Just as Mubarak refused to leave the presidency, the UPR's administration clings to the use of force. Ever since the police took over the University of Puerto Rico, students claim it has turned into a military camp.
Photographer: Ricardo Alcaraz Diaz
The police officers follow students to their classes, in the hallways, in the plazas and even to the restrooms. In the name of "law and order," male police officers have reportedly entered women's bathrooms while female students attended their basic necessities, clearly violating their constitutional rights.
Governor Fortuño expressed in his speech given on February 8th of this year that the police are men and women that serve our country, naming them "our heroes." Those same men and women that on February 9, 2010, during a paint-in at the University of Puerto Rico, started hitting students with their batons, using their mace on them and conducting over twenty arrests.
Photographer: Ricardo Alcaraz Diaz
Students fought back throwing fruits and paint towards them, inevitably falling to their knees after officers forced them on the ground with brutal violence.
Photographer: Ricardo Alcaraz Diaz
Students then fled the scene, some extremely affected by the Task Force's attacks.
Photographer: Ricardo Alcaraz Diaz
Hours after the incident, a gathering took place inside the University, where hundreds of adults and students dressed in white lit candles and sang the University's anthem.
Photographer: Omar Rodríguez Ortíz
Many people have expressed their feelings against the police inside the campus through Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, The Puerto Rico Daily Sun and this newspaper.
Most members of the faculty stand behind the students, and just as Mubarak announced his resignation on Friday the 11th of February, José Ramón de la Torre, UPR's president, removed himself from his administrative charges on the same date.
Puerto Ricans are still waiting for the Police to be eradicated from the University's premises. A massive march took place on Saturday, February 12, where thousands of people marched the streets of Rio Piedras. The march was called "I love the UPR".
Special Thanks to EstudiantesInforman.Com and phtographers: Ricardo Alcaraz Diaz and Omar Rodríguez Ortíz.
Follow Limari Colon on Twitter: www.twitter.com/limaricolon
More importantly though, you are not presenting detailed alternative solutions students and protest groups claim to have. With such a great forum for your ideas, why haven’t you chosen to use it more productively and present these “real” solutions that you imply these student groups can miraculously produce and implement?
How can you expect students to contribute to our society if they are trained to abuse the welfare system? They must learn to share the burden of these costs by taking personal loans (creating accountability and a mentality to conserve resources), and after graduating work to add value to our economy. They will be rewarded with income and experience.
The bottom line is this: students cannot continue to demand welfare assistance on the backs of working US and PR taxpayers without contributing in a meaningful way. This seems like a fair request from a majority of the population.
The reality as it stands now is that many students are getting a free ride and then become an inefficient burden on our island population at some government job. Again, we the taxpayers end up footing the bill.
Since these students have inspired us to move the needle in Puerto Rico. ¡Gracias!
Julio
I agree with you.
@Edward Standley My apologies if you found the article miserable. This has been an ongoing issue in our country, and multiple reports have been made on the topic. I limited myself to posting the pictures and the facts of the events.
For those of you who lack the knowledge, Puerto Rico's university has been on strike since December 14, 2010. An imposed $800 quota is the main reason for the strike, because the administration will not openly discuss their budget and economic situation with our country. The police "took over the university" when Governor Fortuño ordered them to enter the premises. A treaty had been made over thirty years ago that the police would never enter the premises. In the 70's one student and three police officers were murdered in a similar situation.
The university is at risk of being discredited and if that happens it would be closed down. If the UPR closes its doors to the main public, thousands of students will be left without the possibility of higher education.
I hope this gives you a little insight on the matter. To write about the ordeal in detail would take over three thousand words! Thank you for your understanding.
In their never ending quest to privatize our 100 year old institution they created this foreseable crisis by cutting off the UPR's long standing sources of revenue thus "starving the beast" and then crushing any protest with the use of their para-military riot police division composed of untrained steroid fed tough guys in armor and even firing rubber bullets at small groups of unamred non-violent protesters.
We all have our right to want what we think best for Puerto Rico but not every issue in Puerto Rico should be defined by the status issue this is what has brought to us a government such as the one we suffer now, this division and endless blaming everything political on the status. I personally would like to become independent, but I dont think we can survive 40 more years of ELA with this terrible political division it creates in our electorate. A democratic process is the only way to lead us there...
I am 100% behind the students, but i wish the author had actually told the story. It makes me wonder if she really understands what is happening on our campus, to be honest. Her previous post basically cites on faculty member who has been on leave from UPR for a long time. Much of what he said, while it was with the best intentions, wasn't completely accurate. There is a coherent story to be told about a corrupt governor and university administration, but it needs to be told conherently and accurately.
1.) I don't know if you are aware of this, but the standard reader doesn't read past 500-1000 words. Whenever you right a very long post, people lose interest and stop reading it. I was aiming for the average reader's interest. This is not a political referendum.
2.) I have never said I am a journalist. I am a writer, yes. A blogger, of course. What are you doing about it?
This is the problem with most Puerto Ricans. While you cry and shout and get angry at the world and at your government, you lose no time in criticizing those who are actually trying to do something about it. Just because I am not doing things according to what you believe they should be, it doesn't mean I don't "really understand what is happening on campus" or that I am "irresponsible". When Puerto Rico unites, then, we will start to see change. Meanwhile, keep posting accusing and misconstrued comments in someone else's article, because you have nothing better to do with your time than belittle fellow Puerto Ricans.