HORSEMEN FOR PEACE IN VIEQUES FREED
PRESS RELEASE
August 4, 2000
Two members of Horsemen for Peace in Vieques were freed today after a three hour trial. Gazir Sued, who spent 28 days in jail for refusing to post bail, was found guilty of trespassing charges and sentenced to time served. He will also be on probation for 12 months and cannot travel to Vieques. Gazir, who read his own 12-page defense, was lauded by the judge Lafitte for his eloquence but the judge refused to accept his argument as valid. Johny Alverio, another horseman, was found innocent of the same charge because he "could not be identified beyond a reasonble doubt". Two of the three other horsemen who face equal charges, but who are out on bail, were present during the trial.
To read Gazir's defense, visit:
http://www.redbetances.com/vieques/textos-vieques/v-defensagazir.html
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!!!
FEDERAL COVER-UP OF NUCLEAR BOMB IN VIEQUES, PUERTO RICO
In February 1995, Noticentro 4, the news program of Puerto Rico's TV station WAPA TV, aired a special report entitled RED ALERT, in which it denounced what history has confirmed. . .the problems caused by the presence of the U.S. Navy in Vieques, Puerto Rico and the consequences of its practices over Vieques.
The special report, RED ALERT, by renowned reporter Pedro Rosa Nales, unleashed the fury of the high command of the U.S. Navy in Puerto Rico, which tried to have the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) revoke the TV station's license. The Navy also accused Pedro Rosa Nales of having violated the Espionage Law, a charge which did not succeed before the U.S. Justice Department.
During that investigation, the reporter revealed an incident with a nuclear bomb in Vieques in the mid-60's. Now, five years after that special report, Noticentro 4 has new evidence that confirms that the incident with the nuclear bomb in Vieques did indeed occur and that the U.S. Government, including the U.S. Navy, covered up the facts.
Don't miss this important and powerful special report, RED ALERT II: THE COVER UP, starting this Wednesday August 9, 2000 at 5:00PM EST on WAPA TV's Noticentro 4 (first part), continuing on Thursday August 10 at 5:00PM (second part) and ending on Friday August 11 at 5:00PM (third and final part).
If you are in Puerto Rico, we recommend that you watch and tape this special report. If you are outside of Puerto Rico, you can watch this special report live, or later on that night, through the Internet by accessing Noticentro 4's website: http://noticentro.coqui.net. Your computer must have a sound card and the program Streamworks, which you can download and install for free following the instructions in Noticentro 4's website.
Women in Civil Disobedience for Peace in Vieques
CONTACTS:
Judith Conde & Felú€ita Sanes
Tel: 787-741-2042/ 787-741-0716
Lcda. Olga López Báez
Tel: 787-644-0230/ 787-766-2685
Eleven viequenses headed the group of thirty-two women who penetrated the U.S. Navy’s restricted zone in Vieques on Sunday night. Evading the Navy’s extreme security measures, the women claimed their fundamental rights to life, health and peace. The group included professional women and women from religious organizations and trade unions, as well as housewives, business women, activists from the lesbian community and others representative of different sectors of life and work in Vieques and Puerto Rico.
After entering the restricted zone, the women held a ceremony in representation of the desire for peace of the people of Vieques. They unfurled the Puerto Rican flag as a symbol of national identity; the Vieques flag representing the unified will of viequenses to get rid of the Navy; a white flag for peace; and a series of other symbols related to contamination of the environment, illnesses suffered by the population, specially its children, the difficulties confronted by people who make a living from fishing, and the blood shed by David Sanes and other viequenses during the sixty years of U.S. miltary presence in Vieques.
The spokeswomen for the group, Norma Torres and Carmen Valencia, both from Vieques, described the action as a reaffirmation of the legitimacy and usefulness of civil disobedience as a method of struggle against the Navy in Vieques. “Together with our sisters from the big island, we have brought about this act of defiance, which proves the Navy is not invincible. We have done this because Vieques is our home and our children’s home, and that’s the way we always want it to be,Ethey said, emphasizing that a third of the group was made up of women from Vieques.
“This represents a new level of consciousness in our women that is truly encouraging,Ethey concluded.
The initiative of the Vieques women to organize the group received wide support from other women both in Vieques and Puerto Rico, all of them active in the solidarity movement. The Vieques Women’s Alliance also played an important role in organizing the act of civil disobedience.
The activists urged the rest of the women in Vieques and in all of Puerto Rico to join the struggle for peace in la Isla Nena.
August 7, 2000
Vieques, Puerto Rico
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20000807/pl/puerto_rico_navy_bombing_2.html
Monday August 7 3:54 PM ET
Puerto Ricans Chase U.S. Navy Bus
By CHRIS HAWLEY, Associated Press Writer
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - Puerto Rican protesters chased a U.S. Navy bus and scuffled with riot police Monday as authorities arrested 32 women for trying to stop bombing exercises on the outlying island of Vieques.
The women, arrested Monday at dawn, were the latest of dozens of protesters to break into the military training ground on Vieques. They were immediately detained.
When a Navy bus carrying the detainees left the camp, about 80 other protesters jumped in their cars and chased the bus, Police Sgt. Jose L. Velardo said.
Police escorting the bus called for reinforcements, who set up a roadblock.
``We had 20 to 25 cars following this bus,'' Velardo said. ``Things were very tense.''
Protesters claimed riot police threw retired schoolteacher Luz Legillu to the ground and pointed weapons at her. Velardo said Legillu, wife of a former Vieques mayor, complained to him but said he did not see the scuffle.
Velardo said the crowd dispersed after local police intervened.
He also said riot police reported that protesters threw motor oil at the bus and patrol cars. The riot police commander could not be reached for comment immediately.
The clash came as the Navy's USS Harry Truman battle group continued practicing. Jets began dropping dummy bombs on the firing range last week. Ships are expected to fire inert shells during exercises that could last through Aug. 24.
Anger over the Navy's presence flared in April 1999 after a jet dropped two bombs off target and killed a civilian guard on the range.
Protesters invaded the area for a year until federal agents removed them May 4. The Navy owns two-thirds of Vieques. Its bombing range is about 10 miles from the civilian sector and covers 900 acres on the eastern tip - less than 3 percent of the island.
A Puerto Rican government report said exercises over 60 years had stunted the economy and harmed the environment.
The Navy denies any damage and says its live-fire training at Vieques is essential practice that saves lives in conflicts.
Under an agreement between President Clinton and the Puerto Rican government, the Navy resumed exercises with dummy munitions until a referendum is held. The Navy must pull out by May 2003 if residents vote to expel it.
[English]
In an unprecedented act of repression against the popular movement for peace in Vieques, magistrate Justo Arenas set yesterday (August 8) a $10,000 bail to each of the 11 youth that entered the restricted zone in another act of civil disobedience. Such an excessive bail for a misdemeanor shows how the Federal Court in Puerto Rico defends the interest of the NAVY, above every any other aspect of the Vieques issue, by sending to jail the freedom fighters while protecting the military aggressors.
Call now magistrate Justo Arenas [787-772-3191] to express your concern over his abusive decision. (Secretary - Nydia Luz Gutiérrez)
HOLYOKE APPROVES RESOLUTION CALLING FOR THE IMMEDIATE WITHDRAWAL OF THE NAVY FROM VIEQUES
The National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights (NCPRR) Massachusetts Chapter, would like to inform you that the City of Holyoke approved a “Peace on ViequesEresolution on August 1, 2000. Holyoke’s city councillors approved the resolution 12 votes in favor and 1 against.
City Councillors Juan Cruz and Diosdado Lopez voiced the overwhelming support of Holyoke’s Puerto Rican community to approve this resolution which calls for the immediate withdrawal of the Navy from Vieques.
Holyoke received the strong support of many organizations that participate in Massachusetts Solidarity Network for Peace on Vieques like “Todo Springfield con Vieques,Ethe Vieques Action Committee of Amherst and the NCPRR. These organizations have been successful in approving similar resolutions in the cities of Cambridge, Lawrence, Springfield, Westfield, Boston, and in the town of Amherst.
The NCPRR’s Peace on Vieques initiative continues in other cities and town in Massachusetts like Worcester, Chelsea, and Lynn to pass similar resolutions; the NCPRR also works on a statewide “Peace on ViequesEresolution with Senators Diane Wilkerson and Stan Rosenberg. Moreover, the NCPRR advocates the idea of dedicating events across the state to the “Peace on ViequesEinitiative like the Loiza Festival in Boston; it also participates in marches, rallies and demonstration that support the immediate withdrawal of the Navy from Vieques, like the March for Peace on Vieques that was part of the Puerto Rican Festival in Boston on July 30, 2000 and the National Day of Solidarity with the People of Vieques on September 22, 2000 at the White House in Washington, D.C.
For more information, please call the NCPRR at 617- 522-6375.
August 3, 2000
PRESS RELEASE
Intense program of protest activities and visits in Vieques
As US Navy maneuvers begin today on Vieques, the people of the town begin an intense schedule of protest actions, meetings and visits from solidarity delegations from Puerto Rico, the US and other countries.
Viequenses will participate tonight in a People´s Assembly organized by the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques (CRDV) in front of the gate to the Navy´s Camp Garcú}. Groups in Vieques that work to end the Navy presence here began a busy calendar of meetings to put the final touches on the community plan of actions disigned to block the maneuvers and focus press attention on the issue of Vieques.
Delegations from the Puerto Rican towns of Aguadilla and Cayey, in solidarity with the struggle of Vieques, will be at the Peace and Justice Camp this weekend to lend support. Member of the Board of Directors of the Coordinating Committee All Puerto Rico with Vieques will meet with representatives of the Vieques community organizations on Saturday.
During the week end, a press crew and community leaders from Korea who struggle against US Air Force bombing in their town will be in Vieques. This visit strengthens the relations between the struggle in Vieques and communities throughout Asia that suffer from US military abuses. The CRDV maintains regular communication with organizations in Okinawa, Hawaii and the Phillipines plagued by serious military contamination and constant violations of civil and human rights as a result of the military presence.
In the middle of August two delegations of pacifists and people committed to the demilitarization and decontamination of Vieques arrive on the island. The Fellowship of Reconciliation and the Caribbean Project for Peace and Justice coordinate the visit to Puerto Rico and Vieques of several Asian and Latin American delegates. Another group arrives from New England (Vermont, New Hampshire and Connecticut) comprised of Puerto Ricans and North Americans who will come to support the Vieques cause.
Contactos: Ismael Guadalupe 741-2304
Robert Rabin 741-0716 o celular 375-0525
COMMITTEE FOR THE RESCUE AND DEVELOPMENT OF VIEQUES
PO Box 1424 Vieques, Puerto Rico 00765
(787) 741-0716 E mail: bieke@coqui.net
3 August, 2000
Press Release
VIEQUENSES PREPARE ACTIONS TO PROTEST MILITARY MANEUVERS
Vieques, Puerto Rico. The Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques (CRDV) called for a People´s Assembly tonight at 7:00 in front the gates to Camp Garcú}, entrance to the Navy´s bombing range here. This activity begins a community campaign to denounce the military exercises that start today and will continue until the 24th of this month. Active participation by the Vieques Women´s Alliance, the Viequense Youth United, the opposition political parties, the Catholic and Methodist churches and hundreds of Vieques´ citizens is expected in the Assembly.
"The Peoples' Assmebly is a mechanism we use here in the Peace and Justice Camp to allow our community to express its feeings about the military presence, and in this case, the maneuvers and resumption of bombing announced by military officials," said Robert Rabin, spokesman for the CRDV.
Yesterday the Navy put up in the usual places here its weekly schedule of exercises and warning to fishermen and owners of small boats. The Department of Navy document and the accompanying map, warns about " naval activities which can be dangerous to personnel, boats and fishing equipment in the waters around Vieques." from 11 AM to 11PM between the 4th and the 6th of August.
Rabin stated that together with Vieques fishermen, organizations and individuals in solidarity with Vieques from the main island of Puerto Rico and the United States, the CRDV will carry out a series of actions designed to block Navy maneuvers and once again attract the attention of the press - from Puerto Rico, the US and internationally - about the abuses committed by the US Navy against the people of Vieques.
"Despite the small Berlin Wall the Navy builds to separate the military and civilian sectors of Vieques, our people have entered the restricted area for reconaissance missions over the past weeks and the entrances and other peacefull civil disobedience actions will intensify during the period of the maneuvers," according to Rabin.
Contacts: Nilda Medina 741-0716 or Ismael Guadalupe 741-2304
August 3, 2000
TITO KAYAK BEGINS A FAST FROM JAIL IN PROTEST FOR THE RESUMPTION OF THE BOMBING OF VIEQUES
El Maestro Albizu Campos used to say "neither in jail nor dead can one contribute"... I disagree.
I am convinced that from wherever I may be, I will carry on the struggle, even if denied of my own "freedom", and I will challenge the unjust system that claims to be just.
This reclusion has given me the opportunity to deeply reflect on the commitment I made, as a defender of the environment, to defend Vieques.
The more I think about it, the more just the struggle seems to me.
I remember one morning that while traveling to Fajardo to take the ferry to Vieques, I questioned myself: What would I do if the people of Vieques unanimously accepted the bombardment? I answered that the land, even if it does not have a voice, it does have a vote and it deserves to be defended, even if I do it alone. I remembered all the dead and the children. While thinking about these matters, I arrived at the terminal and I remember a young mother with a kid in hands who said to me: "Thanks Tito for all that you do, because I can't go myself and you also do it for my son".
In view of the anouncement of the resumption of the military maneuvers in Vieques, I have decided to keep the struggle from the inside. I will place my faith in the Creator and tomorrow at 12:00 noon I will begin a Spiritual Fast hoping that the maneuvers won't resume. If they do resume, I will declare myself in a hunger strike.
To my family, please don't worry about me. I will be alright.
To the people of Vieques: I LOVE YOU, you are ALWAYS with me and me with you all.
Today, Monday, July 31, 2000, 7:00 p.m. Metropolitan Detention Center, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico
Alberto De Jesús
US NAVY OUT OF VIEQUES ----- PEACE FOR VIEQUES
Thursday August 3 8:38 PM ET
U.S. Navy Starts Vieques Training
By JAMES ANDERSON, Associated Press Writer
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - The U.S. Navy launched a second round of bombing exercises at Puerto Rico's Vieques island Thursday as four activists protesting the war games were detained inside the Navy range.
Independence Party Sen. Manuel Rodriguez Orellana and Rep. Victor Garcia San Inocencio, Presbyterian Rev. Luis Acevedo and Trujillo Alto mayoral candidate Jaime Negron were to taken to a Navy base on Puerto Rico to appear before a U.S. magistrate, said Navy Lt. Jeff Gordon.
Independence Party vice president Fernando Martin said the four were protesting what he called ``cruelty and madness'' by U.S. authorities in arresting more than 100 party members during Navy exercises in June.
The USS Harry S. Truman Battle Group, including 15 ships and 12,000 sailors, began air, ship and submarine training at Vieques and surrounding seas, Gordon said. The exercise - to prepare for a six-month deployment to the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf - concludes Aug. 24.
About 30 people demonstrated outside the Navy facility on Vieques, an island 7 miles east of Puerto Rico. The bombing zone is on the eastern tip of Vieques, about 8 to 10 miles from inhabited areas.
Activists, civilians, local churches and politicians of all political stripes have demanded that the Navy abandon its training ground after a bombing accident killed a civilian security guard on the range last year.
Decades of live bombing have stunted development and tourism, severely damaged the environment and caused health problems, critics claim. The Navy says Vieques is essential to prepare U.S. forces for combat.
More than 200 people were arrested for trespassing and nine sailors were injured during training exercises by the USS George Washington Battle Group in June. Most of those arrested were barred from returning to Vieques under terms of probation; 10 activists, including three mayoral candidates and a senatorial candidate, were sentenced Thursday to time served in jail and placed on a year's probation.
A demonstration has been called for Sunday outside the U.S. Army's Fort Buchanan in San Juan.
President Clinton has ordered the Navy to use dummy bombs on Vieques until Vieques residents can vote in a referendum, expected next year, on whether to expel the Navy. Live bombing can resume if the Navy wins.
ARTISTS FOR PEACE ENTER THE US NAVY RESTRICTED ZONE IN VIEQUES
Tue, 29 Aug 2000 16:37:35 EDT
Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques
P.O. Box 1424 Vieques, Puerto Rico 00765
Telefax (787) 741- 0716 e mail: bieke@coqui.net
PRESS RELEASE
I BELIEVE AND CREATE IN VIEQUES: ARTISTS FOR PEACE ENTER THE US NAVY RESTRICTED ZONE IN VIEQUES
Vieques, Puerto Rico. Today, August 28, 2000, a group of graphic artists and actors entered the restricted zone of the US Navy on Vieques. The artists performed a theatrical-pictoral play titled: I BELIEVE IN VIEQUES. They proclaimed the fundamental importance of the landscape, which for sixty years the US Navy has been destroying with their war practices. This distruction has caused grave damages, not only to the landscape but also to the mental, physical and spiritual health of the people of Vieques.
The artists painted a spectacular human mural in which they portrayed the landscape of the Isla Nena (Baby Island-Vieques) that proclaimed, "from the esthetic point of view the landscape has been, and will be a vital source of inspiration of artistic creation." The artists and actors formed two groups: one that entered the restricted area in a civil disobedience act, and another group providing support on the outside. The support group, besides presenting a mural similar to the Vieques landscape, showed another mural that was an adaptaption of the world famous painting by Picaso, GUERNICA, to dramatize the serious situation of the Navy presence on Vieques.
The artists that fooled the military security and entered the restricted zone this morning at dawn were: Rafael Trelles, Luis Alonso, Paloma Todd, Marta Pérez Garcú}, Elú}s Adasme and Gustavo Castrodad; and the actors Carlos Esteban Fonseca, Cristina Soler and Antonio Sotomayor. The support group was composed of the actors and actresses Magaly Carrasquillo, Georgina Borri, Maritza Pérez Otero, Rosabel Otón, Teresa Hernández, Puchi Platón, Ineabelle Colón, Yamil Collazo, Vilma Martú‹ez, Pepú‹ Lugo and Carlo D'Atili; painter TaEFernández, producer Pedro Muñiz and communications expert Zaida Castro Meaux. Also Myrna Pagán and Juan Silva, Viequense artists, joined the group.
From the main island, master artists Rafael Tufiño, Antonio Martorell, Antonio Maldonado, Augusto Marú‹, Lorenzo Homar, Myrna Báez and Luis Hernández Cruz, among others, expressed their solidarity with the artists' proclamation.
The artists had the logistic support of the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques and Peace and Justice Camp of Vieques. The Viequenses recognized the importante of this action in support of Peace for Vieques and the demands for demilitarization, decontamination, return of the lands and sustainable economic development of a Free Vieques.
This act in support of the struggle of the people of Vieques and their right to peace, health and their esthetic well being, took place the day the Navy announced the resumption of military exercises.
Contacts: Maritza Perez Otero y Zaida Castro Meaux 741-0716, 741-0358
Robert L. Rabin Siegal
ComitEPro Rescate y Desarrollo de Vieques
Apartado 1424 Vieques, PR 00765
(787) 741-0716 cel. 375-0525
¡FUERA LA MARINA DE VIEQUES!