May 4, 2000 -- Federal agents today arrested dozens of protesters opposed to the continuing presence of the US military on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques.
Protesters -- including United Methodists and other members of Puerto Rico's ecumenical community -- have been demanding end to nearly 60 years of military training and bombing exercises on the island, home to some 8,200 people.
Those arrested, who had vowed their protests would remain peaceful, offered no resistance, Reuters reported. The arrests at the gates of the US military base on Vieques had been expected for some time, particularly since two US warships arrived off of the coast of the island earlier this week.
The arrests capped a standoff in which protesters leaders vowed to press their demands through peaceful means. "We want peace for Vieques and justice," said Heriberto Martinez, executive secretary of the Evangelical Council of Puerto Rico. "No more bombing and no more military practice."
Among those participating in the protests were Methodist Bishop Juan Vera of the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico and Germán Acevedo Delgado, Assistant General Secretary for Connectional Relations in the Mission Contexts and Relationships program area, General Board of Global Ministries.
Earlier this week ecumenical leaders, including prominent United Methodists, had called on the Clinton administration to back off from arresting the protesters.
Robert Edgar, the general secretary of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC) and a United Methodist pastor, had asked President Clinton to halt the threatened arrests and end the military presence on the island. In a statement released by the NCC, Edgar noted that Puerto Rico's churches - including Catholics, Protestants and Pentecostals - have been in the forefront of the efforts to win an end to the U.S. military occupation of Vieques.
Noting that churches had led the call for peaceful protests, Edgar reiterated the NCC's support for "those who currently occupy the beaches on Vieques in a peaceful protest so that the island will once again become a normal society."
"The majority of the people of Puerto Rico and Vieques have demonstrated through various means, that they no longer wish Vieques to be a site for war exercises," Dr. Edgar wrote the president. "Church leaders of all denominations in Puerto Rico have also confirmed this. Why not halt military exercises now, rather than wait for a referendum?"
Rev. Oscar Bolioli, NCC/Church World Service Director for Latin America and the Caribbean and also a United Methodist pastor, emphasized that church leaders had stressed along that their protests would remain peaceful. He said church leaders had hoped that any police action would "exercise similar behavior." Vera had earlier said the current civil disobedience campaign would continue because, he said, when "laws are unjust" or "go against the Law of God," people of faith have no other option but to engage in civil disobedience.
United Methodists, including GBGM staff, board members, have heeded a call for support by Bishop Vera and participated in an "ecumenical" encampment -- providing a pastoral presence and staffed by denominational and church representatives -- as part of 10 encampments on the island. Different churches take turns at that encampment, and the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico has asked that a representative of the UMC be present during the Methodists' turn at the camp.
Protesters have said a proposal announced earlier this year between the US Navy and the government of Puerto Rico does not guarantee that the US military presence will end. Under the proposal, the base on Vieques would remain open for another three years; dummy bombs could be used; and a referendum would be called and Vieques residents would decide whether the Navy could stay or would leave.
The federal agents removed the protesters because they said they were trespassers "unlawfully camped out" on a US Naval base, the US Justice Department said.
Protests against the U.S. military have a long history on the island, but have intensified following an April 1999 incident in which two military bombs killed David Sanes Rodriguez, a civilian security guard.
In an October 1999 resolution GBGM called on the Navy to immediately end all military activities on Vieques and resolved that GBGM would work "in favor of justice for the people of Vieques" and engage in an advocacy campaign by working directly with the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico.
In addition to calling for an end to U.S. military activities on the island, GBGM has called for the decontamination of land and surrounding areas in Vieques, as well as the return of all land expropriated by the U.S. government on the island.
