1. U.S. Navy Bombs, Shells Rain on Vieques Island As Protests Continue Demonstrators Force One-Hour Halt in Exercise(2001/04/29)
  2. Protests Again Hinder Navy Training Exercise(2001/04/28)
  3. Navy Bombing of Vieques to Resume / Federal Judge Rejects Puerto Rico Bid to Keep Military Exercises off Island(2001/04/27)
  4. STATEMENT BY DAMASO SERRANO LOPEZ(2001/05/02)
  5. SERRANO ASKS U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL TO EXAMINE ALLEGATIONS ABOUT NAVY'S IMPROPER TREATMENT OF PROTESTERS(2001/05/02)
  6. NAVY HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR SECURITY OF VIEQUES PRISONERS(2001/05/04)
  7. FOUR CPT DELEGATES ARRESTED IN VIEQUES, PUERTO RICO(2001/05/02)
  8. Navy should cease shelling of Vieques(2001/05/01)
  9. URGENT PETITION FOR FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR VIEQUES(2001/05/01)

U.S. Navy Bombs, Shells Rain on Vieques Island As Protests Continue Demonstrators Force One-Hour Halt in Exercise

A protestor cuts portions of a fence along the perimeter of Camp Garcia while riot police stand guard Friday. (AP)

By Edward Walsh
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 28, 2001

The sound of gunfire and the roar of jets on practice bombing runs returned to the island of Vieques yesterday as the Navy resumed training exercises over the objections of the Puerto Rican government and protesters who briefly forced a halt to the bombing by sneaking onto a nearby island.
The exercise, using inert or "dummy" bombs, began about 9 a.m. when three Navy A-4 fighter jets swooped over the target range on the island's eastern tip and dropped several 25-pound bombs, according to a Navy spokesman, Lt. Jeff Gordon.
But a short time later, the exercise was suspended for about an hour when eight protesters were spotted on Yayi Key, a small island a little more than 200 yards northwest of the bombing range. Gordon said they were arrested by U.S. marshals and removed from the island.
About an hour later, two destroyers, the USS Ramage and the USS Peterson, began firing 70-pound inert shells from their five-inch guns into the bombing range, Gordon said. He said the shelling was expected to continue into the night.
Yesterday's confrontation was a continuation of a long-running, emotional dispute over the Vieques bombing range, which the Navy maintains is vital in providing its sea, air and Marine land forces with realistic training. The Navy has used the range for almost 60 years, and it has long been a source of resentment to Puerto Rican residents. That resentment boiled over in April 1999, when David Sanes Rodriguez, a civilian security guard working for the Navy, was killed by two errant bombs dropped by a Marine F-18 fighter jet.
The practice bombing is expected to intensify early next week. A 12-ship battle group headed by the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, scheduled to arrive off Vieques today, likely will begin several days of training on Monday, Navy officials said. The battle group, which includes about 15,000 sailors and Marines, is on its way to the Persian Gulf to relieve another battle group led by the carrier USS Harry S. Truman.
The resumption of practice bombing set off emotional protests on Puerto Rico's main island and nearby Vieques, which is just east of the main island. Shortly after midnight, about 400 people who traveled by car caravan from San Juan and then boarded a ferry for Vieques arrived on the island to the chant of "Navy out."
Gordon said early yesterday afternoon that protesters threw an incendiary device onto Navy property on the island, setting a brush fire, and hurled a rock at a Navy vehicle, shattering the windshield. Early yesterday afternoon, 49 protesters broke down a fence that had been erected about 100 yards from the main gate of Camp Garcia, the Navy installation on Vieques, Gordon said. He said they were detained by Navy security personnel and later arrested by U.S. marshals.
"We are disappointed that they allowed the protesters to cut the fence and enter Navy property in plain view without doing anything about it," Gordon said of Puerto Rican police assigned to provide security outside the installation.
Sila Maria Calderon made expelling the Navy from Vieques a centerpiece of her campaign for governor last year and has pressed the issue since taking office in January. Calderon and other Navy critics maintain that the training exercises are damaging the health of the island's 9,300 residents and the environment.
Calderon pushed anti-noise legislation through the Puerto Rican legislature earlier this week and used the measure as the basis for a lawsuit in federal court seeking to stop the training exercise. But a judge, while suggesting that the Navy should postpone the practice bombing until a review of medical studies on its effects is completed, rejected an emergency request to block the exercise.
Calderon is a member of the Popular Democratic Party and an opponent of statehood for Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory. Gordon, the Navy spokesman, charged that the issue is also being exploited by Puerto Rican nationalists who favor independence for the commonwealth. He said that more than 90 percent of the about 500 people who have been detained on Navy property during protests since the 1999 accident were not Vieques residents but members of the Puerto Rican Independence Party.
The issue has also attracted attention from U.S. politicians, especially in New York, which has a large Puerto Rican population. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) has spoken out against the bombing, as has New York Gov. George E. Pataki (R), who recently visited Vieques.
Protesters occupied the bombing range for more than a year after the 1999 accident but were ejected by U.S. marshals last May. This is the fifth training exercise the Navy has conducted on Vieques since then, but all have used inert -- not live -- ammunition. In January 2000, the Clinton administration reached an accord with Calderon's predecessor, Pedro Rossello, that calls for a referendum by Vieques residents in November to force the Navy to leave the island by May 2003 or allow it to resume live bombing. If the Navy prevails, the United States had pledged $40 million in economic aid to Puerto Rico.
Yesterday's protests on Vieques were nonviolent. The group that penetrated the fence near the entrance to the Navy installation quickly dropped to the ground to signal nonresistance to Navy authorities or held out their arms to be handcuffed.
"Peace for Vieques," some screamed as Gospel music played.
There was also an uneventful protest against the resumption of the bombing in front of the White House as about 40 demonstrators carried signs and shouted slogans in English and Spanish.
Staff writer David Fahrenthold in Washington and special correspondent Laura Albertelli in Vieques contributed to this report.

c 2001 The Washington Post Company

Protests Again Hinder Navy Training Exercise

Orlando Sentinel
Sunday, April 29, 2001; Page A04

VIEQUES, Puerto Rico, April 28 -- For the second day in a row, dozens of protesters disrupted bombing exercises on the Navy target range here today by putting themselves in the line of fire.
Navy officials said 56 people were arrested today. Environmental lawyer and activist Robert Kennedy Jr., actor Edward James Olmos and New York labor leader Dennis Rivera were among those picked up in the early afternoon when the Navy stopped ship-to-shore shelling to clear the 900-acre target range of protesters.
The Navy urged Puerto Rican authorities to send out riot police to quell the protests, which interrupted military training until mid-afternoon.

c 2001 The Washington Post Company

Navy Bombing of Vieques to Resume
Federal Judge Rejects Puerto Rico Bid to Keep Military Exercises off Island

A mock graveyard constructed by anti-Navy protesters stands outside the gate of U.S. Navy Camp Garcia.
(Tomas van Houtryve - AP)

By Bill Miller and Edward Walsh
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, April 27, 2001; Page A06

The Navy was set to begin bombing exercises today on the island of Vieques after a federal judge rejected an emergency request from the Puerto Rican government to prevent the training maneuvers involving thousands of military personnel.
U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler said yesterday that lawyers for Puerto Rico had failed to show that the island's 9,300 residents would be "irreparably harmed" by the bombing, which is conducted with inert, or "dummy," ordnance. The exercises have generated long-standing resentment from Puerto Ricans, who contend that sonic booms from the shelling may be causing health problems for island residents.
But Kessler also criticized the way the Navy has handled the matter, urging U.S. officials to wait for results of ongoing medical studies before conducting any future exercises.
The decision was a setback for Puerto Rico Gov. Sila Maria Calderon (D), who took office this year after pledging to end the Navy's use of Vieques, a 52-square-mile island of lush hillsides and beaches that is home to the bombing range for the Navy's Atlantic Fleet. The issue has unified Puerto Rico's disparate political, religious and community factions toward the goal of expelling the Navy.
As the court fight took place, several prominent figures sneaked onto the 12,000 acres of restricted Navy land in Vieques and vowed to remain until arrested.
"I am offering my sacrifice as a gesture of solidarity with my Vieques brothers," said Sen. Norma Burgos. She was accompanied by Mirta Sanes, the sister of David Sanes Rodriguez, the civilian security guard whose April 1999 death in a botched Navy bombing run prompted the drive to force the Navy to quit its training ground.
Vieques Mayor Damaso Serrano also entered the range yesterday after sending a letter to Navy officials saying they "lack all moral authority to stop our struggle."
Demonstrations sponsored by religious and community organizations took place yesterday in San Juan, and more protests were planned for today. Hundreds of people planned to join a caravan from San Juan to the east coast city of Fajardo and then take a ferry to Vieques.
Four or five days of military exercises are planned, Navy sources said. Ships, stationed at least three miles from shore, will fire up to 300 rounds daily at targets on the range, and roughly 600 nonexplosive bombs will be dropped on the target area during the training.
Some ships and aircraft in the area are to begin practice today, but the bulk of the action will get underway Saturday, when the USS Enterprise battle group begins training with its 12 ships and about 15,000 sailors and Marines, Navy sources said.
The Puerto Rican legislature tried to block the Navy by passing an anti-noise law Monday that became the catalyst for a lawsuit filed here Tuesday against Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Navy officials.
Angeline Purdy, a Justice Department lawyer, contended that the United States is not legally bound to follow the Puerto Rico law because it has sovereign immunity. Kessler did not address the merit of that argument in her ruling.
After hearing arguments yesterday, Kessler said she saw no overriding reason to take emergency action. However, she said she would more fully explore legal issues later and could ultimately bar future training.
"I cannot find that this particular, discrete four-to-five-day period of shelling . . . will cause irreparable harm to the people of Vieques," she declared.
The Navy conducted exercises in June, August, October and December last year. More than 500 people were detained on charges stemming from protests of those maneuvers, and sources said the military has arranged for a "robust security presence" today.
Although the suit didn't achieve its immediate objective, Calderon predicted that Puerto Rico eventually would win. "There's no doubt we will prevail," she said.
The activities on the Caribbean bombing range have taken place for nearly 60 years, with the Navy and Marines practicing invasions and other maneuvers. In court papers, the Justice Department said the exercises "have been, and continue to be, critical to the United States' military readiness." The Navy and Marine personnel who will train on the island are scheduled to be deployed to the Persian Gulf soon to relieve forces there.
After the death of Sanes Rodriguez, protesters occupied the Navy's bombing range for a year. But the exercises eventually resumed -- using dummy ordnance for the first time -- under terms of an agreement reached in January 2000 between the Puerto Rican government and the Clinton administration that guaranteed $40 million in federal aid to the island territory. Under the pact, Puerto Rican voters will decide the future of the Navy's presence on Vieques in a November referendum.
Calderon, sworn in as governor in January, has pressured the Bush administration ever since, and won a temporary reprieve when Rumsfeld agreed to cancel exercises planned for March. But when the Navy announced plans April 11 for the new round of exercises, Calderon and legislators moved to pass the anti-noise measure.
Special correspondent John Marino in San Juan contributed to this report.

c 2001 The Washington Post Company
The following Members of Congress participated in today's Press Conference in front of the U.S. Capitol Building, calling for an immediate and permanent end to U.S. military exercises in Vieques:

* Senator Charles Schumer of NY
* Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of NY
* Senator John Corzine of NJ
* Resident Commissioner Anibal Acevedo Vila of Puerto Rico
* Congressman Luis Gutierrez of Illinois
* Congressman Jose Serrano of NY
* Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez of NY
* Congressman Robert Menendez of NJ
* Congressman Charles Rangel of NY
* Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi of California
* Congressman Eliot Engle of NY
* Congressman Edolphus Townes of NY
* Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer also participated in the Press Conference, and Damaso Serrano, Mayor of Vieques, issued a written statement (see below) from San Juan were he was released from jail after being arrested for entering the bombing range in Vieques, where he spent a week acting as a human shield.

STATEMENT BY DAMASO SERRANO LOPEZ

MAYOR OF VIEQUES, PUERTO RICO

May 2, 2001

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who has been, who is, and who will keep on giving us support on this cause to stop the bombing in Vieques. My thanks to the Members of Congress who are gathered in front of the Capitol building to call, once again, for the immediate and permanent end to U.S. military exercises in Vieques.
I am the Mayor of that beautiful Island. Today I represent the people that struggle day to day to have a good life, with dignity, not only for themselves but for their children. I represent those men, women and even children that are continuously dying, not only physically but also emotionally, because of the unfair and senseless bombing of the U.S. Navy in our lands.
Today, I am writing from San Juan, Puerto Rico. I have spent the past seven days -from Wednesday April 25 to Tuesday May 1st- in the bombing range in Vieques, as have many others who have acted as human shields against the bombings. Prior to that, I was convinced that the Navy must leave Vieques. But after I saw how those ships were destroying my land with their incendiary weapons and were leaving it in a catastrophic state, aiming at us with the weapons that produce orphans in my island, I AM ABSOLUTELY SURE THAT I WILL NOT STOP, THAT I WILL NOT TAKE ONE STEP BACK UNTIL THE NAVY LEAVES MY VIEQUES, MY ISLA NENA.
President Bush, perhaps you think that it was irresponsible of me to be at the bombing range. Well, I am the Mayor of the people of Vieques. I was following the mandate that my people gave me last November 7, and I acted for their safety, health and well-being. I acted and will continue to act , to protect their dignity and their peace, as well.
We are citizens of the nation you lead, Mr. President. We are U.S. citizens. I assumed the responsibility that I have as Mayor, to protect my people against anything that could harm them. It is time that you assume yours. If you let the Navy stay another minute in Vieques, you will be as responsible as the Navy’s Kevin Green for the killing and the suffering that is taking place there. Every other person who dies in Vieques or who gets ill by the toxics, the pollution and other harmful effects from the Navy, will be on your conscience if you do not stop a genocide that should have been stopped long ago.
President Bush, you are the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces and I urge you once more to act now for the safety of my people, who are also your people, Mr. President. Until the Navy stops bombing and leaves Vieques, our struggle for peace will continue. Thank you.

Congressman Jose E. Serrano
NEWS RELEASE
May 2, 2001

SERRANO ASKS U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL TO EXAMINE ALLEGATIONS ABOUT NAVY'S IMPROPER TREATMENT OF PROTESTERS

Washington, D.C., May 2 - - Congressman Jose E. Serrano (D-NY) today asked U.S. Attorney General John D. Ashcroft to examine allegations that Navy security officers improperly treated protesters who were arrested on Vieques.
Serrano raised the issue during today's Commerce, Justice, State, Judiciary and Related Agencies Subcommittee budget hearing at Rayburn House Office Building. Ashcroft came before the Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee to present the Justice Department's budget needs.
Today, Serrano also participated in a press conference on Capitol Hill in which members of Congress urged the administration to stop the bombing on Vieques.
Serrano asked Ashcroft to address allegations that protesters who were arrested were mistreated and that, for example, Congressman Luis Gutierrez, who was arrested, was not allowed to post bail in a timely fashion.

The following are excerpts from today's hearing:
"As you know there have been large demonstrations in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and close to 200 people have been arrested," Serrano said.
"One of those individuals was Congressman Luis Gutierrez. He says that most of the mistreatment was by the Navy, that the federal marshals treated the demonstrators with respect and dignity. What information do you have about how people were treated out there?"
Serrano also raised concerns that Gutierrez and other demonstrators arrested by the Navy were placed in an unsanitary holding pen that was used for guard dogs and had no roof.
"What role can the Justice Department play if Navy personnel mistreat demonstrators?," Serrano said. "I would appreciate if you could look further into this and get back to us."
Serrano, who made references to news reports about the protests as he described the allegations, also said that President George W. Bush should be speaking up about the Vieques issue and he has not done so.
Ashcroft responded by saying that he made an inquiry and was told that the cases were processed by the U.S. Attorney in the order in which the arrests were made and that if that information was incorrect he would be happy to correct it. He also was told that separate facilities were used to house the protesters who were arrested because there was concern about housing them with the general prison population and there was concern about the risk of introducing these individuals to the criminal population.
Ashcroft went on to say that there may be constitutional questions that arise out of this issue.

4 May, 2001
PRESS RELEASE

NAVY HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR SECURITY OF VIEQUES PRISONERS

Several civil disobedients still in jail for their participation in pro Vieques protests are in danger in federal prison, according to spokespersons for the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques (CRDV). "The federal court and federal prison are appendages of the US Navy in Puerto Rico. We hold the Navy responsible for any harm done while jailed to Vieques leader, Ismael Guadalupe," expressed Robert Rabin, spokesman for the CRDV.
The Viequenses also expressed concern for university professor, Carlos AlESantiago, who maintains a hunger strike in jail, Rubén BerrúŒs -president of the PR Independence Party - and four others who accompanied him to the bombing zone, and North American resident in Vieques, Pablo O'Leary.
The PIP members, O'Leary and AlEhave refused to pay bail and do not recognize the jurisdiction of the Navy or the Federal Courts in the Vieques case. Guadalupe was sent to the federal prison in Guaynabo without right to bail because he is a long time leader of the disobedience campaign in Vieques.
Norma Torres, wife of Guadalupe, remembered that in 1979, Ismael was sent to the State Prison in Puerto Rico and several days later "kidnapped in the early morning hours", transported to Atlanta and later to the federal jail in Tallahassee, Florida, without informing family members.
Torres also mentions that recent tests showed high levels of mercury in Guadalupe's blood. The Vieques leader is currently under treatment by a neuphrologist for a renal condition that could be related to the high levels of this metal, product of military activity in Vieques.
Twenty two years ago, Angel Rodrú„uez Cristóbal was assasinated in the Tallahassee federal prision where he was jailed for participating in a civil disobedience action in Vieques. Ismael Guadalupe participated in the same action here at Caracas Beach, inside military controlled lands and was sentenced to six months imprisonment that he did in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
"These men are guilty only of loving their homeland and eager to defend the health and well being of their community," said Nilda Medina, leader of the Peace and Justice Camp and of the CRDV. "As Ismael himself said in his defense in 1979, he has been accused of the crime of stepping on the land where he was born," stated the Vieques leader.

CHRISTIAN PEACEMAKER TEAMS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 2, 2001

FOUR CPT DELEGATES ARRESTED IN VIEQUES, PUERTO RICO

VIEQUES, Puerto Rico --- Pushing through brushy woods, four members of this week's Christian Peacemaker Teams delegation to Vieques stooped to climb through a hole in the fence surrounding the naval base here. They joined hundreds of Puerto Ricans and U.S. residents who have entered the base in the last year to raise awareness of the issues surrounding the naval occupation of Vieques. Outside the fence they were joined in song and prayer by members of the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques, other Viequenses, news media, and the four remaining members of the CPT delegation.
This act of civil disobedience highlights the decades-long presence of the U.S. Navy on Vieques and the violence that the Navy has done to the people and environment of Vieques during sixty years of weapons testing. It is also an expression of the solidarity of CPT with the struggle of the people of Vieques to have the Navy and its weapons testing leave their island.
"This is the price of freedom. This is what it takes to get recognition for the people of Vieques," said Mark Byler (Goshen, IN), lying facedown in the grass, as he was being handcuffed.
The delegation invites North Americans, and especially U.S. church communities, to take responsibility for the situation here in Vieques, Puerto Rico -- a part of the United States.
At the time of writing, the four delegation members remain in custody.
CPT delegation members who entered the base were Brian Ladd (Boulder, CO), ch Williams (West New York, NJ), H. A. Penner (Akron, PA), and Mark Byler (Goshen, IN). Other delegation members include Matt Guynn (Richmond, IN), Audrey Miller (Willington, CT), Eric Meyer (Goshen, IN), and John Buschert (Goshen, IN). The delegation will be in Puerto Rico until May 7.
Christian Peacemaker Teams is a program of Mennonite, Brethren, and Quaker churches and meetings in North America, which places ecumenical peace teams in zones of conflict to directly address violence through creative, Spirit-led nonviolent action.

Honolulu Star Bulletin
May 1, 2001

Navy should cease shelling of Vieques

The issue: The Navy has resumed bombing exercises on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques without waiting for a review of a health study.
PROTESTS over the Navy's training activities on the tiny Puerto Rican island of Vieques may ring familiar to Hawaii residents. Similar protests led to a halt of bombing on Kahoolawe and currently seek to stop Army training with live ammunition in the Makua Valley on Leeward Oahu. However, the Navy's handling of the controversy in Puerto Rico has been much worse, and its decision to resume bombing is deplorable. Shelling should stop until a completion of the review of a health study and of a referendum that the Navy is committed to honor.
The Navy stopped shelling the unoccupied island of Kahoolawe more than a decade ago and Congress made a commitment to clear unexploded ordnance from the island. In Makua Valley, the Army suspended training in 1998 after several wildfires were started by munitions, then met with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in an effort to protect endangered plants and wildlife. A lawsuit filed by Malama Makua, a Leeward activist group, has resulted in an indefinite halt to live ammunition in the valley. The disagreement, although intense, appears headed to a respectful resolution.
The Navy's handling of the controversy on Vieques, barely larger than Kahoolawe but with 9,400 residents, has been anything but respectful. Training with live ammunition on Vieques was stopped in April 1999 after a bomb dropped by a Marine Corps fighter plane accidentally killed a civilian guard. The Navy pledged to abandon Vieques by May 2003 if residents expressed that wish in a referendum, scheduled for November of this year.
The Navy in January 2000 made an agreement with Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Rossello to resume firing drills, using dummy ammunition, in exchange for $40 million in aid to the island and an additional $50 million should residents vote in the referendum to allow the Navy to remain. The deal triggered protests by thousands of Puerto Ricans. Since then, a study found that Vieques has a large number of people with symptoms of an unusual heart disorder associated with exposure to loud noises.
Richard Danzig, former secretary of the Navy, called in January for continued suspension of the shelling until the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services could review the health study. In defiance of Danzig's assurance, Navy bombing resumed on Saturday.
Access to areas for training with live ammunition is a legitimate need of the American military, sometimes despite local sentiment. Military leaders in Hawaii should look to the Navy in Puerto Rico as an example of how not to handle this delicate issue.

COMMITTEE FOR THE RESCUE AND DEVELOPMENT OF VIEQUES
P.O. Box 1424 Vieques, Puerto Rico 00765 (787) 741-0716 E mail: bieke@coqui.net
1 May, 2001

URGENT PETITION FOR FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR VIEQUES

The intense campaign against the recent military exercises in Vieques has had a very positive impact on the struggle of our people. Thousands have become more conscious of the abuses and violations committed by the US Navy here. The use of tear gas, rubber and metal bullets against our people in peaceful struggle, created even more indignation within the Puerto Rican community here, on the main island and in the US.
More than 150 people were arrested during this week of intense activity of peaceful civil disobedience in the Navy´s restricted zone, acting as human shields to block the bombing. The Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques (CRDV) and the Peace and Justice Camp (PJC) played crucial roles in the coordination, organization and participation in the civil disobedience and protest actions.
Apart from the enormous monthly expense of our struggle, during these past days the Committee has spent $25,000 on bail for those arrested. Bail must still be paid for Greogorio Feliciano and Ismael Guadalupe, jailed without bail for being repeat-offenders. This will probably be about $20,000 more.
We ask for the financial support from people and organizations to recoup monies spent in these moments of intense action for peace on Vieques. This struggle will be a long one and we need to keep the Peace and Justice Camp and the Committee for the Rescue and Development operating in defense of Vieques dignity and for the demilitarization of the "Baby Island".
We trust you will be generous in your support of the struggle of Vieques that is the struggle of all Puerto Ricans and all those who love peace.
Checks should be written to: CPRDV PO Box 1424 Vieques, PR 00765 or deposited in the Committee´s account in the Banco Popular de Puerto Rico # 112 868231.

In struggle, in solidarity
Robert Rabin, CRDV