Taken from articles in the Miami Herald and from www.radiohuelga.com
 

UPR Strike in its 33^rd Day
Student Run Radio www.radiohuelga.com Continues to Broadcast
 

The unprecedented strike at the University of Puerto Rico which began at the main Rio Piedras campus has swept over to 10 of the university's 11 campuses, cost one campus rector her job and landed the student negotiating committee in court.   It is now in its 33^rd day .

After a student protest on Thursday against Gov. Luis Fortuño ended with injuries, arrests and pepper spray, hundreds of students rallied at Plaza de las Americas, San Juan's largest shopping mall on Saturday while more than 1,000 faculty have voted to continue the strike should university officials end it by using police force against students.  Faculty also called for the president and board chairwoman's ousters.

Desks and chairs barricade university gates, and dorms were taken over by students.  An effigy of the school's president is propped on the police-guarded front entrance as the student-run radio station -- www.radiohuelga.com -- transmits around the clock.

With the semester and pending research at stake, students say the strike could last months as the fear of violence escalates and negotiations stall. 

University President José Ramón de la Torre and Board of Trustees president Ygri Rivera in an interview with the Miami Herald insisted that the strike did not have popular support.

In an apparent reference to labor unions, Rivera said ``radical forces'' that seek to destabilize the university, are manipulating vulnerable students.

``This is not a strike,'' de la Torre said. ``A strike is an action by recognized protesters against an employer. This is a stoppage by students, where they went overboard. This whole thing has been unnecessary.''

The strike, which began April 21, has paralyzed the university and mesmerized Puerto Rico as calls of support come in from the likes of Ricky Martin, Juanes and Ricardo Alarcón, the head of Cuba's National Assembly.

On Saturday, the university reversed the proposal limiting scholarships -- but the strike continues until other matters such as tuition hikes are resolved.

Not since Puerto Rico rallied to chase the United States Navy out of Vieques a decade ago have so many different social sectors rallied around a single cause. Experts say a university with a history of often-leftist political struggles that sometimes ended in violence has, for the first time, launched an island-wide walkout that underscores discontent felt throughout Puerto Rico.

As more people here lose their jobs, experts say the UPR strike stands as a symbol of a society fed up with a soured economy and messy politics.

``In many ways, this strike has no precedent,'' said Pablo Navarro, a professor at Lesley University in Massachusetts, who wrote a book about the history of UPR student uprisings.

``The strike has so many factors converging that reflect the social crisis Puerto Rico is living at this time: a financial crisis that is very deep, an unemployment rate that is very high, and add to that the proposed changes that would affect the scholarships of athletes, artists, chorus and high honor students.''

``This strike is very important because in the past, the strikes were almost always ideological,'' said former UPR political science dean José Luis Méndez, a socialist. ``The parents would be telling the kids: `You stay home!' Now this time, you have parents and grandparents climbing fences to bring their kids food.  ``Everybody is at this strike, except the party that is in power.''

Gov. Fortuño's office could not be reached for comment.