Cuba Called for Solidarity with Puerto Rican Students

Cuba Called for Solidarity with Puerto Rican Students        Havana, May 26. -The Puerto Rican representative mission in Cuba called for international solidarity with the university students who are striking for an indefinite time period against privatization of education.

The students also demand free access to university for the children of workers, informs a note released by the Organization of Solidarity with the Peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America (OSPAAL).

The Puerto Rican representative in Havana, Edwin González, emphasized the need for all nations of the world to support the students to keep the University of Puerto Rico as a legacy for all the people and eliminate any possibility of privatizing or by a private public alliance.

The students have been striking since last April 21 protesting the refusal of colonial authorities to negotiate their demands, Gonzalez said in an event of OSPAAL.

González explained that student demands are supported by parents, professors, unions and noted culture figures who have also mobilized in solidarity with the brave determination of the young people.

The strike is in answer to a neoliberal privatization process by the colonial government that has placed the country on the border of collapse, said the independence leader.

The alternate representative of the Puerto Rican Mission in Havana, José Berrios, pointed out the widespread support received in the country goes beyond the studentâ�Ös cause.

It is part of the political, economic and moral crisis of the colonial system imposed on the Island by the United States, Berrios stated.

At first the strike originally called to last 48 hours demands a revision of the budget cuts for an adequate teaching practice as well as increase in cost and enrollment extensions.

The Independence leaders denounced the presence of Tactical Operation Units of the Police guarding university doors threatening to invade the university. (Prensa Latina)