"This triumph is a momentary triumph, and not an eternal victory," said Ismael Guadalupe, a leader of the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques. "We need to redouble our efforts now to try to transform this suspension into a halt to Navy bombing on the island forever."

The struggle to get the U.S. military out of Vieques, which the independence movement has spearheaded for decades, has been at the center of politics in Puerto Rico since April 1999, when a "stray" bomb dropped by a U.S. warplane killed Vieques resident David Sanes.

Under pressure by almost two years of protests, the newly elected governor, Sila Calderón, has been carrying out an intense lobbying campaign in Washington, asking U.S. officials to stop the bombing. Calderón's electoral victory was due in large part to her promise to meet popular demands to end the Navy's ravaging of the tiny island.

Calderón met with Rumsfeld and asked him to delay U.S. military exercises on Vieques until he reviewed a study indicating that noise from the Navy bombing has caused heart disease among residents. Figures show that the island's population also suffers disproportionately high cancer rates.

The Pentagon agreed to suspend training maneuvers on Vieques territory scheduled for April, but said it will carry out maneuvers off the coast of Puerto Rico.

After halting the bombing for several months in face of protests on the island, Washington sent marines and marshals last May to evict demonstrators from the bombing range and resumed its military training and war maneuvers there.

Under a January 2000 agreement signed by then-president William Clinton and the Puerto Rican governor at the time, Pedro Rosselló, training with "inert" bombs will continue until a referendum by Vieques residents--currently planned for November 2001--to decide whether the Navy stays or leaves by May 2003. Calderón has said she considers the unpopular agreement invalid and is seeking a more rapid end to the Navy bombing.
 
 
Related article:
Plan for drug czar in Puerto Rico is opposed  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home