Tensions have sharpened in recent weeks between U.S. Navy officials, intent on resuming their bombing practice on Vieques, and the majority in Puerto Rico that has rallied around the fight to get the U.S. military out of this Puerto Rican territory.

The U.S. Navy has occupied two-thirds of Vieques—a small island off the eastern coast of Puerto Rico with a population of 9,000—since the 1940s, sparking recur- -ring protests over the decades. It is the Navy's main live fire range for war maneuvers.

Since April, when a U.S. warplane on bombing practice dropped two bombs that killed Vieques resident David Sanes, several protest camps have been permanently organized in the eastern restricted zone. Tens of thousands of people have participated in ongoing protests in Vieques, throughout Puerto Rico, and in a number of U.S. cities.  
 

Threat of mass arrests

The San Juan daily El Vocero reported November 3 on U.S. government plans for mass arrests of protesters in Vieques. The paper, citing "completely reliable" unnamed sources in Washington, said 300 Spanish-speaking U.S. Marshals would be flown in from the U.S. Southwest to the Roosevelt Roads Naval Station in Ceiba, Puerto Rico, across from Vieques. The Puerto Rican government has stated it will not take part in such arrests.

Those detained would be flown to the U.S. penitentiary in Puerto Rico or to the United States. Bail would be $500 if they agreed not to return to Vieques. Those saying they would return to Vieques might be held in prison camps until they came to trial. Eglin Air Force base in Florida was mentioned as a possible detention site. The arrests could come as early as Thanksgiving weekend if U.S. commander-in-chief William Clinton gives the order.

The source said the U.S. Coast Guard would be used to blockade Vieques and demand identification of anyone traveling in the area, including island residents. Neither the U.S. Justice Department nor the Coast Guard would answer questions from journalists.

Anti-Navy protests both here and in the United States are being planned in response to any arrests in Vieques.

"In case arrests or evictions take place before the student assembly, we have a strike vote and will carry it out. Obviously, after the strike there would be a ratification meeting," said General Student Council president Kevin Rivera.

A student strike at the UPR is expected to have broad support among teachers and university employees as well as the general public. Fund-raising to support the protest camps in Vieques has been carried out by the organization Universitarios con Vieques, which includes students, professors, and trade unions representing university employees.

Rivera visited the protest camps in Vieques October 24 [See Militant November 8,1999]. Student leaders here are also encouraging student organizations in the United States to become involved in solidarity with the struggle against the U.S. Navy in Vieques.

Pro-Vieques protesters interrupted a speech by Clinton in Philadelphia October 29. A demonstration and forum in solidarity with Vieques was planned at Harvard University November 4. A leader of the Vieques fishermen is touring some U.S. cities to tell the truth about their battle.  
 

Water supply to U.S. base is blocked

On October 28 the intakes on the Río Blanco river that supply water to the Roosevelt Roads base were blocked with rocks and plywood, causing a major water shortage on the base.

The next day, top Puerto Rican police officials, FBI agents, Navy officials and employees of the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DNER) descended on the site where 25 members of the "Water for All" Movement were staging a protest. The organization is one of many around this U.S. colony that have led protests demanding decent water service.

The members of Water for All did not claim responsibly for the blockage and refused to accept the official order from DNER secretary Daniel Pagán ordering the intakes reopened. DNER employees moved the objects blocking the pipes.

The area around the Roosevelt Roads Naval Station has chronic water problems. This reporter has been in homes in the area that have been without water service for months at a time.

At the same time, in face of public outrage at the U.S. military, the DNER is threatening a $17 million lawsuit against the Navy for theft of water. The intake has been in the stream since 1942, and the "Water for All" Movement brought to the attention of the Puerto Rican government that the Navy has no valid permits to take water out of the stream.

The outpouring of opposition to the U.S. Navy by working people and others has forced the colonial government and parties to pose as champions of Vieques. Pro-statehood governor Pedro Rosselló has rejected a White House panel's recommendation to let the Navy resume target practice while looking for an alternative site over a five-year period.

Washington, however, is ratcheting up the pressure in the hopes that bourgeois forces in Puerto Rico will buckle. U.S. senator Trent Lott has demanded the cutoff of U.S. funds to Puerto Rico if the Navy is not allowed to train in Vieques. Raising the threat of job losses, U.S. senator James Inhofe has introduced a bill to close the Roosevelt Roads base if the Navy leaves Vieques.

"We are very concerned," declared Puerto Rican senator Orlando Parga, a member of the right wing of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party who announced a "pro-American march" in November. "Lately we have been the topic of news projected to the mainland that gives the impression that Puerto Ricans are renouncing their identity as American citizens," he complained.  
 
 
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