Cuban students protest US exchange program

By Neysi Hernandez

HAVANA (AA) - Students in Cuba on Tuesday continued to protest against what they call subversive plans by the U.S. against the island.

Small meetings are being held at schools and campuses around Cuba to denounce the U.S. World Learning scholarship program they believe are intended to help shape future leaders' thoughts and opinions to serve U.S. interests in destroying the Cuban Revolution, despite the process of normalization between both nations.

Protests began last week in schools in Havana and have spread to universities across the country.

At the University of Havana where there are more than 13 exchange programs with hundreds of American students, some wondered why the exchange programs are not operated by the U.S. government.

During a meeting at the school, Raul Palmero, who heads the Federation of University Students (FEU) that is helping to lead protests, emphasized Tuesday that scholarships for Cuban students to study in the U.S. are supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), an organization that has been caught engaging in destabilization campaigns in Cuba.

The Associated Press in 2014 found USAID and its contractor, Creative Associates International, sent young Latin Americans under the guise of heath care groups and civic organizations to Cuba to try to foment political change on the island.

At the Technological University of Havana Jose Antonio Echeverria, students denounced the exchange program they said is masked as academic exchange opportunities.

“We do not need the scholarship program sponsored by the NGO World Learning and supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development because it is alien to the principles and ideas that we believe in," Ana Maria Reina, a senior economics student, told Anadolu Agency.

Medical student Juan Carlos Blanco said, "such scholarship schemes may seem appealing, but they are underhanded plans to develop leaders with thoughts and action contrary to the Cuban revolution".

The demonstrations are staged by members of the federations of Students (FEEM) and FEU, that are expected to hold nearly 500 similar meetings across Cuba.

FEEM President Suzanne Santiesteban, said at a rally in Guantanamo on Tuesday that all high school students have decided to demonstrate against the exchange program.

She said World Learning is an NGO designed for young Cubans that usurps the Cuban government and the country's institutions.

Since last August, World Learning has targeted Cuba’s students, between 16 and 18 years of age, for a two-month stay in the United States that includes visits to schools and community organizations and, a final project that requires scholarship recipients to implement a project for change on the island when they return, according to the program.

Three Panamanian Spanish citizens and one resident of Panama were hired by World Learning last July to travel to Cuba to target students, Cuban media reports said.