---------- From: "Walter Lippmann" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2001 12:48:18 -0700 To: "CubaNews" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [CubaNews] Islanders to Vote on Vieques Bomb Drills THE NEW YORK TIMES July 29, 2001 Islanders to Vote on Vieques Bomb Drills By DAVID GONZALEZ VIEQUES, P.R., July 28 - The firing range that has been the make-believe battlefield for countless invasions on the eastern tip of this tiny island was silent. Instead, the only booming noises came from the bands and people who packed the town plaza Friday night and into this morning to demand that the United States Navy cease fire and leave immediately, not in May 2003 as President Bush recently announced. The festivities were a prelude to the referendum on Sunday when Vieques residents will vote on whether the Navy should leave now, stay until 2003 or remain indefinitely. On one level, the nonbinding vote is about as real as the mock invasions that have taken place for 61 years here, since any decision rests with the United States government. But in an atmosphere charged with the symbolism of self-determination, opponents of the Navy, who predict they will win easily, want to send an unequivocal message to Congress and President Bush. For many, Vieques's contribution to national security over the last six decades has come at the expense of land, jobs and health. "How many more people will be affected?" said Ismael Guadalupe, a leader in the anti-Navy movement. "The Navy has destroyed our natural resources. We have to stop it now. It is necessary to have our land in our hands. It is an act of immorality to continue bombing for however long it may be." Sunday's ballot, in which almost two-thirds of the island's 9,300 residents are expected to vote, is not the referendum that had been expected. An accord between President Bill Clinton and former Gov. Pedro J. Rossell� provided $40 million in economic development aid and a referendum, scheduled for November. But Puerto Rico's new governor, Sila Mar�a Calder�n, called for a referendum this weekend as part of her campaign pledge to evict the Navy. Ms. Calder�n, who is the leader of the pro-Commonwealth party that supports the island's current status, which confers United States citizenship on Puerto Ricans but does not give them the right to vote in presidential elections, said the November referendum would be unfair. She said it would give voters only the choices of stopping the Navy training on Vieques in 2003 or continuing indefinitely in exchange for $50 million in additional aid, but it shut out the option of an immediate withdrawal. "I made a commitment to the people of Vieques to let them express themselves with three options," she said. "This may not have the force of law as in the United States, but it has a moral force and gives people a chance to express themselves freely. That is the importance of this vote, that the people's voice be heard in Puerto Rico, Washington and the entire world." The loudest voices here in the weeks leading up to the vote have been from the opponents of the Navy, who have led vigils and protests from a makeshift village at the entrance to the firing range at Camp Garc�a. They have been there, coordinating acts of civil disobedience like trespassing, since a Puerto Rican security guard was killed in April 1999 on the range by a bomb that veered off course. They have drawn throngs to their cause, including such well-known advocates as the Rev. Al Sharpton, the environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the labor leader Dennis Rivera of New York. On Friday, Terry McAuliffe, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, visited the island, where residents told of concerns over the environmental and health effects from the bombing runs. Governor Calder�n has kept her party officially out of the campaign, and she has insisted that the vote over the future of Vieques should not be politicized. Puerto Rico's small independence movement has seen Vieques as a focal point for the larger issue of Puerto Rico's status, and they have the support of President Fidel Castro of Cuba, who welcomed a leading independence official in Havana a few months ago. Such links have alarmed the Navy's supporters in Vieques. "We need to save Puerto Rico from the Communists and terrorists," said Luis S�nchez, a leader of the pro-Navy faction who is also a security guard at the base. "The campaign against the Navy is directed by separatists who attack democracy and American citizenship." In recent days, fliers have circulated on the island with Mr. Castro's picture alongside that of Che Guevara and Robert Rabin, a leader of the Navy opposition. "If the Navy leaves, we are left in the open and unprotected," said Juana Rivera, a statehood supporter who unsuccessfully ran for mayor last year. "Puerto Rico is the door to the Atlantic and the Americas. I am not going to give it to Fidel Castro on a silver platter." Governor Calder�n dismisses such talk, saying: "This is about human rights and justice for people who have been bombed for 60 years. I repudiate Fidel Castro. His government has nothing to do with this. Those who say so want to harm the people of Puerto Rico." Political analysts agree that the Vieques vote has great resonance for Puerto Rico, which became a United States territory in 1898, at the end of the Spanish-American War. "Vieques is a symbol for national affirmation against the United States," said Juan Garc�a Passalacqua, a political analyst. "The people have found a way to express their rejection of colonialism without having to choose between the options for political status." On Friday night, hundreds of Navy opponents trekked up Mount Carmelo here to cheer the unfurling of the Vieques flag, a blue and white banner. As more than 50 people lifted the banner high, the Rev. Nelson L�pez, the Catholic pastor of Vieques, sprinkled holy water and intoned a benediction. "As we lift this flag, we lift our souls, our faith, our hope for a better Vieques without the Navy," he said. "A Vieques where people live in peace and love, developing themselves to earn their daily bread." He removed his stole and kissed it, then began a chant not taught in the seminary. "Vieques s�!" he shouted. "Navy no!" Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _________________
