Category: Opinion Opinion letters by Various Authors
Update of 5-3-2000 Want to send this story to another AOL member? Click on the heart at the top of this window. U.S. Warships Wait Off Vieques By CHRIS HAWLEY .c The Associated Press VIEQUES, Puerto Rico (AP) - With a showdown looming over the U.S. Navy's prime Atlantic training ground, protesters who have blocked bombing for over a year said Tuesday that federal agents would have to arrest them to clear the range but promised they wouldn't fight back. Scores of Puerto Ricans kept a vigil at the main gate to the restricted Navy compound on Vieques Island, jeering at soldiers in passing Humvees. With three U.S. warships offshore, the occupiers readied for what they called ``the invasion'' with goggles, petroleum jelly and vinegar-soaked rags to protect against tear gas. ``They are trying to create panic among the people with this deployment,'' protester Robert Rabin told the crowd, referring to the arrival of three U.S. warships - reportedly carrying 1,000 Marines - a day before. ``The people of Vieques have determined that not one more bomb will be dropped here.'' The range has been occupied by protesters since a civilian security guard was killed by stray bombs in April 1999, releasing pent-up frustrations throughout Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory of 4 million people. Arrests planned this week would be carried out in an operation directed by the Justice Department, Pentagon officials say. The Pentagon insists that its range on the eastern third of Vieques is vital to national security because it provides live-fire combat training before every deployment of Atlantic Fleet carrier battle groups abroad, practicing precision bombing as well as amphibious assaults. About 50 protesters at several camps inside the range are blocking a Jan. 31 directive by President Clinton allowing the Navy to resume limited training until Vieques' 9,400 residents decide in a referendum - probably next year - whether the Navy should leave. The Navy announced Tuesday that, under Clinton's directive, it will begin removing 1,600 tons of munitions from the western third of Vieques on Thursday in order to transfer the federal land - nearly 8,000 acres - to Puerto Rico later this year. Army and Navy personnel will remove the conventional munitions in a 10-day operation, said Navy spokesman Robert Nelson. The Navy purchased its two-thirds of Vieques on the eve of World War II. Civilians are sandwiched in the middle third. In Washington, meanwhile, a Senate Armed Forces subcommittee was to consider a $40 million aid package for Vieques ordered by Clinton. Puerto Rican Gov. Pedro Rossello - who supports the removal of the protesters as well as the eventual closure of the range - said local authorities were ready to deal with any unrest. ``I believe the Puerto Rican people won't participate in illegal acts,'' he said Monday. ``However, we are prepared at any time ... to establish law and order.'' Most protesters planned to surrender peacefully. But a few threatened to scatter into the bomb-littered bush, raising the specter of a dangerous hunt. Protestant and Catholic churches have thrown their weight behind the protest, helping erect a chapel inside the bombing range and calling on Puerto Ricans to support the civil disobedience. The Chicago-based Pastors for Peace human rights group set up camp there at the weekend and declared Tuesday, ``We are willing to be arrested for what we stand for.'' The Geneva-based World Council of Churches appealed to Clinton to ``call a halt to this intervention immediately.'' ``The spectacle of police action backed up by the presence of warships and which is likely to involve arrests of church leaders will contribute little to the pursuit of a lasting solution to this problem,'' it said. Protest organizers handed out goggles and petroleum jelly to protect eyes and skin against pepper spray. They also handed out small plastic bags, each with a rag soaked in a vinegar-water mixture to minimize the effects of any spray or tear gas. Rabin warned people to get rid of anything resembling a weapon - even a pocketknife - and urged them not to fight authorities. ``We want to provoke arrests,'' he told the protesters. ``But we are not going to be fighting with the police.'' According to local media reports, those arrested could face criminal charges for trespassing. Four observers from the government Civil Rights Commission distributed fliers explaining protesters' rights if arrested. They said they would stay to observe any arrests. At an overnight Roman Catholic Mass, the Rev. Pedro Rafael Ortiz gave his church's blessing. ``God wants us to be in this struggle,'' he said. ``The Navy needs to repent for the evil it has done and not sin again.'' Commentary: You can almost count on the AP to write the above story. It has a 'spin' to it that pulls together some obvious conclusions that are all wrong: 1. The stage for the story is carefully set to show that 'scores' of protestors are jeering at military men passing by in humvees while ships are 'lurking' off shore to menace and intimidate! With 1,000 marines, yet! It will take that many to guard the shoreline from the next wave of protestors that want to infiltrate. 2. The hero of the 'good guys' is the imported Yankee 'loud mouth' environmentalist named Robert Rubin- not exactly a Puerto Rican. But, he is gifted with words for reporters and makes the right moves to show that his forces are all non-violent, peace loving types. They just don't like war training that leaves room for concerns about accidents, environmental damage, or other concerns that may bother some clergy. He is full of bad statistical references that impress only the clergy not trained to be more discerning. 3. After allowing some facts of the past to be reviewed to show the history of the conflict including the Sanes accident, without noting his failure to follow orders, the impression is turned to consider the enormity of the moral problem as presented by those who claim to represent all the major Christian groups of PR. They don't! Two Roman Catholic bishops, one a newcomer to PR as an archbishop aspiring to find a way to lead, a Methodist bishop and several others are noted as if to say that all the people are with them. They are not. 4. The most positve part, however, was to note that the Governor of PR is for law and order! His words, however, put him in the Janet Reno camp, while the article ends with the RC priest concluding, `God wants us to be in this struggle,'' he said. ``The Navy needs to repent for the evil it has done and not sin again.'' I wonder where this priest got the word? By e-mail? Or does he have a laser connection to Heaven? Of course, like the Elián story, the AP ignores the main reason that one of the 12 groups came to the island. The first group,led by the worn out leader of the independence party, Ruben Berríos, came to protest to revitalize his leadership and to take advantage of the accident triggered by the employees failure to follow orders. His game is to cause confrontation between Puerto Ricans and the U.S. Navy, not to drive the Navy out, but to drive the U.S. Congress to throw PR to its own independence! This position is wanted by no more than 4% of the people, but if he can get the U.S. Congress mad by attacking the Navy to get his way....well all in a day's work. Too bad that the people are too busy to realize what is happening to them! May 3, 2000 the N.Y. Times writes: A NEEDLESS SHOWDOWN. The Clinton administration is preparing to evict dozens of protesters camped at the Navy bombing range on Vieques , an island off the coast of Puerto Rico . Instead of engaging in a fight now, Washington should wait until Vieques residents decide in a vote next year whether they want the Navy to continue to use the island. If the Navy is welcome after the vote, protesters can then be removed. Navy training on Vieques has been suspended since April of last year, when a civilian guard was killed in a bombing accident. After months of angry protests by island residents, who are American citizens, the Clinton administration reached an agreement with Gov. Pedro Rossello of Puerto Rico in January. The agreement allows the Navy to resume training on the range with inert bombs until a referendum is held next year so that the island's 9,400 residents can choose between two options. They can vote to end all Navy training by May 2003 or allow the Navy to stay and resume its exercises, including the use of live bombs. Washington has promised to give $40 million for economic development on Vieques , provided that training resumes before the vote. The island would receive $50 million more if the residents voted to allow the Navy to stay on. But in order to resume training now with inert bombs, federal law enforcement officers will have to remove the demonstrators. Though Governor Rossello has said he would support clearing the bombing range, it is not apparent how that operation will be managed. There is concern that it could result in violence or provoke more protests elsewhere on Puerto Rico. A more prudent course would be for the Navy to hold off on training until the Vieques residents vote. The Navy insists it cannot conduct combined combat exercises anywhere in the Western Atlantic but Vieques . But a presidential panel recommended last year that the Navy leave the island in five years, suggesting that alternatives can be found. It is time the Navy left Vieques , unless the islanders affirmatively choose otherwise. THE MIAMI HERALD EDITORIAL CALLS FOR STICKING TO THE DEAL.. The Navy wouldn't conduct such exercises on the Florida Keys or Martha's Vineyard. We sympathize with protesters who want the U.S. Navy to stop bombing on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques. But a deal is a deal. And the one agreed to by the U.S. and Puerto Rican governments in January stipulated that the Navy could resume limited training on its Vieques range this month, while Vieques residents would vote to decide if the Navy could stay or leave after 2003. The compromise was reasonable, and both governments must deliver. That means that protesters trying to stop the Navy from resuming its training must leave Navy property, we hope peacefully. To avoid exacerbating tensions, the federal and Puerto Rican governments should try every means of persuasion possible before sending in FBI-led forces to roust and arrest protesters by force. Some 50 protesters, led primarily by the fringe Puerto Rican Independence Party, are camped out on the Navy's target range. They are intent on stopping even the use of ``dummy'' bombs that contain no explosives, which are part of the agreed-upon compromise. The arrival yesterday of two naval warships heightened tensions. Navy officials insist that the Vieques range is vital to its combat readiness, the only place with enough uncongested air, sea and land for comprehensive shelling and amphibious assault practice. But protesters arguments also have merit. Many point to the toxic residues from explosives as the cause of health and environmental damage. Vieques's 9,300 civilian residents reportedly suffer a cancer rate 26 percent higher than that of Puerto Rico as a whole. Doctors also note high levels of birth defects, skin diseases,asthma and other respiratory diseases. After bombing there for 60 years, the killing of a civilian by an errant bomb a year ago halted the Navy's live-artillery exercises and unleashed long pent-up complaints that the practice was rooted in a colonialists' mentality. The reality is that the Navy wouldn't conduct live-bomb practices on islands off the U.S. mainland, not in the Florida Keys or on Martha's Vineyard. Moreover it's known that the Vieques range was apt to be questioned since 1975, when President Gerald Ford stopped the Navy's use of a target range on Culebra, another Puerto Rican island. Instead of arguing now to keep its Vieques practice range, the Navy should be searching for the best alternative. Get the protesters out of there as gently as possible. Then, as agreed, let the people of Vieques vote on their own future. Commentary of 5-7-2000 Perhaps the two editorials featured on the home page of the Casiano enterprise paper show best the two extremes of the mainland US attitude. The NY Times piece calls for the Navy to do nothing to remove protesters or use the range until a vote of the people of Vieques is held; while the Miami Herald position says "no, a deal is a deal" and the protesters should not be recognized as having the power to defy a US Presidential directive. It looks now like the Miami position was taken and no real serious uprising has been triggered. Perhaps the nation in general, and PR in particular has shown that law and order are not totally bad for us! Let's hope that the allegations of the protesters can be researched now with less rhetoric and more science. For example, we have seen conflicting accounting of things like cancer rates for the people of Vieques. What is the truth? Do we get to see all of the data?  Or just selected parts in terms of periods or types of cancer? Do we study this in a way that takes into account the genetic base of the people of a small island? Do we count the data from people that have lived on the island for more than say ten years only? Or do we include those that just arrived to die from a disease contracted elsewhere? How do such factors get counted elsewhere?  Is Vieques more prone to migration in either direction than say the mainland of PR? Until all factors can be considered, it is foolish to speculate on how cancer happens to relate, if at all, to the presence of the US Navy and its history of using the east end of Vieques as a bombing range. Likewise, do bombs cause vibrations that cause impotence or destruction of buildings ten miles away? Will the continued presence of the ROTHR radar range on Vieques prove to exacerbate the problems perceived by the protesters? The range has now been in use for several months trying to locate smuggler aircraft bringing tons of illegal drugs from South America to PR. When the Navy first indicated a plan to construct it in the Lajas valley of PR, the protest was easily as dramatic and larger in terms of numbers as the current one. Protesters are still certain that these radars give off emanations that cause cancer, impotence and irritability to the innocents of PR. In an island that is beset with the chances of thousands of a population of four million to be misled over such matters, it is easy to see that the US Navy and the Congress needs to recognize that dealing with the people of PR is not as easy as those in any of the 50 states of the Union. Why? The answer is complex and not easy to determine. Suffice it to say that it does relate to 500 years of a colonial type of relationship- first to Spain and then for the last 102 years to the US. The people living on PR may be US citizens, but they have not been allowed to vote since 1917 when the first of them were made citizens. They pay taxes on reported income for social security purposes, but avoid the lesser burden of general income tax on personal or corporate income at the federal level. They do pay taxes for the island government that are high by US state standards. But, without a vote, they can be expected to enjoy a somewhat reduced level of allegiance to a sense of responsibility. While the men and women of PR have served with great distinction in the military of the US, many found such as a personal path to self development and as a means to escape from the poverty of the past in PR. Yes, PR is no longer the depressed island of poverty that was spoken about endlessly in the past. Sure, it still has plenty of poor people by Washington standards that relate to national statistics; but, the cost of living in PR is not the same as that of other parts of the US in many ways. Nobody freezes for lack of funds to pay for heating oil. Nobody needs winter clothing or even air conditioning. It gets hot, but not like many spots on the mainland in the blistering summers. 106F in Chicago in August kills people. PR has no such problem! A high of 95F is rare and limited to coastal locations. So, we mainland Americans need to consider many factors in trying to understand the behavior of some of the people of PR. We need to also realize that we have failed to give half of the people of PR any good reason to consider a change of status from the status quo. Considering that things are going well- or at least better than ever- why change unless some force requires a choice. Referendums written by the parties of PR always allow for choices that can’t be handled by the US Constitution and one is always for ‘None of the above’. Therefore, it is only fair to note that the status issue will remain until the US Congress defines what choices exist that will be acceptable to it. So far, it has not had the inclination or taken the time to really answer the question for a variety of reasons. I submit, that until it does, we will not see resolution to the status issue and we can expect some to protest in ways that seem unreasonable to those Americans who do have the right to vote and have representation in the federal government of the U.S. Returning to the issue of letting ordinary citizens determine the direction of the U.S. federal government... we should stop and consider the enormity of the precedent and the related questions. In our federal system we citizens delegate to Congress the task of making good laws and to the Administration the task of executing them and to the Courts the task of determining if the laws have been faithfully followed or correctly interpreted. Suddenly we are confronted with a case in Vieques that stands all of this on its head! We have not even determined who will decide in Vieques? Will it be a vote restricted to those registered to vote in PR elections? Do people that have not been exposed to the Navy's activity for some number of years fail to quality to vote? What about people who were born on Vieques but do not live there now? We have no established precedent to indicate which people will make the executive decision that President Clinton has handed to someone other than himself! Nobody ever asked voters of any state near some military installation if it should be closed because of some complaints real or imagined. No routine exists for the president to abdicate his responsibility and hand it to some amorphous group of voters to make at some date to be appointed by the U.S. Navy. The logic is understood. Let the protesters go home. Let the Navy educate some group of voters, and then let the voters decide if the Navy shall keep its base or abandon it to the government of PR, subject to some terms and conditions. Yes, the West end of the island can be cleared of stored munitions and the government of PR can take a $40 million appropriation and determine what roads to build along with other infrastructure development in the area. Somehow this is to be perceived by voters of Vieques as a grant to help them? Maybe it is to provide water, sewers, runways, power, telephones for a new private hotel development that may create jobs for the people displaced by removal of the Navy? The task at the East end of Vieques, if the voters turn the Navy out is formidable. Nothing short of a super fund of the EPA type can begin to remove the real or the imagined toxins, etc. left behind. The area has little chance of being more than a future national wildlife refuge. Getting all of the unexploded ordinance out is a big job but not impossible. But the other $50 million promised by the US Navy and the Administration is to pay for further island development. What? Where? Are we witnessing a change in the way the US government is to work? Will Al Gore call for internet voting where it can be arranged to abdicate social responsibility at the federal level and delegate it to the locals? Or is this only a trick for some folks in PR that live on a small island of little consequence to either mainland PR or to the US? Tune in and watch. In another two weeks we may see the Navy actually drop some inert ordinance. In several months the Navy may think that it is safe to call for an election. I suspect it will take over a year to sort out who can vote and where? If the Navy figures that the local population will vote to take over 100 jobs away from their fellow neighbors because of the allegations, it may delay the vote to maximize its ability to find a new site for its training. I submit that a lot more attention needs to be paid to the issue of how should the US manage its national interests? It may also help Congress to decide that none of this would have happened if it had not practiced a 'benign neglect' for 102 years about the issue of status for PR.

Update of May 15, 2000

EDITORIAL
THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Vieques And Sovereignty

May 5, 2000
Copyright © 2000 THE CHICAGO
TRIBUNE. All Rights Reserved.
Thankfully, the removal of
protesters last week from
U.S. Navy property on
Vieques Island, off the coast
of Puerto Rico , produced no
news photos that could be
interpreted as "jackbooted
federal thugs" accosting
American citizens, nor was
there any reason for any
rough stuff.

The demonstrators accepted
arrest peaceably because
they had made their point.
They had gained
mainlandwide attention for
their cause - -- to get the Navy
to cease combat training on
this inhabited island
(population 9,300). Besides,
by forcing the feds to roust
them, they had confirmed
Washington as the heavy, at
least in fellow Puerto Ricans'
eyes.

This is not to say the
occupation of Navy property
was justifiable; it was a
grandstand play by
advocates of Puerto Rican
independence. The issue of
Vieques' status was worked
out fairly last January by
President Clinton and Puerto
Rico Gov. Pedro Rossello.
Under their deal, the Navy
can continue to practice
aerial, nonexplosive
bombardment on its Vieques
firing range, for which the
island government will be
paid a $40 million fee. In fact,
the Navy started bombing
training Monday. In a year or
so, Vieques residents will
vote whether to halt Navy
exercises or let them
continue, in which case the
island would get $50 million
more.

A phaseout would be
reasonable, giving the Navy
time to find a suitable and
vacant option in the
Caribbean. One possibility is
Dog Island, which it could
lease from the British
government, but there are
others.

No doubt Vieques would have
been rid of its bombing
headache long ago if it had
two senators and a
representative or two in
Congress arguing its case,
but that would have required
Puerto Ricans voting for
statehood , which they have
declined to do several times
over the last half-century. The
lesson here is that if they
want to be treated like a full
partner, they need to commit
to our indivisible union.
In the end, it appeared the arrests came almost as a relief. There was no resistance and there was no violence by the roughly 300 FBI agents and deputy U.S. marshals who descended on the tiny Puerto Rican island of Vieques to clear the Navy bombing range there of protesters.

On the contrary, the arrests were almost ceremonial in character, with the likes of U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) and several of his congressional colleagues being taken into custody to symbolically express opposition to the Navy's use of Vieques for bombing practice.
There was a subtext as well: that Puerto Rico is a put-upon land, not properly respected by the nation of which it is ambiguously a part. Why else would that nation allow an inhabited island to be used for target practice with high-powered munitions?

Well, if you listen to the Navy, it's because Vieques is the best place in the hemisphere for the kind of training its people need. And if you listen to the people of Puerto Rico as they have expressed themselves in elections, their ambiguous "commonwealth" status suit the majority just fine.

So if Puerto Rico is put upon, it is by the democratic choice of its people. It is they who must be persuaded to change their minds-- and their votes.

Thursday's operation brought to an end a yearlong occupation by protesters who invaded the bombing range last spring after a wayward bomb killed a security guard there. It was the first fatality in the range's six-decade history--hardly indicative of a major danger--but it became the rallying point for protest.

Even after President Bill Clinton and Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Rossell negotiated an agreement in January calling for Vieques residents to vote on the Navy presence next year, the occupation continued.

The reason, of course, was that the issue for the protesters was only incidental the bombing range and its alleged environmental and other negative effects. The real issue was--and is--sovereignty.

Vieques is, in their minds, symbolic of Puerto Rico 's "colonial" status in the United States. Were it a state, or an independent nation, it would not have to endure such an indignity.
Maybe not. But Puerto Rico 's status within the U.S. is the result of the popular choice of its people, expressed several times over the last half century, most recently in December 1998. All those who feel different need to do is persuade a majority of their fellow citizens to vote for a change. The majority of mainlanders, we daresay, would not stand in their way.

EDITORIAL
THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Vieques And Sovereignty

May 5, 2000
Copyright © 2000 THE CHICAGO
TRIBUNE. All Rights Reserved.
Thankfully, the removal of
protesters last week from
U.S. Navy property on
Vieques Island, off the coast
of Puerto Rico , produced no
news photos that could be
interpreted as "jackbooted
federal thugs" accosting
American citizens, nor was
there any reason for any
rough stuff.

The demonstrators accepted
arrest peaceably because
they had made their point.
They had gained
mainlandwide attention for
their cause - -- to get the Navy
to cease combat training on
this inhabited island
(population 9,300). Besides,
by forcing the feds to roust
them, they had confirmed
Washington as the heavy, at
least in fellow Puerto Ricans'
eyes.

This is not to say the
occupation of Navy property
was justifiable; it was a
grandstand play by
advocates of Puerto Rican
independence. The issue of
Vieques' status was worked
out fairly last January by
President Clinton and Puerto
Rico Gov. Pedro Rossello.
Under their deal, the Navy
can continue to practice
aerial, nonexplosive
bombardment on its Vieques
firing range, for which the
island government will be
paid a $40 million fee. In fact,
the Navy started bombing
training Monday. In a year or
so, Vieques residents will
vote whether to halt Navy
exercises or let them
continue, in which case the
island would get $50 million
more.

A phaseout would be
reasonable, giving the Navy
time to find a suitable and
vacant option in the
Caribbean. One possibility is
Dog Island, which it could
lease from the British
government, but there are
others.

No doubt Vieques would have
been rid of its bombing
headache long ago if it had
two senators and a
representative or two in
Congress arguing its case,
but that would have required
Puerto Ricans voting for
statehood , which they have
declined to do several times
over the last half-century. The
lesson here is that if they
want to be treated like a full
partner, they need to commit
to our indivisible union.

Commentary of 5-15-2000
Well, since this point, the only actions seem to have been taken by the independence leader Ruben Berríos, who had to go back to get really arrested. He hopes to be able to spark a general unrest among the 4 million people of PR. The initial evidence seems to show that although the media have enjoyed reporting the strong words, it does not appear that a general call has been heard by the people to show that the independence leader has gained any new converts. But, keep in mind, those interested in such a cause to not give up! They just look for a new avenue or direction to use to spread their conviction.

The news through May 25, 2000 fails to reveal any strong current level of interest in the mainland political scene to call for Congressional action. The nation is politically focusing on the coming conventions and election campaign with mainland issues being more important than dealing with a few radicals on Vieques. This perception unfortunately does little to help the cause of resoliving the status issue; but, perhaps it is just as well that Congress will give time for tempers to cool and for the presidential directive to be executed.

Who knows, rational minds may get a chance to be heard. But, the results are not easily predicted.

Well, look what happens next....

May 31, 2000
Copyright © 2000 EFE NEWS SERVICE. All Rights Reserved.
Source: World Reporter (TM)

Washington, May 31 - The Organization of American States (OAS) agreed Wednesday to review a White House initiative to establish a new process to determine the political future of Puerto Rico .

After meeting with OAS Secretary-General Cesar Gaviria, Puerto Rican Gov. Pedro Rossello said he is hopeful the OAS will become involved in "a problem that serves as an example of the lack of representative democracy" in the hemisphere.

"This is not a controversial issue and all of the countries can recognize the United States' desire to define Puerto Rico's political standing," said Rossello, the leader of the New Progressive Party (PNP), which favors statehood for the island the United States.

The White House will bring Puerto Rican political leaders and U.S. legislators together within two months to create a mechanism to define alternatives to Puerto Rico 's current status .

The legislators will also attempt to reach a consensus on the best method with which to allow the island, which is currently a U.S. commonwealth, to determine its status .

Rossello said he is hopeful that Congress will approve a resolution this year which defines the possible consequences of statehood , independence or the creation of an autonomous association with the United States.

The alternatives in the Caribbean island's political status and the method to consult Puerto Ricans on the issue should be agreed upon before Puerto Rico 's general elections in November, he said.

According to the Puerto Rican governor, he sought the meeting with Gaviria at the suggestion of the U.S. ambassador to the UN, Richard Holbrooke, with whom he met several weeks ago to stress the necessity for Puerto Rico to resolve "its colonial situation."

Rossello said he notified the U.S. ambassador to the OAS, Luis Lauredo, and the State Department of his intention to ask the OAS to intervene in the issue.

"The principal forum for this issue is the U.S. Congress, however international forums - such as the UN and the OAS - can serve as mediators," he added.

The lack of self-government in Puerto Rico "is an issue that is relevant in the international arena, particularly in the Americas," the governor said. Rossello has gone before the UN in the past to seek intervention on the same dilemma.

"The United States still maintains that it should not have the responsibility of reporting to the UN regarding Puerto Rico , however, it also recognizes that Puerto Rico is a territory that is not fully integrated and does not have all the elements of self-governance," he said.

Rossello, who favors annexation, has not decided whether or not to participate in a hearing held by the UN's Committee on Decolonization later this year.

He will travel on Thursday to Boston to participate in Hispanic Day celebrations in Fenway Park baseball stadium. On Friday, he will meet with the mayor of the city, before returning to San Juan on Saturday.

Then comes forth the opposition with a delay plan:

Hernandez Colon Proposes Constituent Assembly

June 4, 2000
Copyright © 2000 Associated Press Newswires. All Rights Reserved.

SAN JUAN (AP) - Former Popular Democratic Party (PDP) Gov. Rafael Hernandez Colon on Friday recommended a Constituent Assembly to find a solution to the political status dilemma of Puerto Rico, saying this would end "useless plebiscites."

This is the first time that Hernandez Colon openly supports holding the assembly, since up to now he has fought for a plebiscite with U.S. Congress approval.

The PDP's former president's proposal emerged during a message offered Friday night to Rafael Hernandez Colon Library Foundation collaborators, where he said the U.S. government should enable the celebration of that assembly.

Hernandez Colon said a plebiscite authorized by Congress will not resolve the status problem because "there is no way a respectable majority will result from the three classic formulas:" statehood, commonwealth, or independence.


This generated an immediate response from the Governor.

Rossello: Status Plebiscite First, Constitutional Assembly Later

June 6, 2000
Copyright © 2000 Associated Press Newswires. All Rights Reserved.

BAYAMON (AP) — Gov. Pedro Rossello on Monday said a Constitutional Assembly should happen only after the people have voted in a plebiscite for their favorite status option.

"Once the people tell politicians which way we should follow, then the Constitutional Assembly is a valid tool because then it would allow those officials, with those instructions, to get into the details of how to achieve for that political status to be established in Puerto Rico," Rossello said during a press conference.

He said he would veto a measure filed by Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) Sen. Manuel Rodriguez Orellana, which seeks to hold a referendum this year so people can decide whether they want a Constitutional Assembly.

Last week, former Popular Democratic Party (PDP) Gov. Rafael Hernandez Colon advocated for a Constitutional Assembly to solve the status issue in Puerto Rico.

Rossello said such an exercise would be "futile," and said people want a definition of the "viable alternatives agreed to by the U.S. government and that those alternatives don’t include ‘none of the above.’"

COMMENTARY by Richard Tryon
June 11, 2000

While some may see the above stories as evidence that nothing is happening in P.R. to change anything, there is a new element being introduced into the status equation. It is called the UN and the OAS card. Not since 1952 when the Russians orchestrated a UN call for evidence to condem the U.S. as colonial imperialists in P.R. has there been such an international effort made to force the U.S. into action. It took almost fifty years for the clever trick to be unmasked completely when on March 4, 1998 the U.S. House of Representatives passed by one vote an evidence that it had the power to do something about PR status without getting approval from or interaction from the party that claimed that PR was an equal partner in the current status called Commonwealth by some or Associated Free State by others.

Once again the power of international politics is being called into play...this time by the forces in both PR and the US that want to see the issue be resolved. The Governor eloquently shows in these articles that there is no way for a referendum in PR to provide a real indication of its preference because the system in PR is rigged to always require the option of “None of the above” and others can define at least one or more options in ways that are not Constitutionally possible to the U.S. Congress.

Hernandez Colón, former governor and leader of the Commonwealth party the Populares, has called for another delaying trick- a Constituent Assembly. It is an effort to keep the people away from having to make a decision that can only be forced by the the U.S. when it offers legislation that calls for the people to decide between options that are legally possible.

Today’s pressures to let P.R. compete in a global economy without the historic support of Sec. 936 requires that the U.S. allow P.R. to declare its desire to be independent with or without a negotiated associated status; or to be a state like all the rest.

In an election year in the U.S. it is hard to predict any action that requires an act of Congress and that may be one reason to turn to the U.N. and the O.A.S. If forced to avoid embarrassment, the Congress might have to cope with a political ploy by the lame-duck president Clinton and the Republican controlled Congress might have to take action to avoid political fire in the campaign to win the Hispanic vote.

It will be interesting to watch what happens. There is little question that the people, put into a position of choosing statehood or independence will have a hard time taking the latter! The status quo is the favorite as long as the U.S. will pay what it takes to maintain it; but, given the choice of statehood or independence is not a hard question for most U.S. citizens who live in P.R. to decide.

Update of June 23, 2000

The news shows that the radicals for independence are still trying to make the issue of use of Vieques by the U.S. Navy an important one to all of P.R. They have managed to try to defy the efforts to keep the practice range free of infiltration by live people. Several days ago some 48 were arrested and transported for filing of charges at the U.S. Navy base at Ceiba, the main part of the giant Roosevelt Roads base.

No doubt these people will try to return to the range before the Naval exercises start to lob inert shells from ships to the range at the East end of the island of Vieques, about 8 miles from the point where regular citizens of the island live. With inert shells, the explosions will not be heard or seen, but such is not the point to those who want to be martyrs to the cause of independence.

Of course, some are more motivated by their concern for environmental damage that must happen, even when an inert shell lands short of the target and breaks coral near the water's edge or otherwise harms flora or fauna. To these folks, training to defend our nation should not require any harm to the planet. Why they are willing to so willing to make this an issue on land that the Navy bought in 1942 is hard to explain. Perhaps it is just a convenient convergence of their concerns at the same geographic place as is getting attention from the media because of the other groups trying to do the same thing.

For example, some want to claim that the Navy has no regard for the health of the people of Vieques or, by extension, of all of Puerto Rico. They perceive the range as a place for the Navy to test biological or chemical warfare weapons with live subjects near-by to serve as 'guinea pigs'. Or that the materials in explosives somehow drift down wind and cause cancer in ordinary folks, who otherwise would not get sick.

Obviously it is not going to be easy to show that no such connection exists unless everyone who lives on or comes to Vieques is shown to be free of any medical problem. Some of us may feel safe on Vieques, but others will continue to believe that many are being infected or have been.

Of course, the main group responsible for the appearance of unrest has to be the one seeking indepedence. With an aging leader of the Independentista party, Ruben Berríos in need of an issue to maintain his leadership, the accident of April 1999 was just what he needed. Unfortunately, he is not in good health himself. He has not apparently yet chosen to blame this condition upon his one year plus illegal residence on the Navy bombing range.

Stay tuned, he may do so soon.

Here we go again...

All it takes is a legal motion before a judge that gets space in the papers!

Judge Denies Vieques Bombing Motion

By HILARIO DE LEON
.c The Associated Press


SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - A federal judge denied a motion Friday to halt the U.S. Navy's plans to resume exercises with non-explosive bombs this weekend on its training ground at Vieques island.

Opposition has mounted since news was published of the Navy's plans to mount its biggest exercise since an April 1999 bombing accident killed a civilian on the range. Five warships would fire up to 600 shells at the range and aircraft would drop between 550 and 830 dummy bombs - include 500-pound and 1,000-pound bombs during two to five days of exercises starting Saturday, according to plans filed by the Navy.

U.S. District Judge Juan Perez Gimenez said the exercises - on a bombing range that takes up one third of the island - did not pose any danger to the people of Vieques, as was argued by lawyers for the Trustees for the Historical Conservation of Vieques and the Vieques Union to Protect the Environment.

Islanders say five decades of live bombing have caused environmental damage, stunted tourism, destroyed fishing grounds and led to a high cancer rate.

After the judge's decision, lawyers Fermin Arraiza and Pedro Varela said it would be up to the people of Puerto Rico to unseat the Navy through a continuing civil disobedience campaign.

``The courts are not prepared to judge the Navy and deliver justice for the people of Vieques,'' Arraiza declared.

After the bombing accident, protesters occupied the bombing range and camped out there for a year until federal agents dislodged them last month.

Since then more than 200 protesters have been arrested for trespassing. Many militants say they plan to invade the range on Saturday, to stop the Navy again.

Leaders of U.S. religious groups, including the National Council of Churches and the United Church of Christ, have denounced the planned bombing and urged President Clinton to cancel it.

Clinton has ordered the Navy to use dummy bombs instead of live munitions and to abandon Vieques by May 2003 if the island's 9,400 residents vote to expel it in a referendum expected next year. If the Navy wins, it gets to use live munitions again.

The Navy says Vieques is the only place its Atlantic fleet can hold simultaneous land, air and sea exercises using live fire before deploying abroad.

Commentary:
by Richard Tryon

Like the efforts of the political participants of the celebrated Elián Gonzalez case in the Courts of Georgia and Washington, D.C., the militants in P.R. that do not want to wait for the people of Vieques to decide, they are finding the media willing to get all into a frenzy. It does sell newspapers!

Why anyone should expect the U.S. President to cancel his own executive order because some want to protest is hard to imagine. As a practical matter, these militants and the media would be upset if no opportunity for confrontation existed!

With media promotion behind it, one can expect that several hundred people may try to invade Vieques on Saturday, June 24, 2000 to camp on the beach in hopes that they will be arrested and gain publicity for their cause which is to take the law into their hands. They want to direct the U.S. President to remove the Navy without a vote being cast by the people of Vieques.

Count on the media being in place to take the pictures as the protesters arrive. Maybe the Marines will repulse the photographers on the beach, confiscate their equipment and send the invaders off to Guantánamo in Cuba to ‘cool off’ awaiting trial for trespassing.


Vieques update 6-26-00

"Sandra Reyes, a 32-year-old painter who lives in sight of the range, said her children came running into the house screaming after the start of the exercises.

My house is shaking, the doors shake, things on the table shake, my ear drums hurt,'' Reyes said. `"We all feel very frustrated, impotent, violated and harassed.

She said three or four shells were hitting the range about every 15 minutes."

These are the salient words from the story filed by the A.P.:

"US Navy Exercises Begin on Vieques

By MANUEL ERNESTO RIVERA
.c The Associated Press


VIEQUES, Puerto Rico (AP) - The thud of military shelling returned to Vieques Island on Sunday as the U.S. Navy began training even as protesters vowed to invade the range to stop the largest exercise since a fatal accident prompted a yearlong occupation of its range."

The writer illustrates the skill of leaving an impact from his writing that gets maximum chance of exposure and a means of exciting the population to resist and make the story bigger!

What greater sin than for the Navy to send inert ordinance onto its firing range, which is close enough for some civilians to actually see from a high hill the ten miles between their safe, secluded and idyllic home, that 'scares' little children. Really?  Or did they come into the house ‘screaming’ as children do about a lot of things.  Or were these children educated by their artist mother to be the citizens of choice for the features of the story? Did they learn from Mom that when the Navy puts a shell onto the ground ten miles away that they should scream with fear because the ground shook? Are they trained to believe that the shells will kick up cancer causing dust to fly by the prevailing wind to kill them? Or did they just run in with exciting screams of discovery- "Hey Mom, what you asked us to watch for has started!"

The imagery from Vieques needs to be compared to that of any city near any military base where 'live' ammunition is exploded routinely! It does make more noise and sends out greater vibrations to be sensed by people who live closer than this artist in Vieques. But, keep in mind, the children are reported as coming in ‘screaming’. Are they hysterical and going out of their minds? Or is this just what the people of Puerto Rico call "borinqua"

Are these children now destined to be unable to sleep?  Will their psyches be ruined from having seen dust rise ten miles away? How do these vibrations compare to that felt by children and adults who live next to the elevated train?  How does the noise compare to living next to a road with thousands of passing 'boom boxes' playing with a hundred decibels of noise?

What is the difference that makes the Vieques conflict between a hand-full of assorted dissidents and the need of the U.S. Navy to use its own firing range? The answer must lie in the fact that these citizens feel like they are not needing to be subordinate to a power over which they have no right to protest via elected representatives to the U.S. Congress. They may enjoy many of the advantages of U.S. citizenship, but they are not expected to carry any sense of responsibility because they have no sense of participation via the power to vote.

The question now is: Can the writers and reporters present an image that will cause their stories to mature into a larger evidence of protest?  Can they recruit support from such august groups as the National Council of Churches? Or just a few bishops of P.R.? Can they get the 'greenies' to show that some obscure species of life lives in the sand where the ordinance falls and are now more endangered than is the case of trying to survive against their natural predators? Or can they get support from the archive of articles that claim higher incidence of cancer on Vieques without any real means of validation of what kind, attacking whom or how? We outlawed Saccharin as a sweetener about 25 years ago and after six other competing types of product were accepted by the FDA, the perpetrators of the demise of the leading position of the makers of the offending product, came forth and admitted that their claims were wrong!

Is all of this a testimonial to our present political mess? Have we moved to a point in our civilization where the media pander to the errors of the many self-proclaimed minorities? Are we bending so far backwards that we are about to collapse?  Can we expect to defend our country if we are going to be enforcing environmental conditions that eliminate the chance to train for military combat?

There is a price to pay for freedom. Perhaps some of the people who are using Vieques as a springboard of opportunity for their causes, do not care about freedom except to let all of nature run rampant- including those of the human species that have offered themselves as destroyers of peace and tranquility since Ghengis Khan!

Usually these efforts to make 'mountains out of molehills' result in stories that die of their own 'dead weight'. People not only tire of them, they finally set their emotions into the proper perspective and then the perpetrators have to find a new issue.

Update of 6-26-00

Protesters Arrested at Vieques

By MANUEL ERNESTO RIVERA
.c The Associated Press


VIEQUES, Puerto Rico (AP) - With inert U.S. Navy bombs falling on the Vieques bombing range, 100 activists headed for the island Monday to obstruct the exercise, the latest in a series of military operations that have come to dominate Puerto Rican politics.

Guards arrested six demonstrators inside the Vieques training ground Monday during the largest military exercises here since a fatal bombing accident in 1999 sparked widespread protests.

One man was arrested inside the 900-acre target zone on the eastern tip of Vieques, said Navy spokesman Bob Nelson. The protester wasn't hurt, and it wasn't immediately known if non-explosive shelling and bombing were occurring at the time of the arrest, Nelson said. The other five were arrested on horseback outside the target zone.

About 100 activists from the Puerto Rican Independence Party left the main island of Puerto Rico for Vieques, vowing to trespass onto the range. But on Vieques itself, reaction to the exercise was surprisingly muted - perhaps reflecting the wear and tear of a yearlong battle to oust the Navy from its Atlantic Fleet training ground.

Few protesters gathered outside the gates to the Navy's Camp Garcia as ships attached to the USS George Washington Battle Group fired inert shells into the zone about 9 miles away.

The exercises began Sunday and could run through July 2. Navy warnings to fishermen were posted and broadcast by radio Saturday night, surprising many islanders.

Nothing could be heard at Camp Garcia's gates Monday, although one resident had claimed Sunday that the shelling shook her house.

Last year, a civilian Puerto Rican guard was killed on the range by two bombs - the first fatality in six decades of bombing. The accident united Puerto Ricans in demanding that the Navy abandon Vieques.

Islanders say years of live bombing - including the use of napalm - have destroyed wildlife and fishing grounds, contaminated water supplies, impeded tourism and created what they say is a high cancer rate.

The Navy disagrees and says Vieques is the only place its Atlantic fleet can hold simultaneous land, air and sea exercises with live fire before deploying abroad. This week's exercises will certify the George Washington Battle Group's combat readiness before a six-month tour of the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf.

In May, the Navy briefly bombed and shelled the zone days after federal agents peacefully removed 224 protesters. Protest leaders heard no bombing and claimed the Navy was lying; the Navy said it had proved its argument that the exercises don't harm 9,400 civilians who live in the middle third of the 21-mile-long island.

More than 200 people have since been arrested inside the training ground, including 38 on Sunday.

After negotiations with Puerto Rico's government and the Navy, President Clinton has ordered the Navy to resume limited training using non-explosive bombs and shells. The Navy must abandon Vieques by May 2003 if Vieques residents vote to expel it in a referendum expected next year. If the Navy wins, it gets to use live munitions again.

A Puerto Rican lawmaker warned Monday that the protests could jeopardize the referendum because Puerto Rico, under Clinton's directive, pledged to keep protesters off Navy property.

``These demonstrations could give the Navy the perfect excuse to say we are not complying and abandon the agreement,'' said Representative Lourdes Ramos of the incumbent pro-statehood New Progressive Party."

Commentary:

Can you imagine mainland Americans going to the 50 some military gunnery ranges in the states with intent to go camp in the target zone to protest? Of course, those zones are using live ammo! Can you imagine fanatics going to the inert ammo zone in on the island of Vieques on U.S.Navy land to protest. Why not?  What do they have to lose? They are part of a militant minority that want either independence or recognition for what they perceive as a societal goal of great importance- like eliminating cancer on Vieques from inert ordinance?