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<h2><b>UPR supporters swell the ranks of fee protest
</b></h2><font size=3>December 24, 2010<br>
by <a name="Juan A. Hernandez"></a>Juan A. Hernandez<br>
<a href="mailto:jhernandez@prdailysun.net">jhernandez@prdailysun.net</a>
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<a href="http://www.prdailysun.com/news/UPR-supporters-swell-the-ranks-of-fee-protest" eudora="autourl">
http://www.prdailysun.com/news/UPR-supporters-swell-the-ranks-of-fee-protest<br>
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</a></font><font size=2>University of Puerto Rico students once
again received the support of thousands of people in their struggle to
avert the imposition next semester of the $800 Special Fiscal
Stabilization Fee.<br><br>
A crowd of several thousand people demonstrated Thursday along with UPR
students in a picket line that extended from the main gate of the Río
Piedras campus to the intersection of Ponce de León and Gándara
avenues.<br><br>
“We are here with our sons and daughters to defend their education and
our university,” said an unidentified woman marching among the students.
“We are not troublemakers; we are parents.”<br><br>
During a press conference Wednesday, labor and community leaders had
called for the demonstration in support of the student struggle against
the $800 special fee and the presence of police detachments on campus.
Community leaders from Villa Sin Miedo (San Juan), Villas del Sol (Toa
Baja), Sonadora (Aguas Buenas) and others came to express their support.
At the same time, labor leaders from General Workers Union, the Puerto
Rico Workers Syndicate, the Puerto Rico Workers Federation, the Electric
and Irrigation Industry Workers Union, known as UTIER, and the Puerto
Rico Teachers Association and Federation, among many others, also turned
out to express their support.<br><br>
Public Communications student Alicia Petru Gerena thanked the people for
their support and reiterated the students’ disposition to continue their
struggle.<br><br>
“As in 1981, we now stand at this moment in history with our people to
tell the government that we have taken to the streets willing to fight
for our future,” said Petru Gerena, referring to the 1981 UPR student
strike.<br><br>
Teachers Association President Aida Díaz concurred with the student in
that the people had come “to defend their university.”<br>
“Many of us studied here and we want our children to receive from it what
we received before,” Díaz said.<br><br>
The veteran teacher urged Gov. Fortuño to reconsider his position because
“things can still be negotiated.”<br><br>
Dr. Iván Rodríguez Cancel, who was appointed last year as Health
Department Secretary by Fortuño, also expressed his support for the
university.<br><br>
“As a Puerto Rican, I consider the people must express their solidarity
with the University of Puerto Rico,” said Rodríguez Cancel, who withdrew
his nomination to the Health post.<br><br>
“This is an unfortunate situation for the university, the institution
that prepared us for the challenges of the past and the one that will
prepare us for those of the future,” Rodríguez Cancel, a UPR alumnus,
added.<br><br>
Support for the student cause also came from the Dominican Human Rights
Committee.<br><br>
“We want to change the perception that we ‘dominicanos’ don’t integrate
with the people who have received us, that we don’t take part in the
issues affecting Puerto Rico,” spokesman José Rodríguez said.<br><br>
“We are against the abuse the police have committed against the students
and particularly against our community,” Rodríguez said.<br><br>
According to the human rights activist, police first “test”
their abusive techniques on the dominicanos to later act against Puerto
Ricans.<br>
“I have two teenage boys and they will be coming here soon [to the UPR]
to study. I won’t be able to pay for the education of both of them if the
fee is imposed, “ Rodríguez said.<br><br>
Rodríguez estimated there are 3,000 to 4,000 Dominicans enrolled in
universities, both public and private, across the island.<br>
UPR students have been on strike for the last nine days after the
administration refused to repeal Certification 146, imposing a special
$800 Fiscal Stabilization Fee to solve the worst economic crisis in
university history. Even though students have been presenting their
proposals to university officials during the semester, it wasn’t until
the day before the strike that university President José Ramón De la
Torre agreed to meet with them.<br><br>
Confrontations between the students and the police contingents now
stationed at the campus erupted this week, with 17 students arrested, and
several others injured.<br><br>
Regarding the clashes between students and the police, UTIER president
Ángel Figueroa Jaramillo warned the police about future
confrontations.<br><br>
“We will not promote violence, but we will not be hit and pushed either.
We have the right to free speech and we will defend ourselves,” Figueroa
Jaramillo said.<br><br>
After the protest, a Christmas concert (asalto navideño) was offered to
the demonstrators preceded by the University Chorus, which sang the alma
mater.<br><br>
Renowned artist Pablo Marcano García took the occasion to unveil his
painting “Fuego Coral,” in homage to chorus director Prof. Carmen Acevedo
and the chorus.<br><br>
“Professor Acevedo and the University Chorus represent the best of our
spirit … as long as they endure, we will all be better,” Marcano García
said.<br><br>
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