Postings Archive Folder 4

2 to 23 August, 2000


Subject: Vieques-PR/Kauai-HI
Date:     2 Aug 00 06:13:52 PDT
From:     Paul Hubers
Please find enclosed:

AA) Syllabi on Nonviolent Direct Action and Civil Disobedience

BB) Monograph on Vieques–Roosevelt Roads & Kauai–Hawai’i “Test” Sites

What struck me right off was the Puerto Rico-Hawai'i connection, as there exists a strong solidarity between the independentistas and the sovereignty movement. Heavy reading, but well worth tackling, folks. As I am familiar with a number of individuals, locations and governemntal plans referenced, I suspect he has some valuable information to impart, not to mention Web resources. Click on: Paul Hubers

Subject: Vieques actions vs. military maneuvers
Date:     Thu, 3 Aug 2000 09:50:46 -0100
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 García, 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
Subject: Intense schedule of activity in Vieques
Date:     Thu, 3 Aug 2000 09:51:58 -0100
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 García. 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
Subject: Vieques Women Enter Navy´s Restricted Area
Date:     Mon, 7 Aug 2000 09:58:27 -0100

[Sorry, I only received this one in Spanish. ¡Buena suerte!]

MUJERES EN DESOBEDIENCIA CIVIL POR LA PAZ DE VIEQUES

Once viequenses encabezaron el grupo de treinta y dos mujeresque, en la noche del domingo, penetró la zona restringida de la Marina de Guerra de Estados Unidos, burlando las extremas medidas de seguridad que dicho cuerpo castrense mantiene en territorio de Vieques. Las mujeres reclamaron – a nombre de sus hijos e hijas, nietos y nietas y de todos los niños y niñas – sus derechos fundamentales a la vida, la salud y la paz. El grupo incluyó mujeres de los sectores profesional, religioso y sindical, así como amas de casa, comerciantes, activistas de la comunidad lésbica y otras, representativas de diversos ámbitos en los que se desempeña la mujeres en Vieques y en Puerto Rico.

Una vez en la zona restringida, las mujeres realizaron una ceremonia, mediante la cual representaron la voluntad de paz del pueblo viequense. Se colocó una bandera de Puerto Rico como símbolo de la identidad nacional; la bandera de Vieques, como emblema de la unidad de los viequenses para que salga la Marina; una banderqa blanca de la paz; y otra serie de símbolos alusivos a la contaminzación ambiental, a las enfermedades que sufre la población, en especial sus niños y niñas; a las dificultades de los pescadores para ganarse el sustento y a la sangre derramada por David Sanes y otros viequenses, a lo largo de los sesenta años de presencia militar en Vieques.

Las portavoces del grupo – las viequenses Norma Torres y Carmen Valencia – describieron la acción como una que reafimra la legitimidad y utilidad de la desobediencia civil como método de lucha contra la Marina en Vieques. "Junto a nuestras hermanas de la Isla Grande, hemos desarrollado esta acción de desafío que comprueba que la Marina no es invencible. Lo hemos hecho porque Vieques es nuestra casa y la de nuestros hijos, y así queremos que sea para siempre", señalaron, a la vez que enfatizaron el hecho de que una tercera parte del grupo de mujeres desobedientes civiles estuvo integrado por viequenses. "Esto representa un nuevo nivel de conciencia en nuestras mujeres que nos tiene muy entusiasmadas", concluyeron.

El grupo, que fue organizido por iniciativa de las mujeres de Vieques, contó con un amplio respaldo de otras mujeres, tanto de Vieques como del resto de Puerto Rico, todas muy activas en tareas de solidaridad. También fue muy importante el respaldo de la Alianza de Mujeres Viequenses en la organización de la actividad.

Las activistas exhortaron al resto de las mujeres de Vieques y de todo Puerto Rico a incorporarse a la lucha por la paz de la Isla Nena.

7 de agosto de 2000 CONTACTOS:

Vieques, Puerto Rico       Judith Conde y Felícita Sanes, Tels.: 741-2042741-0716
Lcda. Olga López Báe, Tels: 644-0230 766-2685


DECLARACION MUJERES POR LA PAZ DE VIEQUES

Nosotras, las mujeres de diferentes razas, religiones, ideologías, orientación sexual, ocupaciones; provenientes de diferentes áreas geográficas, defensoras todas de la equidad por género, de la justicia y la paz; propulsoras del respeto a los derehcos humanos, defensoras de la vida, del ambiente, de la madre tierra y de los recursos naturales; opositoras de la militarización, la guerra, amantes de nuestra patria, Puerto Rico, y solidarias por convicción declaramos QUE:

Hacemos un llamado a las mujeres puertorriqueñas para que apoyen la lucha del pueblo viequense, especialmente el reclamo de sus mujeres para que prevalezca la paz y el respeto a los derechos humanos en la Isla Nena.

Suscrita en Vieques, Puerto Rico por el grupo de 32 mujeres desobedientes civiles que en el día de hoy, lunes, 7 de agosto de 2000, incursionaron con éxito en los terrenos restringidos de la Marina de Guerra de Estados Unidos.

COMITE PRO RESCATE Y DESARROLLO DE VIEQUES

El Comité Pro Rescate y Desarrollo de Vieques (CPRDV) felicitó a un grupo de mujeres viequenses que penetraron la zona restringida de la Marina de Guerra de EU en Vieques a las 5:00 de la mañana de hoy. Como parte de una campaña de la comunidad de Vieques diseñada a dramatizar y divulgar información sobre las horribles consecuencias del bombardeo para la salud y el ambiente, treinta Y dos mujeres de Vieques y de la Isla Grande entraron en terrenos de Camp García, en la parte Este de esta Isla Municipio, en medio de las maniobras de la Marina.

Las mujeres burlaron la vigilancia de la Marina y entraron al área restringida a pesar del exagerado fortalecimiento de la verja que separa la zona militar del sector civil. Tres rollos de alambre de púa de serpentina y un grueso cable de acero no fueron suficientes para evitar que las mujeres viequenses-puertorriqueñas entraran en territorio prohibido por la Marina.

"Históricamente, la mujer viequense ha jugado un papel sumamente importante en defensa de su dignidad y del derecho de la familia viequense a vivir en paz. Mujeres indígenas, esclavas y obreras han dado muchos ejemplos de valor y sacrificio en Vieques. La acción de hoy forma parte de un largo proceso de resistencia de la mujer viequense-puertorriqueña por la justicia y la paz. En todas las acciones de desobediencia civil que se han llevado a cabo durante este pasado año y medio ? y en otras épocas de la lucha ? han participado mujeres en posiciones de liderato y en todas las tareas relcionadas con la lucha por la desmilitarización de Vieques," señaló Robert Rabin, portavoz del CPRDV.

Se espera una intensificación de la campaña de desobediencia civil durante las próximas semanas, mientras la Marina continua con sus maniobras anunciadas a extenderse hasta el 24 de este mes.

12 August, 2000
PRESS RELEASE

The Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques (CRDV) demanded that pertinent authorities carry out an immediate and profound investigation about an explosive artifact dropped by the Navy in Vieques waters in 1966. According to information revealed in the news report, "Red Alert" aired in 1995 by the Channel 4 news reporter, Pedro Rosa Nales, and according to new evidence described this week in the report, "Red Alert 2: The Coverup" by the same reporter, the artifact was a nuclear bomb.

The CRDV said that recently declassified documents mention that the bomb was composed of "many classified (secret) components identical to those found in war reserve weapons." The testimony of Dr. Michael Greenwood, marine biologist, about his participation in the recovery of a nuclear bomb off the coast of Vieques in 1966; the reports in the newspaper Newsday about this information; the intense search for two months with a dozen mine sweepers and submarine vehicles; the fact that the bomb, once found, was sent to the Sandia (New Mexico) warehouse for nuclear bombs; the fact that the report on this accident was submitted to the Joint Commission of Congress on Atomic Energy; that the report was filed in the office of the Federal Department of Energy in Nevada and that this office catalogued the report under "Nuclear Weapons"; Navy lies that the incident never occurred when their own documents show the contrary and the fact that 34 years later the most detailed description of the bomb is censored because it is "sensitive information"; all of this constitutes a mountain of evidence that that bomb the Navy dropped in Vieques waters in 1966 was a nuclear bomb.

Robert Rabin, spokesman for the CRDV, said that "The Navy has done the unspeakeable, since it will not admit the accident happened nor will it provide information about the bomb. Whatever specific content the bomb had, the Navy?s own documents insist they must be kept secret. The nuclear bomb was a test bomb with explosive material and probably with a uranium 238 charge." Rabin added that the Navy cannot say the bomb was inert since "the Navy documents state that when the bomb was found it ?had not exploded?"

The report, "Red Alert 2: The Cover up", by Pedro Rosa Nales of Channel 4 News, descibres the process of lies and deceit used by the Navy to deny or minimize the dangers related with their exercises in Vieques. "In the same way they denied the use of Napalm and depleted uranium weapons until the evidence got into the hands of the CRDV," Rabin said. "They deny the relationship between Vieques? severe health crisis and the toxics produced by the bombing, while community and government scientists have compiled an enormous amount of documentation that indicates the military contaminants are carcinogenic and very dangerous for our people," sustained Rabin.

In 1995, the CRDV wrote to President Clinton to ask for an investigation about the 1966 incident as a result of the first Red Alert program by Rosa Nales. The Mayor of Vieques and the Municipal Assembly, the House of Representatives and the Senate of Puerto Rico also demanded in 1995, information about this incident and have never received an answer. The Navy not only denied the incident happened, but also attempted to submit charges against Rosa Nales under the Espionage Law and tried to get the Federal Communications Commission to revoke the license of WAPA-TV for transmitting the program.

The Viequenses applauded Pedro Rosa Nales and WAPA-TV News for the transmission of the special report, despite Navy threats. High officials of the Deparment of the Navy pressured the television station not to show the Rosa Nales report about the lost bomb and the recently obtained information that confirms what was revealed in the 1995 report. The Viequenses also lauded Puerto Rican lawyers Flavio Cumpiano, CRDV representative in Washington, DC, and Iván Ramos Soler of Connecticut, who discovered and obtained the Navy documents with the Navy report about the nuclear bomb incident.

Contacts: Robert Rabin,CRDV Vieques 787 741-0716 Cel. 375-0525
Lcdo. Flavio Cumpiano,CRDV Washington, DC 202 721-4688.

Folks, here's an interesting group. I believe I'll set up a separate page for them and just link new messages. By way of introduction, here's the message I received:

Hello,

I've added you to my viequesfast group at eGroups, a free, easy-to-use email group service. As a member of this group, you may send messages to the entire group using just one email address: viequesfast@egroups.com. eGroups also makes it easy to store photos and files, coordinate events, and more.

Here's a description of the group:

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Welcome to the Fast for Justice and Peace in Vieques, Puerto Rico: An Appeal to the Conscience of President Clinton to Meet with the Religious and Peace Movement Leaders of Vieques.

Para recibir información en español, favor mandar un mensaje a: viequesayuno-subscribe@egroups.com

For a Spanish version send a blank message to: viequesayuno-subscribe@egroups.com

Carmen Carreras, a medical doctor from Puerto Rico, and Andrés Thomas Conteris, Washington, DC member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation Task Force on Latin America and the Caribbean and lay missioner with the United Methodist Church, stand ready to start a water-only, open-ended fast if bombing of Vieques begins again. Their commitment is a plea to President Clinton to meet personally with the leaders of Vieques who seek a permanent cessation to the bombing of the island.

A rotating fast began in Vieques and Washington, DC on July 25 with over 40 participants from the United Methodist Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Alliance of Vieques Women, the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques, and others. This fast continues with a vigil at the entrance to the bombing range at the Peace and Justice Camp outside of Camp Garcia.

Also on July 25, over a dozen people began a rotating fast with the same goal in Washington, DC and around the U.S. Andrés Thomas Conteris began a round-the-clock juice fast at that time and will move to a water-only fast if bombing is renewed.

Clinton has met numerous times with U.S. Navy officials who advocate bombing Vieques. He refuses to meet with activists pleading for an end to the bombing.

This list will update the progress of the fast and provide information about the September 22 nonviolent protest action in front of the White House. We hope to build momentum for a massive turnout of people who support Demilitarization of Vieques, Decontamination of all military toxics, Devolution of land forcibly expropria [further text missing in original posting.]

Regards,

Moderator, viequesfast

Subject: [viequesfast] Stop the Bombing
Date:     Mon, 14 Aug 2000 12:30:44 -0700
From:     oahucalls

To read this posting, please visit ViequsFast.

Report on Activities in Vieques through 23 August

(Hurricane Betty did not pass close enough to Vieques to cause damage. Thanks to all for emails and phone calls concerned about our situation. )

The first of August a team from the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques (CRDV) and the Vieques Youth United (VYU) occupied the office of the Secretary of Health in San Juan, forcing her to meet with the group and discuss the serious situation of military contamination and the urgency to update the investigations about the cancer rate on the island municipality.

During the first week of August the Navy began maneuvers scheduled to last until de 24th of this month. Simultaneously, we began several actions of civil disobedience and protest. On 3 August more than 200 people participated in a People´s Assembly at Peace and Justice Camp, in front of the entrance to the bombing range of Camp García. A resolution was approved by the assembly, reafirming the committement of the community organizations to use peacefull civil disobedience in the struggle for peace on Vieques. After the mesages, around 125 people crossed the street, walked up the the Navy´s fence - heavily fortified with several rolls of razor wire creating a concentration camp atmosphere - to tie ribbons on the fence, sing hymms and chants and reflect while Norma Torres recited her most recent poem, The silent fence.

The following week a group of Viequense Women - accompanied by women in solidarity from the main island - and a group of Vieques youth, were arrested after penetrating the Navy´s restricted zone of Camp García on two consecutive nights. The women were freed after processing in the Federal Court at San Juan. The members of the VYU, however, were sent to the Federal Corrections Facility when they could not post the 10 thousand dollar bail imposed by the judge! They were released the next day. Hundreds participated in car caravans and support protests at Camp Peace and Justice the nights the women and youth returned by plane chartered by the CRDV.

Saturday, August 5th, the Coordinating Committee All Puerto Rico with Vieques met in Vieques with leades community organizations. That night during the vigil that takes place every Saturday night at Peace and Justice Camp, enjoyed the participation of the theatre group, Agua, Sol y Sereno, under the direction of Pedro Adorno. Also contributing to the festive atmosphere of our protests was the group Locobloco, a San Francisco based youth group with an exciting presentation of dance and percussion.

During the week of 6 August, the special report, Alerta Roja 2 (Red Alert 2) was aired on Channel 4 News. The special, prepared by reporter Pedro Rosa Nales, dealt with an incidente in 1966 when Navy pilots accidently dropped a nuclear device in Vieques waters. The report included new evidence, obtained by CRDV representative Flavio Cumpiano, esq., (Washington, DC), that revealed new information about the cover up of this issue that was highlighted in the Alerta Roja program originally prepared by Rosa Nales in 1998.

On Sunday, August 13th, we created a Human Chain, with the participation of approximately 1000 people, mainly from Vieques. Americo Bosheti sung and Norma Torres read her most recent poem, The Silent Fence, while over 600 spread out along the military fence to tie white ribbons, flags and signs for peace on Vieques.

Here is part of the multi-generational mesage offered during the activity:
For more than half a century the Navy has attacked the Viequense family, forcing our husbands to look for work in other places and our children to leave in order to study. They have raped our women. They have poisoned our land, air and water. It is time to put an end to this abuse. It is time to unite the greater Viequense family, this great Puerto Rican family in defense of Vieques.

The Navy fences can never stop the march of history and justice. This fence will not detain the march of our people toward our destiny - that is to have a Vieques Free from the Navy!

Today we meet in front of the military fence to know it close up, to contemplate the lands trapped on the other side. Today we place ribbons and flags, we reflect and pray for our peace and that of future generations.

There will be another moment when we will be together in front of this fence with our duty in our hands, with the history of so many abuses in our hearts and with the committment to eliminate the barriers that separate us from our territory and our peace.

The Vieuqense family is united before the threat of the Navy. Vieques is ours, lets rescue her!

The Human Chain action was organized by the CRDV, the Vieques Women´s Alliance and the Vieques Youth United.

A delegation for decontamination and demilitarization, organized by the Fellowship of Reconciliation and the Caribbean Project for Peace and Justice (PR), arrived on Vieques on Tuesday the 15th, with delegates from community organizations in the US, Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Panama, Hawaii and Korea. They shared their experiences and learned about our situation through a series of meetings with members of the Vieques groups. They were in Vieques for two days and several more on the main island to study the problem of militarism in Puerto Rico.

Also on Tuesday, a public hearing was held on the Land Use Plan submitted to the Planning Board by the Municipal Government of Vieques. Hundreds of Viequenses participated in a protest outside the Multiple Use Center here while around 40 people presented depositions. The common theme - of the protest and the depositions - was the demand for more time to study the documents, community participation in the planning process and a strong denouncement of the protagonic role of the Navy in the plan prepared by the Mayor, Manuela Santiago. By the end of the hearing, the mayor was forced to cede to demands for more time to review the plan and to remove all mention of the Navy from a revised plan she would have prepared before December. Our community had the excellent support of the Technical and Professional Group for the Sustainable Development of Vieques in the process of analyzing the Land Use Plan.

From the 17th to the 20th of August, 20 members of a solidarity delegation from New England were with us at Peace and Justice Camp. Puerto Ricans and North Americans from Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire and five doctors from the Bronx participated in a series of meetings with Vieques leaders (Carlos Zenón, Ismael Guadalupe, Nilda Medina, Judith Conde, among others) to learn first hand about the current situation and plans for the next phase in the struggle for Peace on Vieques. Among other tasks, the delegation helped paint the Peace and Justice Shelter build under the supervision of singer-song writer and master builder, Noel Hernández. The group also participated in the Saturday night vigil, together with a group of poets from New York and Puerto Rico.

As you can see, the work here is continuos. Our community strongly backs the struggle, participating in the the many activities here at Peace and Justice Camp, together with people and organizations in solidarity from diverse areas of the planet. The construction of the Peace and Justice Shelter and the daily tasks involved in maintaining this camp require great efforts and sacrifices on the part of our work team. The Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques maintains this important protest area in constant action.

We appeal to all people in solidarity with our struggle to send economic support to help continue this struggle for Peace in Vieques, which is a struggle for peace for everyone. You may send donations to CRDV PO Box 1424 Vieques, PR 00765 or deposit in the Committee´s account: Banco Popular # 112 868231

In Struggle, in solidarity
Robert Rabin, CPRDV
!Fuera la Marina de Vieques!

To continue browsing through the archive,
click on the "folder" below:


Dispatch Archive




Back to the Vieques Libre Main Page