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Paraguay Students
In recent decades, public education has been tightly controlled
by the government, and private educational institutions also had to
conform. Public-sector educational personnel, from the minister of
education and worship down to the primary school teachers, had to
belong to the Colorado Party. The Catholic University, although
subject to pressure and even invasion by the police, enjoyed a
somewhat more open environment for teaching and research than did
the National University.
For most of the Stronato, students at the public and Catholic
universities were represented by the government-sponsored
University Federation of Paraguay (Federación Universitaria del
Paraguay -- FUP). In June 1985, however, several hundred law
students demonstrated publicly in favor of freedom of the press and
an end to corruption. Following the death of a law student, violent
confrontations erupted with the police in April 1986. The student
movement removed itself from the control of the National Committee
of the Colorado Party, and the FUP was disbanded. In April 1987, a
new organization, the Federation of University Students of Paraguay
(Federación de Estudiantes Universitarios del Paraguay -- FEUP) was
formally launched at a meeting attended by 5,000 students. The FEUP
participated in the national dialogue although the union was not
legally recognized.
Data as of December 1988
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