VivirLatino

This morning, with good reason, much of the news in the twittersphere is focused on the popular uprisings in Egypt and the government’s harsh response by shutting down the internet, allowing for a mass cover up of violations of human rights. While it is easy to ignore what is happening in Egypt and the state response by dismissing it as something happening in a foreign land, tear gas canisters have also been opening over land currently occupied by the United States.

As we have been writing about, in Puerto Rico protests continue against rising fees in the university system but there are also protests against the violence being used against students and journalist attempting to do their jobs and cover the struggle.

Yesterday about 30 students were arrested during acts of civil disobedience carried out by the colonial Capitol Building. Originally students sought to present a plan whereby the Govt would allocate $50M from a surplus fund, eliminating the need for the $800 fees that sparked this latest round of protests. Riot police said they were forced to use tear gas because some of the hundreds of students that were protesting were throwing rocks.

Of special note in the video above from WAPA TV in Puerto Rico, is the nun who comes out to confront the police shooting tear gas, calling what their actions “disrespectful” and telling them that there are children nearby.

While there is no State blackout on information like what is happening out of Egypt, the fact that the U.S. media continues to not cover this, remains a shining example of colonizer politics at work.