"The same ones who awarded us medals want to wipe us out on our own land," said an angry Soto, a resident of Vieques, who took off his jacket, decorated with 10 medals, and stepped on it after he spoke.

Some 150 war veterans and their supporters gathered here May 29--Memorial Day in the United States--at the veterans memorial on the south side of the capitol to demand the U.S. military stop bombing Vieques. Some wore uniforms, some were in wheelchairs.

The protest was organized by Rubén Lind of Veterans for Peace. Lind, a worker at the Veterans Hospital, was in the 1st Cavalry Division of the U.S. Army in Vietnam in 1970-71. He said his group is planning to organize a delegation in New York's Puerto Rican Parade to call for peace in Vieques.

"We are veterans" said Lind. "We know about bombs. We are Puerto Ricans first, veterans second, and then we are Americans."

The Veterans Monument consists of 20 panels with the names of Puerto Ricans from the island who have died in U.S. wars. The first panel has all the names from the first and second world wars. There are 12 panels with the names from the Korean War and six from Vietnam. The last panel lists Puerto Rican soldiers killed in Lebanon, Libya, the Persian Gulf, Panama, and Somalia.

"Mr. President," said Antonio Ramos in a open letter to William Clinton that he was passing out, "when I was recruited to serve in the Korean armed conflict I was informed that I would be part of the Allied Forces as representing the U.S. Army. I was informed too that all of us were leaving our countries to defend Western democracy, civil rights and human liberties.

"The same was told to thousands and thousands of Puerto Rican soldiers who offered their lives, their precious blood, and mental and physic health. I am sure that today they regret, as I do, the deceit in light of the tragedy of the Vieques people, which is a tragedy of all Puerto Rico. I ask myself, where has democracy gone? What has happened to our civil rights, our right to live in peace and freedom?"

In front of the Navy base in Vieques, the Puerto Rican government has finished erecting a fence surrounding a police encampment. This was set up after the May 4 raid carried out by hundreds of FBI cops and U.S. marshals who evicted anti-Navy protesters camped by Camp García and on the U.S. bombing range.

Meanwhile, protesters, unfazed by the cop presence, remain stationed on three rented lots on the other side of the road. Every Saturday night a protest is held in front of the entrance to the Navy land. About 150 people, mostly local residents, rallied there May 27. People arrive from the main island every weekend to visit the camp and express their support to the fight.

A week earlier, Robert Rabin, the main organizer of the protests at Camp García, was beaten by cops after his vehicle stalled and was hit by a police car escorting Navy vehicles out of the base. The Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques, of which he is a leader, is waging a campaign to protest this attack.  
 
 
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