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Puerto Rico Update,
December 2000 Transitions in Washington, Puerto Rico Bring New Players into Vieques Conflict by John Lindsay-Poland As some Vieques activists predicted months ago, the Clinton directives on Vieques are falling apart. The directives represented the deal struck last January between the outgoing administration of Puerto Rican Governor Pedro Rosselló, the Clinton White House and the Navy to resume bombing on Vieques in exchange for a referendum that would give Vieques voters a choice to end the bombing in 2003. The deal was made with no consultation with people in Vieques or Puerto Rican civil society and in violation of Puerto Rican policy, which called for the immediate end to all military activity on Vieques. The Navy has since bombed the firing range in Vieques in nearly every month since May. One of the first parts of the deal to collapse was a provision for transfer of 8,000 acres of land in western Vieques to Puerto Rico by December 31, 2000. The legislation passed by Congress in October and signed by President Clinton instead transfers 3,100 acres to the Interior Department, and it also allowed the date of transfer to occur as late as May 1, 2001. Then, in December, a Navy battle group led by the USS Roosevelt destroyer bombed Vieques with no warning at all, in violation of both the directives and a 1983 agreement that require Puerto Ricans to be given 15 days notice. In addition, protesters who entered the range in October during naval exercises say they witnessed bombing that used live explosives, not the 'inert' ordnance to which the directives limit Navy training. "Inert bombs don't explode," said Pepe Belardo, one of the civil 'disobedients' who entered the range. "We heard them, we saw the clouds of smoke." With the election of Sila Calderon as governor, the Navy is claiming that Puerto Rico is violating the directives. Based on Calderón's stated intention to work for an immediate end to bombing -- not on any actions taken by Puerto Rico -- the Navy declared on December 14 that it would delay transfer of lands in western Vieques and withhold spending of $40 million in Vieques which is part of the Vieques agreement signed into law. "We cannot execute our part of the presidential directives at this time. We have not received support from the incoming government of Puerto Rico, so we cannot proceed on important projects as we would have liked," Lt. Commander Greg Smith said. Calderón wrote to Danzig that "this is not the time for threats" and that she would address the issue of Vieques with the new administration in Washington after she takes office on January 2. Nearly simulteously, Navy Secretary Richard Danzig announced that the referendum in Vieques would be held on November 6, 2001, nearly a year away. The collapse of the directives does not do away with the legislation enacted in October. That legislation still requires the Navy to transfer land by May 1. Besides 3,100 acres to Interior, it requires about 800 acres to go to the Puerto Rico Conservation Trust, 4,000 acres to Vieques' local government, and about 100 acres to stay in the Navy's hands for a widely opposed radar and communications complex. The law tells the Navy to set a date for a referendum in Vieques before May 1, 2002, and allows disbursal of the $40 million to Vieques as late as 2003. In the meantime, Congress could do away with the referendum altogether. Confrontation Escalates "It is clear that if President Clinton does not issue the Executive Order we are demanding, the U.S. Navy will continue to bomb our island indefinitely," Vieques mayor-elect Dámaso Serrano wrote to Hillary Clinton on December 20. Without such an executive order before January 20, then civil disobedience, which has been a principal tool of the Vieques movement, will become even more important to elevating the costs for the Navy of staying and bombing Vieques indefinitely. Unannounced Navy exercises that began December 5 caught Vieques residents and Puerto Rican officials by surprise. Normally the Navy publishes advisories on the island several days in advance, warning fishermen to stay out of restricted areas. Only after bombing had started did the Navy post notice. The following day the Pentagon announced that Navy personnel and ships were being sent to the Middle East to beef up forces there in the wake of the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen. According to witnesses on a passenger ferry between Vieques and Fajardo on the big island, during the exercises a rocket fell on waters close to the ferry, forcing the captain to slow down while a military helicopter came to recover the rocket. The Navy has made no comment on the incident. Environmental Cleanup in Limbo In other words, under the directives and current legislation, the heavy metals and organic compounds that blow as dust from the bombing range into Vieques' populated areas may never be cleaned up. Beyond stopping the bombing, the movement's further challenge will be to get a federal commitment to clean what the Navy has contaminated.
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Fellowship of Reconciliation ©2001 Fellowship of Reconciliation
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