NACLA: Student Strike in Puerto Rico Continues With Increasing International Support
Monday, May 24 marked the sixth week of a student strike at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) after protests at the main Río Piedras campus began on April 21. Students are protesting $100 million budget cuts, increases in tuition, and changes to the university program. While the student strike was intended to be only a 48 hour stoppage, the university administration was unwilling to negotiate with students, leading to an expansion and prolongation of the strike. The UPR administration shut down the university, which serves 65,000 students, after the April 21 protest at the main campus resulted in a confrontation with the police.
The UPR strike is one of several recent strikes on the island that is the result of the Puerto Rican government’s passing of Law 7 more than a year ago. The law gave the government power to make emergency financial decisions in response to the $3.2 billion state deficit. This year Governor Luis Fortuño’s government reduced the UPR’s budget in spite of the 1966 Puerto Rican law that guaranteed that 9.6 percent of the island’s general funds would be reserved for the university.
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