| Activist fasts for Clinton meeting with
Vieques leaders
A Latin America activist is fasting until President Clinton grants
a meeting with the religious and peace movement leaders of Vieques, the Puerto
Rican island that has been subjected to bombing practice by the U.S. Navy.
In a July 25 letter to Clinton, Andres Thomas-Conteris, 38, wrote,
“Mohandas K. Gandhi called fasting the ‘prayer of a soul in
anguish.’ It is the final stage along an ever intensifying nonviolent
witness.”
Conteris switched to a water-only fast (supplemented with
non-caloric electrolytes) Aug. 14, after the U.S. Navy launched another bombing
exercise on Vieques. By Aug. 22, the 6’2” activist had lost 30
pounds.
Opposition to the U.S. military’s live-fire bombing range on
Vieques has alternately simmered and flared throughout the Navy’s
five-decade presence on the island. A 13-month occupation of the bombing range
effectively halted bombing practices until protesters were evicted May 4.
On Jan. 31, Clinton had promised the local population a referendum
to determine the Navy’s future on the island. Until then, military
maneuvers, using inert bombs, would resume at a reduced level.
Jeffrey [Farrow], co-chair of the president’s
Inter-Agency Task Force, said the directives, which “elected [Puerto
Rican] officials have agreed to,” indicate that the president is not
indifferent to the people of Vieques.
However, Conteris, a Washington-based lay Methodist missioner and
member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation’s Task Force on Latin America
and the Caribbean, said that Clinton should meet with “those most affected
by the ongoing bombing” -- people like Fr. Nelson Lopez, pastor of
Immaculate Conception Church in Vieques and community organizer Robert
Rabin.
According to Conteris, over 40 people in Vieques, including
religious leaders and members from the Alliance of Vieques Women began a
rotating fast July 25 in support of his plea to Clinton. Conteris says he is
“ready to go very, very long, given the just nature of the cause and the
simplicity of the request.”
-- Claire Schaeffer-Duffy
National Catholic Reporter, September 1, 2000
[corrected 09/08/2000]
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