that these students have been the objects of violent repression by police; and many of them are wounded or arrested.

The declaration affirms that this is not an isolated event because in recent years, Puerto Rican students have protested against similar injustices.

It adds that, in view of such a violent response of the police, in complicity with the colonial authorities of that nation, it is vital to condemn their situation.

The document claims for the solidarity of all peoples, Human Rights Organizations, and Parliaments worldwide to demand the end of repression and safeguard the physical integrity of the demonstrators. (ACN)