Protesters ponder next step on
Vieques
By PAUL JEFFREY
Special to the National Catholic Reporter
Inside his tent on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques just before
dawn May 4, Feliciano Rodriguez put on his vestments and walked to Mass at the
nearby chapel in the middle of the bombing range where the U.S. Navy had for
six decades practiced war. Before the celebration could begin, however, armed
U.S. federal marshals and FBI agents swooped down on the Catholic
encampment.
It was a spiritual moment for all of us. There was a solemn
mood. The agents blocked access to the bread and wine, so we just prayed and
sang hymns. As people in other groups were led away, we sang to give them
encouragement and courage, said Rodriguez, a priest who has coordinated
resistance activities on Vieques for the Catholic diocese of Caguas, which
includes the 21-mile long island (NCR, March 10).
Thirteen other priests were arrested with Rodriguez, as well as
five women religious and 22 lay Catholics. The government said 216 people in
all were arrested during the early morning raid.
Demonstrators were released without charges.
The Navy did its part to encourage renewed resistance, waiting a
scant four days before sending two A-4 Skyhawks to drop bombs on the island.
The projectiles were inert dummy bombs, but protestors were
nonetheless incensed. This changes the panorama completely,
declared Puerto Rican Methodist Bishop Juan Vera Mendez, one of several
Protestant leaders arrested May 4.
Church leaders, who have emerged as the leaders of the Vieques
campaign, spent several days discussing their options.
Caguas Catholic Bishop Alvaro Corrada del Rio visited the island
May 6 and 7 and listened to church members, fishers, and members of the Vieques
Womens Alliance. Corrada then sat with his diocesan team for two days of
planning strategy. Corrada was to announce the dioceses future plans
during a May 12 news conference, but Dayani Centeno of the diocesan pastoral
ministries team told NCR that more civil disobedience wasnt
planned immediately.
Were not discarding civil disobedience, but were
more interested right now in a long-term vision of how to accompany the people
of Vieques, she said.
Discussing the Navy presence on Vieques will increasingly involve
discussing the Clinton administrations plan for the island. With the
renewed bombing, Vieques will supposedly now receive $40 million in development
assistance from the federal government. And at some point after August,
according to the deal struck in January between Clinton and Puerto Rican Gov.
Pedro Rossello, islanders will vote in a referendum on whether the Navy may
resume using live ammunition. If voters say yes to live bombs, Vieques will
receive an additional $50 million in aid. If voters defeat the proposal, the
Navy must clean up the practice range, littered with rusting targets and
unexploded bombs, and cease all training by May 1, 2003. They will not be able
to vote for an immediate end to all bombing, a fact that angers many residents
of the island and their supporters in the church.
National Catholic Reporter, May 19,
2000
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