OCLAE

Havana, Aug 11 (RHC) The Latin American and Caribbean Continental Organization of Students (Oclae) celebrates its 57th anniversary this Friday with the challenge of continuing to be the mobilizing and coordinating instance of the anti-imperialist struggles of the student movement in the region.

It was created in this capital, on August 11, 1966, while the IV Latin American Students Congress (CLAE) was in session and at the proposal of the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro.

Prensa Latina spoke exclusively with the current president of the Oclae, Miguel Angel Machado, a young Cuban medical student, who considers it a great responsibility to represent the protagonists of almost six decades of struggle for public and universal education.

Machado believes that the history of the organization has demonstrated the fundamental and determining role of young people in important social processes in the region.

In defense of this legacy, he said that on this anniversary day they will be holding a panel on the emergence of the organization -which currently has representation from 22 countries-, as well as the transformations arising from the new political scenarios and the educational context the continent is going through.

He assured that they will analyze in particular the essence of the organization, based on anti-imperialism, the defense of education and solidarity among the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean.

In his opinion, there is still much to be done to continue taking the voice of the students to the highest governmental levels and to the integration mechanisms, in addition to continue betting on unity, despite the differences and particularities of the 38 federations that make up OCLAE.

He said that they have immediate demands regarding access to education, in a region with high rates of privatization in this sector, and they must continue to demand public, inclusive, contemporary and comprehensive education. Within the current agenda of the organization, he highlighted the defense of the Amazon and nature.

Within the organization's current agenda, he highlighted the defense of the Amazon and nature. In this regard, he explained that the organization is promoting - together with student movements in Brazil - the creation of a University of Amazonian Integration. He explained that this institution would watch over the care and protection of this region of the planet and would make possible an academic mobility program for scientific research in this area.

The student leader stated that for the Organization, the denunciation of the economic and political siege of the United States against some countries of the region remains a constant. "Solidarity has moved these 57 years of history of struggle of the organization and our flag will always be open to defend and continue to raise our voice for the just causes of the planet," he stressed. (Source: PL)