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Salient. An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria College, Wellington, N.Z. Vol. 19, No. 2. March 10, 1955
[Introduction]
In Argentina, 430 students, including 25 women, are still in prison following the incidents in October. These students were "collected" from the annual general meetings of the Engineering and Chemistry Students' Unions, and from raids on various other students' headquarters—including the law students. A general strike of all students was called as a protest on October 22, 1954. As a result student organisations of all faculties in Buenos Aires, except Architecture, Agriculture and Dentistry, have been shut and are under police guard. The explanation given by the Argentine students is that trouble between the Peronists regime and the Federation Universitaria Argentina—FUA—has long been brewing. After the return of the delegation from the Instanbul conference there were indications of an apparent change of heart on the part of the Government.
This lasted until October 5, 1954, the day of the engineering students annual meeting and the first arrests.
There has been no comment at all from the Government.
Statements of support have already come from: South Africa, Costa Rica, U.S.A. and Franco and England (national unions).
In most cases these unions wrote to their respective Argentine Consuls and received no reply. The English students protested vigorously and asked that the Consul receive a deputation to discuss the matter—with what result is not yet known.