About 30 students joined the Cuban American Undergraduate Student Organization's (CAUSO) silent march across campus on Friday to protest Cuba's 2003 crackdown on human rights and dissident democratic movements.CAUSO was officially recognized as a student organization on Monday and has about 12 members.The march, which began at Frist and ended in front of Firestone, was part of a national effort to raise awareness of human rights violations in Cuba.Universities including Harvard, Georgetown and the University of Pennsylvania also held marches within the past two weeks."The purpose of the march was to join a number of prominent schools from all over the country in promoting human rights through the backdrop of the two-year anniversary of the arbitrary incarceration of 75 peaceful pro-human rights advocates in Cuba," Ken Sinkovitz '07, co-president of CAUSO, said in an email.The crackdown, which occurred on March 18, 2003, resulted in the incarceration of 75 journalists, economists, human rights activists and librarians."With this reprieve of worldwide pressure on the Castro regime to release these prisoners, it became imperative to commemorate the March 18 crackdown in Princeton," Christopher Gueits '07, co-president of CAUSO, said in an email."Not only was it necessary [to] raise awareness of the realities of life in Cuba to the American public, but to also show those suffering on the island that they have not been forgotten and that support for their plight indeed exists beyond Cuba's borders," he added.CAUSO members were joined on the march by members of many other student organizations, including the Black Student Union, the Ukrainian Alliance, the Chicano Caucus, the Social Justice Project, and Acción Puerotrriqueña."I was very happy to see how many people came out, especially non-Cuban-Americans," said Michael Alonso '07, a CAUSO member."It's a profound emotional experience," he said.The participants marched down campus from Frist, then up through the junior slums and through Blair Arch before ending in front of Firestone."Our march culminated in front of one of the nation's largest libraries, where a wealth of information and knowledge is transmitted everyday, to symbolize the restriction on the flow of information in Cuba," Gueits said.CAUSO's leaders agreed that the march was a success and a very significant event in the life of the new organization."The fact that we were able to execute such a thought-provoking and purposeful procession, only days after recognition, gives testament to the power of our cause and the determination of those impassioned students driving it," Sinkovitz said."We let the student body know that we have arrived at Princeton, and are going to actively promote human rights awareness, particularly as it is applied to Cuba," he said.
