The U.S. Navy says it will resume military practices on Vieques September 3. This is the second time this year that Washington’s military forces have conducted mock assaults and bombings on the Caribbean island against the wishes of the vast majority of Puerto Rican people.

For decades the U.S. rulers have used their colonial domination of the island to maintain bases, a huge weapons depot, and a live-fire range on Puerto Rican territory. Until recently Washington controlled nearly two-thirds of Vieques. Naval battle groups, including Marines, carried out live-fire invasions as part of coordinating air, land, and sea assaults.

The upcoming intrusion is scheduled to last for 23 days, led by the USS Harry S. Truman naval battle group. The nuclear aircraft carrier transports more than 100 warplanes, including dozens of bombers and fighters, as well as surveillance aircraft.

"The mobilization should send the navy a clear message of what’s awaiting for them," organizers of the August 24 demonstration told the press, underlining the success of the event.

Named a "Relay for Peace in Vieques," the march was dedicated to those whose lands were taken away by the U.S. Navy in the 1940s, when Washington first set up its military bases in Vieques after World War II.

More than 20 different organizations supported the action. These included members of the electrical workers and teachers unions, who recently won a contract fight, and delegations from the main trade union federations in Puerto Rico. Groups from several political parties and organizations supporting the fight to end Puerto Rico’s status as a U.S. colony were present.

The Pro-Independence University Students (FUPI), and several local town officials who support the demand to get the U.S. Navy out of Vieques, joined in. The marchers covered the 20-mile distance in relays, ending the walk at an encampment occupied by activists in front of the U.S. military base at Camp García.

For many of the "expropriated," as those who lost their land are known, "this was the first time they were able to visit the occupied areas since their lands were taken away from them," said Ismael Guadalupe from the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques in a telephone interview.

Guadalupe was referring to some of the land occupied by the U.S. government that has been returned to local residents. This was a concession made by the Clinton administration in January 2000 in response to growing mobilizations in Puerto Rico against the Navy bases. The former president was also hoping to buy some time for the navy to continue to occupy and bombard Vieques.  
 
‘Return all the land’
The march is "a reminder to the navy that it has to return all the land that it occupies in Vieques, and to show that we will not cease in our struggle until they leave," Guadalupe told the press prior to the action.

Opponents of the U.S. military use of Vieques are holding other actions as the navy prepares its bombing practices.

Guadalupe informed the Militant of recent protests organized by members of FUPI, in which the students staged a mock take over of a U.S. military recruitment office in Rio de Piedra, forcing officials to shut it down for the day.

In anticipation of larger protests, the navy is taking measures to limit access to the bombing range by demonstrators seeking to interrupt the military maneuvers.

In August, Navy employees bulldozed a viewing tower that has been used by protesters to monitor the military exercises. Others used the area as a point of entrance to the range, where they camped out with the aim of disrupting the exercises. The navy has also placed floating bridges around the area of the military maneuvers in order to keep Puerto Ricans from using fishing vessels to enter the shooting range from the sea.

As part of a campaign of intimidation against those who oppose the continuing operations by the U.S. Navy, federal agents arrested Regalado Miró and Cacimar Zenón August 21.

The two well-known activists were charged with interfering with military exercises last April. Zenón’s father is Carlos Zenón, a leader of the Vieques Fishermen’s Association, which has been spearheading many of the protests. He was released last July after spending six months in prison.

Fighters in Vieques have also come under pressure from the U.S. rulers’ patriotic pro-war campaign. Guadalupe told the Militant that he and others are well aware that Washington will use new wars as a pretext to stay in Vieques. Guadalupe advocates continuing the protests even if Washington goes to war.

"Our demand is ‘Peace for Vieques,’" he said. "It would be contradictory to stop when war breaks out. It is when there is war that we must be more active."
 
 
Related articles:
U.S. Navy out of Vieques!  
 
 
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