Postings Archive Folder 2
22 May to 25 June, 2000
- Subject: Declaración_de_R.Rabin_20-5-00
Date: Mon, 22 May 2000 17:41:19 -0100
Declaration by Robert L. Rabin Siegal during Vigil for Peace Camp Justice
and Peace, Vieques In front of the gate to Camp García,
May 20, 2000
For more than half a century the US Navy has violated the rights of the
people of Vieques daily with its presence and military activities. The US
Navy is the fundamental problem of our community. The Navy brings cancer
and other sicknesses; the Navy controls ¾ of our lands, our natural and
cultural resources; the Navy blocks our fishernmen and our economic
development; the Navy controls the natural and shortest route that
connects us to the main island of Puerto Rico. The Navy practices genocide
against the Puerto Rican people on Vieques.
Our people struggle to end the terrible military presence, to take back
our lands occupied by the Navy for 60 years and begin a new era of Pax
Viequense. For over a year our people, together with thousands of Puerto
Ricans from the main island and other places, in peaceful struggle, have
been victorious over the most powerful navy in the history of humanity.
Without firing a shot, without the least agression against those who
besiege us, we have paralized more than 30 thousand soldiers and 30
warships, including aircraft carriers and submarines.
I have had the honor of participating, during these past 20 years, in this
struggle of the heroic people of Vieques. As a foreigner, I recognize the
enormous privilege I have been awarded - the honor to live, work, learn
and struggle together with this humble community of people in struggle,
example of valor and sacrifice that characterize noble peoples.
Regarding the Puerto Rico police we have in front of us, stationed here at
the gate to Camp García, it is necesarry to make the following statement
in the wake of the recent incident in which I was brutally attacked by
several members of the Police Riot Squad.
FIRST - I DO NOT HOLD ILL FEELINGS TOWARD THEM. I FORGIVE THEM FOR WHAT
THEY DID TO ME, AND I WILL FORGIVE THEM IF THEY ATTACK ME AGAIN.
A year ago I would have taken a different position toward those who
attacked me: hate and the desire for vengeance would have motivated me to
answer back by lowering myself to their level of violence. However,
during this long process of non violent civil disobedience, often times
physically and emotionally difficult, I have enjoyed the example of our
parish priest, Father Nelson; Pastor Lucy Rosario of our Methodist Church;
bishops and lay people and so many humble men and women of diverse
religious groups - Puerto Ricans and others dedicated to peace and to
life. I have witnessed the sacrifice of many men and women risking their
lives in the bombing zone in favor of Peace for Vieques. I have learned
more about the meaning of peace as a way of life, a way of seeing and
approaching others. I am eternally greatful to the people of Vieques for
this opportunity at spiritual growth and for allowing me to participate in
this vital struggle.
I ask everybody to help us spread this message of peace. I implore all to
direct toward the US Navy any indignation that results from the violence
we suffer. THE PROBLEM OF VIEQUES IS THE NAVY AND NOT THE PUERTO RICO
POLICE.
I take this opportunity to denounce the deplorable conditions in which
these Puerto Rican policemen and women are forced to work here. They work
outside day and night, on long shifts with inadequate sanitary and eating
facilities. They are away from their families for long periods, causing
emotional pressures for them and family members. They are also victims of
many injustices.
They are here not by choice, but because they have been ordered to
participate in an immoral action, providing security for the US Navy - the
very Navy that is responsible for the death of our people - placing the
police in contravention to the feelings of the great majority of our
people, placing them in a very uncomfortable position among the Viequense
community.
This does not justify the acts of brutality and aggression that we have
experienced recently. But it is necesarry to reflect on their presence
here and about our reaction to their presence. We must remain on the moral
high ground of peace and not lower ourselves toward agression.
The Puerto Rican police are here because the Navy ordered Police
Superintendent Toledo to send them as an instrument of repression and
intimidation, to create more tension and provoke violence. We must not
give them that satisfaction. We must answer the Navy´s violence with our
strength based on hope for peace. In the face of police brutality we must
dedicate ourselves more firmly to peaceful civil disobedience, focusing
our energies on the struggle for peace on Vieques - which means getting
the US Navy out of Vieques!
WE CANNOT EVEN THINK ABOUT TURNING AWAY FROM PEACEFUL ACTIONS. NOT EVEN
FOR A MINUTE SHOULD WE THINK OF CHANGING OUR USE OF PEACEFUL CIVIL
DISOBEDIENCE AS THE PRINCIPAL INSTRUMENT IN THE STRUGGLE FOR PEACE ON
VIEQUES.
Violence against us will not change our course on the road to peace for
Vieques.
Robert L. Rabin Siegal
Comité Pro Rescate y Desarrollo de Vieques
Apartado 1424 Vieques, PR 00765
(787) 741-0716 cel. 375-0525
¡FUERA LA MARINA DE VIEQUES!
- Subject: Informe de Vieques – Vieques Report
Date: Sun, 28 May 2000 23:05:35 -0100
Report from Vieques 28 May, 2000
Friends in Solidarity with the People of Vieques.
Warm greetings of solidarity from Vieques. Our community continues its actions to denounce the military
presence. Besides the incursions into military lands on 13 May, in which 54 people were arrested, every day there
are incidents on the civilian roads here involving military vehicles. Our people yell at them, honk their horns, and
in some cases temporarily stop convoys. Here, in front of the Navy base, Camp García we maintain a 24-hour
presence keeping track of Navy vehicles, personnel and equipment and carrying out constant protest activity.
On Saturday, 27 May, over 250 Viequenses and a couple dozen friends from the main island particpated in the
Saturday Night Vigil we have held in front of the gate to Camp García. This particular vigil was dedicated to the 58
people recently arrested, the 54 on 13 May; Rubén Berríos and Jorge Fernández of the Puerto Rico
Independence Party, and the Zenón brothers, Cacimar and Pedro. Several of those arrested participated spoke at
last night's vigil of their commitment to be arrested again if necesary. Several mentioned they were in Vieques in
open violation of the court-imposed restriction on their returning to Vieques.
Radamés Tirado, past mayor of Vieques (1976-80), offered a strong criticismo of the Government of Puerto Rico´s
decision to assign Puerto Rico police to help the Navy repress our struggle the same Navy, Tirado said, that is
the real criminal who violates the rights of the people of Vieques.
Vieques art teacher, Glorimar Ojeda together with a group of Vieques children, handed to the approximately 30
Riot Police stationed in front of the gates to Camp García copies of her students' drawings from an exhibit titled,
"THE CHILDREN WANT PEACE", with the expressed hope the policemen and women would give the drawings to
their children so they might know why we are protesting. The police agents also received flowers as a symbol of
our position that the struggle of Vieques is directed at the US Navy, and not these Puerto Ricans who have been
ordered to fulfill an inmoral mission by their superiors.
During the vigil it was mentioned that the Navy had announced a few days earlier they would soon be carrying
out dangerous activity in Vieques waters. In a warning to fishermen, dated 24 May, the Navy informed that from
29 May until 2 June and from 2 to 4 in the afternoon, their activities would be dangerous for fishermen, their boats
and equipment.
In a separate document from the Planning Board dated 9 May and received by the Committee for the Rescue and
Development of Vieques (CRDV) this past Thursday, we learned the Navy is requesting Certification of Federal
Compatibility with the Coastal Zone Management Program of Puerto Rico. The Navy´s project, for which it asks
certification, is described as follows: recertification of a ship and a few Navy aircraft. Navy action will include the
shooting of less than 50 rounds of 5 inch shells from a ship and the firing of 50 inert bombs from jets.
On Sunday, 28 May we held a Caravan for Peace and Health to denounce the Navy´s intention to carry out these
exercises. More than 200 cars passed through all the barrios of Vieques, ending in a concentration at Peace and
Justice Camp in front of the entrance to Camp García. Ismael Guadalupe, principle spokesman for the CRDV,
explained the need to increase pressure through continued civil disobedience actions, entering into Navy lands
in larger and larger groups.
The struggle continues. We urge all those individuals and organiztions in solidarity with the people of Vieques to
continue your protest actions in your communities. It´s important to continue to flood the telephone lines at the
White House and in Congress with calls, faxes and e-mails in support of Peace in Vieques, which is only attainable
with the immediate and permanent end to all military activity here.
Robert L. Rabin Siegal
Comité Pro Rescate y Desarrollo de Vieques
Apartado 1424 Vieques, PR 00765
(787) 741-0716 cel. 375-0525
- Subject: Vieques Communique
Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 06:48:53 -0100
June 1, 2000
Press Release
Viequense Women enter Navy restricted zone
Serious concerns for the health of their families and the high
incidence of cancer in Vieques motivated a delegation of Viequense women to
enter the U.S. Navy restricted zone just before dawn this morning. The
group entered the bombing zone in order to paralyze the bombing practices
that had been announced by the Navy in recent days. The Viequense women,
accompanied by several women from the main island of Puerto Rico and men
from both Vieques and the main island, denounced the threats to the health
of all Viequenses that result from the detonation of explosives on the
eastern part of the island.
"As Puerto Rican women, and primarily women from Vieques, our consciences
do not allow us to sleep peacefully in our houses while the Isla Nena is
being tortured and bombed. How can we rest when the dust that we gather
today can sicken and kill our children?" stated the group's spokespersons.
"Today we are on land that belongs to the people of Puerto Rico and to our
Viequense families in order to remember our Viequense sisters whose deaths
we directly and indirectly blame on the activities of the U.S. Navy. The
spirit of the struggle, strength and commitment of our sisters, mothers and
grandmothers is within us and we cannot be silenced. We denounce the
unjust, unnecessary suffering to which our people have been submitted to
ever since our beaches and seas were usurped by the Navy of the United
States."
"Vieques is our home and it is being attacked. We stand before the
aggressor and say NO MORE ABUSE! No more violations of our rights! No
more poisoned dust! No bullets -- live or inert! For once and for all -
US NAVY OUT OF VIEQUES!"
"We call to all Puerto Ricans, especially to Puerto Rican women to join us
in prayer, in remembrance and in peaceful protest until we gain the peace
that we cherish for everyone."
Contact: Lula Tirado - Robert Rabin Telephone (787) 741-0716 Cel. 375-0625
¡FUERA LA MARINA DE VIEQUES!
- Subject: Veterans return medals in protest for bombings in
Vieques
Date: Thu, 01 Jun 2000 13:22:54 -0700
From: Claudia K White
PUERTO RICAN VETERANS WILL RETURN THEIR MEDALS TO PRESIDENT CLINTON IN
PROTEST FOR BOMBINGS IN VIEQUES
May 24, 2000-Puerto Rican war veterans have decided to return to President Clinton the
medals and decorations they once received for defending the United
States, in protest for Clinton's decision to authorize bombing to resume
in Vieques and in support of the demands that the U.S. Navy permanently
stop bombing Vieques.
Among the condecorations that will be returned are several Purple Heart
medals bestowed upon soldiers who were wounded in battle. The veterans
who will send their medals back to the President fought in World Wars I
and II, Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, the Persian Gulf, Somalia and Kosovo.
Luis Mindez, spokesperson of the Puerto Rico Chapter of the organization
Veterans for Peace, announced today during a press conference in San Juan,
that a ceremony will be held on Memorial Day where Puerto Rican veterans
will have the opportunity to voluntarily turn in their National Defense
Service medals in support of the struggle of the people of Vieques and in
response to the federal government assault on the civil disobedience camps
at the Navy bombing range in Vieques. The ceremony will be held on
Monday, May 29, 2000 (Memorial Day) at 10:00AM at the Veteran's Monument
in front of the Capitol Building in San Juan.
Veterans for Peace is a national organization structured around a national
office in Washington, DC and comprised of members across the U.S. and
Puerto Rico organized in chapters or as at-large members. Veterans for
Peace is an official Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) represented at
the United Nations.
Mindez urged all Puerto Rican veterans to join in this ceremony which
"symbolizes our position that the safety and health of the people of
Vieques are not negotiable, and that the concept of national security is
now being used to mean the defense of the economic interests of the
military and industrial complex of the U.S."
Veteran Rubin Lind added that "at this time there is no enemy that's
threatening the security of the United States. As veterans, we know
first-hand the pain and destruction of war. We don't want any more war
games in Vieques. Viequenses have a right to life and to health."
For more information on the ceremony on Monday May 29, and on future
events of Veterans for Peace with regard to Vieques, please contact Luis
R. Mindez, Veterans for Peace, Puerto Rico Chapter,
at 787-767-2936 (office) or at 787-798-8086 (home).
For the text of the statement of Veterans for Peace's Vieques Libre
Campaign, please access:
www.veteransforpeace.org/vieques.htm
Vieques Report
Tuesday, 6 June, 2000
Last week was one of constant action against the Navy presence in Vieques. Last Monday,
Memorial Day, 30 Viequense Veterans United for Peace, turned in their war medals before the
Veterans Monumento at the Capitol building in San Juan, as part of a protest ceremony organized
by the Puerto Rico chapter of Veterans for Peace.
In the early morning hours of Thursday, 1 June, 26 people - mostly women from Vieques - headed
toward the Navy´s bombing range. They arrived in fishing boats at a beach on the North coast and
walked for two until reaching the Yayi beach area, where the ecumenical chapel - part of the civil
disobedience camps - was located. There the women placed 13 black crosses in memory of
Vieques women who died of cancer or other sicknesses related to the environmental contamination
produced by US Navy activities. Directed by Nilda Medina, founding member of the Committee
for the Rescue and Development of Vieques and leader of the Justice and Peace Camp, the group,
together with 6 members of the Puerto Rican press, fulfilled their mission, passing undetected into the
Navy restricted zone, penetrating the bombing range, carrying out a protest ceremony before finally
being arrested.
The action was carryed out to denounce Navy plans (announced in the press) to detonate, that very
day, an undetermined quantity of burried and dispersed unexploted ordnance.
That day the Navy did not even detonate a firecracker!
Over half of the group was comprised of Viequense women. The expedition also inclueded Lolita
Lebron and Rosa Meneses Albizu Campos. During a celebration at Justice and Peace Camp that
night, after the protester were liberated at Navy Station Roosevelt Roads in the town of Ceiba (the
group had been transferred to NSRR early in the morning following their arrest on Vieques) -
several Vieques women expressed their desire to return soon to the restricted zone to continue the
process of relcaiming what belongs to the people of Vieques by natural right.
Tito de Jesús (known as Tito Kayay) was the only member of the group not liberated from detention
because he refused to offer any information during the legal process. Yesterday, 5 June, Tito was
released.
On Saturday, 3 June, we received a delegation of the 54 arrested on 13 May. We marched
together from the dock to the Public Square to hold a press conference. Graciany Miranda
Marchan (ex President of the PR Bar Association), one of the 54, said the group had travelled to
Vieques to openly challenge the court order prohibiting them from returning to Vieques.
That Saturday night, during the vigil that´s held every Saturday, the activity was dedicated to all
those arrested - the 21 in 1979, the more than 200 this past 4 May, the 54 on the 13th of May and
the 26 arrested on 1 June - as well as the many who will be arrested in the following days, weeks
and months. Over 250 people participated in the vigil that inclued a series of militant piquets in front
of the gates to Camp García.
Sunday, June 4th, on the morning ferry we recieved Ramón Figueroa who brought a gigantic
Vieques flag that will travel to NY to participate in the 11 June parade in the Big Apple. About 50
people from Vieques and the main island marched with the flag to the town square to hold a
ceremony and the blessing of the flag by the Parrish Priest and the Pastor of the Methodist Church.
A 4 foot tall Virigen of Peace for Vieques, sculpted in wood (cedro) by Puerto Rican artesan,
Celestino Avilés, also received the blessing of the church officials and was warmly received by the
people of Vieques during the ceremony.
The people of Vieques are on constant alert and in constant protest. Our actions inside the Navy´s
restricted zone are the topic of a constant process of conspiration and dialogue amongst the grass
roots organizations here.
We are all clear in our belief that
GOD DID NOT BRING US HERE TO TURN BACK,
S-HE BROUGHT US HERE
TO TAKE POSSESSION OF THE LAND S-HE GAVE US
Robert L. Rabin Siegal
¡US NAVY OUT OF VIEQUES!
6 June, 2000
Press Release
The struggle of the people of Vieques received an important message of support
from the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Buddhism. The message came in response
to a petition for support from Hector Rosario, a Puerto Rican graduate student at
Dartmouth in New Hampshire in coordination with the Committee for the Rescue
and Development of Vieques. The text of the short message reads as follows:
"******************
H.H. the Dalai Lama
MESSAGE
I am concerned by the terrible effects on people, animals and plants of Vieques, an
island in the archipelago of Puerto Rico, as a result of the military exercises
conducted on the island. I am told that because of the pollution from these military
exercises the cancer rate in Vieques is much higher than on the main island. I
therefore support the action of the people of Vieques in protesting against such
military exercises.
May 8, 2000
This important message of solidarity from the maximum leader of the Buddhist
world, adds to a long list of religious leaders representing all the spiritual tendencies
that have expressed support for the struggle for peace on Vieques and for the action
of all Puerto Ricans to end the military presence on the Island of Vieques.
This is a late posting, but in records a significant event.
CONVERSATION WITH DR. DOUG ROKKE
MILITARY SCIENTIST, SPECIALIST IN DEPLETED URANIUM
VIEQUES, DEPLETED URANIUM WEAPONS AND MILITARY CONTAMINATION
WEDNESDAY, 7 JUNE, 2000
7:30 PM
FOUNDATION MANRIQUE CABRERA
MUÑOZ RIVERA AVE. # 602
HATO REY
(FRONT OF JUDICIAL CENTER)
FOR MORE INFO CALL CARIBBEAN PROJECT FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE 722-1640
¡FUERA LA MARINA DE VIEQUES!
- Subject: Nuclear officials, activists clash over depleted uranium in Vieques
Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2000 00:33:04 EDT
6.11 p.m. ET (2222 GMT) June 6, 2000
By Chris Hawley, Associated Press
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - Environmental activists clashed with a U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission official Tuesday over cleanup plans that could
leave buried some of the radioactive depleted uranium rounds mistakenly fired
on the Navy's Vieques bombing range.
For the rest of the article, click on: Uranium.
Nueva acción de desobediencia civil \\ New Civil Disobedience Action
10 June, 2000
More protesters enter Navy´s restricted zone in Vieques
At 9:45 PM on Friday, 9 June, 14 protesters against the military presence on Vieques, entered the
restricted zone of Camp García. The group, composed of Puerto Rican professionals, arrived at
one of the target areas use for light artillery practice where they wrote messages on the structures
and placed several Puerto Rican flags. At 6:00 AM on Saturday, the group commuicated with the
Peace and Justice Camp in Vieques to inform they had completed that part of the mission and had
begun to walk toward the gate to Camp García, using one of the Navys security patrol roads. At
6:45 AM the group called again to inform that arrests had begun.
This civil disobedience group includes an environmental engineers, a Viequense civil engineer, an ex
Dean of the Unniversity of Puerto Rico, an ex Director of the Adminstration of the Courts of Puerto
Rico, planners, members of the Hostosiano National Congress and university student leaders.
The Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques applauds this group of Puerto Rican
brothers and sisters for this action in which they risk their liberty in favor of Peace for Vieques. This
entrance into the restricted zone represents the continuation of a strategy designed to cause a
continuos problem for the Navy, making it impossible to carry out normal activity in the bombing
area.
For more information please contact:
Héctor Pesquera (NY) 1-212-318-5905
Charlo Meléndez 462-6573 or 755-6573
Robert Rabin 741-0716
Arresto en Vieques \\ Vieques Arrest
11 June, 2000
PRESS RELEASE
University Professor victim of stroke enters Navy restricted zone in Vieques.
University professor and lawyer, Dr. Arsenio Suárez Franceshci was arrested Sunday, 11 June at 4:00 PM when
he entered the US Navy´s restricted zone in Vieques. Suárez Franceshci said shortly before entering Navy land
that his civil disobedience action was in solidarity with Rubén Berriós (PIP), who will be processed for a similar
action in the Federal Court in San Juan tomorrow, 12 June.
Dr. Suárez, Professor of Humanities at the University of Puerto Rico´s Río Piedras Campus, is recovering from a
recent cerebral stroke, which left him partially incapable of arm and leg movement as well as affecting his speech.
This new entrance into the military zone in Vieques is the continuation of civil disobedience actions to protest
the horrible effects of the US Navy´s presence and activities on the civilian population of the island municipality.
Contactos: Abderramán Brenes La Roche Bpr. 759 -1255 un. 514-4646
Robert Rabin 741-0716 o 375-0525
Vieques Update
19 June, 2000
Incursions into the military zone and arrests of our people, screaming a military vehicles and
personnel in the streets of our community, parades, internation tribunals are part of the activities
organized by the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques together with
compañer@s from Vieques and the main island over the past two weeks. From 6 to 9 June, Dr.
Doug Rokke, ex Director of the DOD´s Uranium 238 ("depleted uranium") was in Vieques and in
Puerto Rico as part of the international campaign to outlaw these radioactive weapons. Rokke
participated on Channell 28 (Vieques TV) about the horrible health effects of uranium 238 (DU), for
civilians and for soldiers in the area where it is used.
At the Museum Fort Count Mirasol in Vieques, the scientist from the US gave a detailed account
about DU weapons and the long history of Defense Department irresponsability with their own
personnel and civilians in terms of health effects of DU. Rokke emphasized that the dangers of
contamination and the serious health crisis of the Viequenses are not related only to uranium, but to
the multiplicity of dangerous chemical componentes from over half a century of bombing with
conventional and non conventional weapons on the Eastern end of Vieques. Rokke showed visuals
of the air transportation of uranium oxide, clearly demonstrating how the contaminants in the impact
zone easily reach the civilian sector riding on the constant breezes that move precisely from East to
West.
On the main island, the Caribbean Project for Peace and Justice organized several meetings with
Rokke and the scientific and medical community of Puerto Rico and a Press Conference at the PR
Bar Association. After several days in Puerto Rico, Rokke travelled to New York to continue the
information campaign against uranium 238 weapons used on Vieques and to participatein the Puerto
Rican Day Parade, dedicated to the Peace on Vieques.
Aproximately 150 people from Vieques travelled to NY for the Parade on 11 June. The largest
contingent was the 40 or so members of the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques
and the Peace and Justice Camp. Nilda Medina, Norma Morales and María Elena Navarro,
members of the CRDV, worked for several months to coordinate the participation of the group to
assure a strong representation of Viequenses in struggle during the NY parade.
Ismael Guadalupe, representing the CRDV, was the key speaker at a special dinner by the War
Resisters League, US pacifist organization that recognized the work of the CRDV awarding the
Vieques group its annual peace prize. Ismael also formed part of the jury in the International Peoples
Tribunal held on June 10th that considered war crimes committed in the war against Yugoslavia.
During the proceedings, Ismael brought up the issue of Vieques and received a standing ovation
from the 500 participants representing 11 countries.
The following week was equally productive. We received a great number of solidarity messages
from different parts of the world ? the Phillipines, Okinawa, US, Panamá, Hawaii ? and
commitments of support and participation in civil disobedience actions from a large number of
Puerto Ricans.
On Tuesday, those arrested on 1 June met here with lawyers Linda Backiel and Rosa Meneses
Albizu Campos. Lolita Lebron, one of the arrested, also participated in the meeting to discuss future
legal strategy.
On Thursday, 15 June, the technical-legal team of Robert Kennedy, Jr., arrived on Vieques.
Kennedy directs a team of envronmental and legal organizations ? the Natural Resources Defense
Council, the Puerto Rico Legal Defense Fund and the Environmental Litigation Clinic of Pace
University ? that prepares a case to end Navy bombing and force the Navy to decontaminate
Vieques. Kennedy arrived Saturday to meet with community organizations related to the legal case.
Friday night, 37 Puerto Rican professionals, including university professors, publiscists, sports
writers and union leaders, entered into the Navy´s restricted area to denounce the Navy´s presence
and intention to continue bombing. The group participated earlier in a special vigil at Peace and
Justice Camp, before entering into military zone and were arrested around 3:00 in the morning. After
being transferred to Roosevelt Roads, the group was released later in the afternoon.
Saturday evening, Kennedy and his team participated in the vigil at Peace and Justice Camp, in front
of the Navy´s installation here ? Camp García. More than 400 Viequenses assisted the vigil that
included the music of Vieques Libre, a new Vieques band that plays PLENA. Kennedy and his team
left on Sunday after meetings with the plaintiffs in the case being developed.
Robert L. Rabin Siegal
US NAVY, OUT OF VIEQUES!
¡FUERA LA MARINA DE VIEQUES!
Vieques bombardeo-bombing
Mon, 19 Jun 2000 13:11:45 -0100
PRESS RELEASE
The Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques (CRDV) energetically denounced the
intention of the Navy to continue bombing the island municipality. Nilda Medina, spokeswoman for
the Committee, said there is ample scientific evidence about the terrible effects from bombing / with
whatever type of bombs / because of the dispersion into the air of contaminants that move directly
to the civilian sector from the bombing area. All the scientific information indicates that the
resumption of bombing will increase the cancer and death of our people.
According to communication received from the Planning Board of PR, dated 14 June and sent to
Nilda Medina, of the CRDV, the Navy plans to carry out exercises from 2 to 6 June that will
include firing 600 projectiles from ships and 830 bombs from jets into the bombing area at the East
end of Vieques. The document, signed buy the Secretario of the Planning Board, Max Vidal,
indicates that the Navy plans to begin bombing approximately the 21st June, 2000.
The announcement by the Navy about bombing practices coincided with several actions of civil
disobedience by dozens of Puerto Ricans, including professionals, sports writers and doctors who
entered into the military restricted area. The Navy notification came at the same time Robert
Kennedy, Jr. arrived in Vieques with his legal team from the Natural Resources Defense Council, to
meet with community leaders about the court case Kennedy directs aimed at stopping the bombing
and forcing the Navy to do a thorough clean up.
Subject: Vieques bombardeo / Vieques bombing
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 09:35:04 -0100
From: Robert Rabin - Nilda Medina
Viequenses acuse officials of agencies responsable for environmental and health protection in Puerto
Rico of aiding the Navy in the destruction of natrual resources and the attack against life that will
result from the US Navy´s practices announced for the following several days.
In documents from the Puerto Rico Planning Board, obtained by the Committee for the Rescue and
Development of Vieques (CRDV) through environmental advisor Sara Peisch (Environmental
Action Center of PR), military officiales admit that the bombing they hope to do this week will have
a negative impact on beaches, dunes, coral reefs and adjacent waters. The document also
describes the problems with the inert bombs that skip on land and end up in the water.
According to the official documents, the Navy plans to drop 130,000 pounds of bombs on Vieques
during maneuvers that should begin this week. Rear Admiral J.K. Moran offered the following
description of the projectiles to be fired at Vieques:
600 rounds from ships; 400 bombs of 25 pounds; 30 laser guided 50 lb. projectiles; 120 bombs of
up to 1000 pounds.
Nilda Medina, spokesperson for the CPRDV, commented that "...all Puerto Ricans should
denounce the intentions of the US Navy to launch more than 125 thousand pounds of bombs during
upcoming practices. Each bomb means more contamination for our people, more cancer, more
death. We don´t understand how the Puerto Rican government can permit this genocide against our
town. The Special Commission on Vieques, created by the Governor, described in detail the
horrible effects on our health from bombing, whether with live or inert bombs."
The people of Vieques demand that the Governmental agencies responsable for environmental and
health protection do not permit the the Navy to continue the destrction of Vieques.
Subject: Comunicado Entrada Zona de Tiro / Protesters enter bombing zone
Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 07:38:12 -0100
From: Robert Rabin - Nilda Medina
21 June, 2000
Press Release
Two groups enter into Navy´s restricted zone
A group of around twenty protestors penetrated early in the morning, the US
Navy´s bombing range on Vieques, where they will serve as human shields to
block the resumption of bombing on the island. The group is guided by a
Viequense with much experience in the resistence against the US Navy
presence and activities on the island municipality.
The group consists of members of the Committee for the Rescue and
Development of Vieques and individuals from the main island of Puerto
Rico, from all sectors of civilian society who have joined the cause of Peace
for Vieques.
The group entered the bombing range through an area of thick and thorny
vegetation to avoid being detected. The are prepared with water and other
supplies to remain in the restricted zone for as long as possible.
The members of the group will disperse throughout the bombing range to
create a more serious obstacle for bombing and to make arrests more
difficult.
Simultaneously, fifty representatives of the Pro Vieques Movement ? labor,
cooperativist and religious leaders ? entered the bombing zone with a group
of Vieques fishermen, under the direction of Carlos Ventura. This group
avoided military security all night and finally walked into the area of targets
where they carried out a series of ecumenical ceremonies dedicated to Peace
for Vieques.
The purpose of this action was to dramatize the serious health concerns for
the people of Vieques in the face of Navy announcements they will fire
thousands of bombs on the East end of the island in the next few days.
Ventura as well as labor leader Wilfredo López, explained by radio from the
bombing area, that the struggle to end the military presence will continue
until there is peace in Vieques.
These two groups bring to around 200 the number of those arrested for
entering into the Navy´s restriced area since the removal and arrest of over
200 people from 15 civil disobedience camps here on the 4th of May.
Subject: Más arrestos en Vieques // More protesters arrested in Vieques
Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2000 05:26:59 -0100
25 de junio de 2000
COMUNICADO DE PRENSA
VIEQUENSES CONTINUE ENTERING INTO NAVY RESTRICTED LANDS
At 3:00 AM on Sunday morning, June 25, a contingent of federal agents and military
police arrested thirty six people - nine women and 27 men - who had penetrated the US
Navy´s restricted area on the Island of Vieques, Puerto Rico. The protesters entered the
prhohibited area Saturday night to denounce the Navy´s plan to carry out a massive
bombing practice with 130,000 pounds of bombs to be dropped on Vieques in the next few
days.
The entrance into the militar zone is part of a coordinated campaign by the Vieques
community with support from solidarity organizations on the main island of Puerto Rico to
block Navy operations on the island municipality.
Hundreds of people from the main island and a larger number of Viequenses participated
in several protest activities Saturday, June 24th. Spokesmen for the National Hostos
Congress (a coalition of PR Independence forces) said they would continue mobilizing
support for local community organizations facing the Navy threat to resume bomging
exercises for the first time here since April, 1999.
The arrests took place hours after a massive protest by more than 500 people from
Vieques at the Peace and Justice Resistence Camp, located in front of the Navy´s Camp
García gate. The Vieques Youth United group, in coordination with the Committee for the
Rescue and Development of Vieques (CRDV) organized the vigil that with the active
participation of hundreds of young people and representatives of all sectors of Vieques´
population.
Nilda Medina, spokeswoman for the CRDV, informed that planned, peaceful civil disobedience
actions will continue in the Navy´s restricted area, to dramatize the horrible impact of Navy bombing
on the environment and the health of our people and to block the resumption of militar maneuvers.
"The cruel attack by the Navy against our island and people obligate us to take ations in our own
defense. It is our duty and right to defend ourselves against the genocidal policy practiced by the
US Navy against the people of Vieques," stated Medina.
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