The
¡VIEQUES
LIBRE! Page
@ PeaceHost.net, (continued)
Archive: 25 June to July, 2000
Subject: Construcción Albergue Campamento Justicia y Paz de
Vieques // Vieques Peace and Justice Camp Shelter
Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2000 00:50:50 -0100
Construction Project: Peace and Justice Shelter
Vieques Peace and Justice Camp (PJC), in front of the entrance to the Navy facility, Camp García here in Vieques,
where the US Navy does its bombing practice, plays a central role in the struggle against the military presence on
the island. Currently, a shelter is under construction on the camp grounds to offer housing for the many people
who come in solidarity to stay at PJC and participate in protest activities, civil disobedience actions and to offer
services for the struggle. We are asking for financial support from people and organizations who solidarize
with the Vieques cause to help complete this project.
Peace and Justice Camp
Founded on 4 December, 1999, with the aim of blocking the entrance and exit to the military base, Vieques Peace
and Justice Camp was a vital element in the support system for the resistence camps set up in the bombing area
until the arrests on May 4th. The PJC became the collection center for provisions - water, food, batteries,
medicines, etc. - that were sent daily by fishing boat to the camps in the restricted zone. The PJC was also the
center of communications between the civilian population and the resistence camps.
The peacefull civil disobedience action of the PJC was the obstruction, with human bodies, of vehicles,
personnel or military equipment through the gate to Camp García. This mission was carried out succesfully until
the 4th of May when around sixty people - mainly Viequenses - were arrested, or "kidnapped" by the military
forces at the camp.
After May 4th, the PJC reorganized its human, physical and spatial resources to continue as a resistence camp
against the military aggresion on Vieques. We receive hundreds of people each week from Vieques, from the
main island and from other countries. The camp´s office continues to be the command and communications
center during civil disobedience actions. We also serve as headquarters for the Committee for the Rescue and
Development of Vieques (CRDV) and meeting and protest space for all the community organizations that
struggle for Peace on Vieques. Every Saturday a vigil is held at the camp, coordinated by the CRDV since 1998.
Friend to the camp, Noel Hernández, designed and directs the construction of the Peace and Justice Shelter that
began last week and is expected to be finished at mid month. We appeal to those friends in solidarity with the
Vieques cause to help us with the costs of this project, estimated to be over five thousand dollars.
Donation
For more information please contact the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques at (787) 741-0716
or 375-0525
Donations can be sent to the CRDV at P.O. Box 1424, Vieques, Puerto Rico
00765 or deposited in the Committee´s account:
Banco Popular # 112 868231
Please forward this message.
Subject: Informe de Vieques // Vieques Update
Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2000 08:33:14 -0100
Informe desde Vieques 23 de julio de 2000
Warm greetings from Vieques. During the past few weeks we have
witnessed an increase in action by the Navy and by the forces of our
community. Every day a large number of military vehicles enters and
leaves Camp García with personnel, equipment and materials. Wood,
light posts, cement, stone, sand, cables, barbed wire of all types.
On several ocassions, Navy trucks have crashed into the gate to the base
because of their exagerrated size. Two Saturdays ago, a very big
platform truck carrying construction materials, part of a caravan of
military vehicles crossing Vieques from north to south with its Puerto
Rico police escort, destroyed a car belonging to an old man in the
Destino sector. The police had to calm the yells of NAVY OUT and
YANKEE GO HOME by neighbors furious at what they saw. At the
gate to Camp García (entrance to the Navy´s bombing and training
areas) the convoy was met by a large group gathered at the Peace and
Justice Camp, in front of the gate, who vigorously protested the use of
the civilian roads by these military vehicles. A shouting match ensued
with the Riot Squad of the Police, a force that acts as a private security
group for the US Navy in Vieques.
Two days later, another flatbad truck carrying a bulldozer, snapped an
electric cable in the Martineau section of Vieques. A young worker from
a nearby hotel construction site, had to be hospitalized for burns caused
when he tried to move the electric line from the road to avoid a terrible
accident with oncoming cars. On several ocassions we have denounced
- as we did again - the dangerous and indignant use by military vehicles
of the roads in the civilian sector.
During the week end of 13 to 16 July, we celebrated here the First
Viequense Festival in Honor of the Virgin of Carmen, with the
participation of many of Puerto Rico´s best musical talents on a giant
stage set up in the baseball park of Barrio Esperanza. Thousands of
people from Vieques and from the main island, came to the event that
was organized by the Cayo Yayí Collective with the cooperation of the
Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques (CRDV) and
several other community organizations.
During a press conference on 13 July at the Puerto Rican Atheneum in
San Juan, we presented the first part of the Guidelines for Sustainable
Development of a Free Vieques, prepared by the Technical and
Professional Group in Support of Vieques. This effort by tens of Puerto
Rican professionals in the area of social and economic development, in
coordination with the CRDV, the Vieques Women´s Alliance and the
Vieques Conservation Trust, contributes to the articulation of a
community vision for development in a Vieques freed from the military
presence.
Three representatives of the Vieques struggle spent last week in South
Korea and Okinawa, participating in international conferences on the
impact of US militarism on communities. Carlos Zenón, Vieques
fisherman and leader of the Mount David Camp; Lucy Saldaña of the
Peace and Justice Camp and Ismael Guadalupe, veteran leader of the
Vieques struggle and principle spokesman for the CRDV, travelled to
Asia to speak on the case of Vieques.
The Saturday night vigils at the Peace and Justice Camp continue with
the active participation of hundreds of people from Vieques. Religious,
political, cultural and youth leaders have made use of the microphone at
the vigils to continue denouncing the abuses committed by the Navy and
to announce the multiplicity of activities organized by the community
groups.
While the Navy espouses its Good Neighbor policy on its new Website
on the internet, every day they add barbed wire and dangerous razor
wire to their fences that each day look more and more like the border
between two countries at war. Seven days a week, military personnel
work on the fence that crosses the island from north to south, installing
giant rolls of razor wire on the ground and on the top sections of the
fence. They also install a very thick steel cable the entire length of the
fence (aprox. 6 miles) to add strength before the probability of new
entrances by our people into the Navy´s restricted zone.
What the military people cannot understand is that there is not enough
barbed wire in the world to stop the march of history which moves
steadily toward the liberation of Vieques.
In struggle, in solidarity,
Robert Rabin, CRDV
Subject: Report from Camp Peace and Justice for Vieques
Date: Sat, 8 Jul 2000 16:52:26 -0100
8 July, 2000
Warm greetings of solidarity from Vieques. Here we present a brief summary of recent events in the
struggle for Peace on Vieques. Last week end - 1 and 2 July - we held the First International
Triatholon for Peace in Vieques, with the participation of athletes from Puerto Rico, Canada, United
States, Ecuador, Chile, Hong Kong, St. Vincent, Brazil, among other countries. The event was
coordinated with the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques (CRDV) and
promoted as an expression of athletic solidarity with the Vieques cause.
During the Vigil held on Saturday night, more than 400 people at Peace and Justice Camp (accross
the street from the entrance to the Navy installation of Camp García) protested the Navy presence
and listened to chemist, Dr. Neftalí García, environmental and scientific advisor to the CPRDV, on
the horrible effects of military contamination on the health of our people.
Around 11:00PM, a military school bus approached the gate from inside Camp García, ready to
leave and turn onto the road where we were protesting. We sustained a moving picket line for more
than half an hour before finally the Puerto Rico Police brigade (Riot Police) crossed the road in
formation to allow the Navy bus to leave the area.
On Monday, 3 July, the Friends of Vieques Collective - a group of Puerto Rican university students
who maintained for months a resistence camp in the bombing area - presented the documentary:
Vieques: chronicles from disobedience. On a big screen hundreds of residentes of Vieques
watched the documentary - a photo narrative on the life in the resistence camps and the arrests by
Navy and federal agents on 4 May, 2000. The students brought several singers and offered a very
special night of art and music at the sevice of our strguggle for peace.
On the 4th of July, we held a series of activities to denounce the military presence, taking advantage
of the Independence Day celebration in the US. At 12 noon, the Vieques Women´s Alliance
celebrated an activity in front of the gate to Camp García, including a drama about the struggle and a
human chain symbolizing the unity of the people.
Around 1:30 in the afternoon, 16 people who had entered the Navy´s restricted zone, appeared on
the road inside Camp García. The group consisting mainly of law students from UPR, together with
representatives of the Yayí Key Collective and the Peace and Justice Camp, walked until they
reached the gate where they were arrested. Waiting at the gate were several military policemen
who, without the least provocation or justification, turned on a machine that sprayed pepper gas at
those being arrsted, the Puerto Rican policemen outside the gate and dozens of peacefull protesters
in the street,including children and older folks. This was a show of force indicative of the brutality
and insensibility that characterizes the abuses practiced against the people of Vieques by the US
Navy.
An hour after the arrest of the 16, military personnel brought the prisioners out of Camp García in a
large bus, not before the Puerto Rico Riot Police had to clear the street of delegates from the
Friends of Vieques Collective, who put their bodies on the line in defense of those arrested. In the
process, the police also sprayed people with pepper gas, imitating the earlier actions of the military
police.
We need to recongnize the extraordinary work of the Puerto Rican/Viequense youth in this difficult
phase of the struggle. The example of valor and sacrifice that the Collective Friends of Vieques - a
contingent of Puerto Rican university students dedicated to the defense of Bieke - clearly showed us
their capacity to organize, in a disciplined manner, significant actions against the military violence.
At the same time we must mention the important participation of Vieques youth in the civil
disobedience actions here during the past months. The "guides" that have helped guarentee the
entrance into the Navy's restricted area and arrive at the impact zone and other areas inside the
military base, have been mainly young people of Vieques. The Horseman for Peace, is a Vieques
youth group dedicated to the liberation of their people from the miltary yoke. The Vieques Youth
United has organized a series of activities to raise consciousness and are preparing to participate in
upcoming civil disobedience actions. The continuity of this struggle is well guaranteed!
Also during the past week end, we began construction in the Peace and Justice Camp, of a
"housing" facility for people who arrive to participate in the many actions related to our struggle.
Guelo, compañero from Vega Baja and the musician-arquitect of the Vieques struggle - Noel
Hernández - prepared the plans and began the building of the facility that should be finished in the
next couple of weeks. All donations for this proyect are welcome.
The Committee for the Rescue and Develoment of Vieques is the principal support organization for
Viequenses arrested. During the civil disobedience actions in which Viequenses have been
arrested, the CRDV covers costs of transporting arrested and family to and from Vieques and the
main island. Often this is after regular hours of the ferry and airplane services. The Committee has
paid gasoline for fishermen to transport our people home and has rented airplanes at night for the
same purpose. These costs, as well as bail costs are accumulating.
Any fianancial support can be sent to the CRDV at Box 1424 Vieques, PR 00765.
Tomorrow (Sunday, 9 July) we receive a delegation of Federal Employees for Peace in Vieques. In
coordination with the CRDV, the groupo of federal workers from Puerto Rico will march from the
port area to Camp Peace and Justice, in front of the gates to Camp García.
As we finish writing these notes, we received information that Gazir Sued was arrested last night in
his home for refusing to pay $1000.00 bail after being arrested with the Vieques Horsemen for
Peace in June. Tito Kayak is in solitary in the federal jail in San Juan for fasting. We express our
profound solidarity and love for both compañeros and exhort all those who support the Vieques
struggle to remain informed about the situation of Tito and Gazir as well as many members of the
PIP who are still in jail for their recent civil disobedience actions here.
In Struggle, In Solidarity
Robert Rabin CRDV
Subject: Arrestados 4 de julio Arrests 4th of July
Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 08:16:31 -0100
July 4, 2000
PRESS RELEASE
NAVY USES PEPPER GAS AGAINST PEACEFULL DEMONSTRATORS
Around 20 people were arrested by military police after penetrating the US Navy´s restricted zone
today at 1:30 in the afternoon. The group, made up mostly of University of Puerto Rico law
students, arrived at the gate to Camp García from inside the base where they were arrested.
Simultaneously, the Vieques Women´s Alliance formed a human chain in the street in front of
Navy´s gate to contrast the unity of the people with the agression simbolized by the military fence.
During the act, the participants handed out a document titiled, Declaration of the Puerto Rico Civil
Disobedients.
Without any provocation, military personal sprayed pepper gas on those being arrested as well as
on the Puerto Rican police who guard the Navy´s gate. People participating in a peacefull
demonstration in the street directily in front of Camp García ? including children and elderly - were
also affected by the gases. A member of the Tactical Operations Unit of the PR police attacked with
pepper spray a young woman while she filmed the incident.
Among the arrested are representatives of the Yayi Key Collective, Peace and Justice Camp,
solidarity groups from Mayaguez and Aguadilla. Support for the actions came from the Friends of
Vieques Collective (UPR) and the Vieques Horsemen for Peace group and the Committee for the
Rescue and Development of Vieques.
The activities in Vieques were part of a series of actions in support of the struggle of the Viequenses
that took place also in Ponce, San Juan and several US cities. Spokesmen for the Vieques struggle
indicated that penetrations into the Navy restricted zone would continue as part of the non violent
civil disobedience movement directed at calling attention to the injustices committed by the US Navy
on this island municipality.
Leaders of the Vieques struggle also expressed solidarity with the members of the Puerto Rico
Independence Party and others arrested and jailed for the Vieques cause.
Subject: Comunicado carta a Clinton Letter to Clinton
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2000 09:44:42 -0100
PRESS RELEASE
CLINTON RECEIVES LETTER FROM VIEQUENSES
During the meeting between Puerto Rican political leaders and President Clinton on Wednesday, 28
June, in Washington, D.C., the people of Vieques delivered a letter to Clinton in which they
protested the recent bombings and expressed their rejection of the presidential directives about
Vieques. The letter was hand delivered to Clinton by the President of the Popular Democratic
Party, Sila María Calderón.
The letter, signed by Nilda Medina, spokeswoman for the Committee for the Rescue and
Develoopment of Vieques (CRDV), stated that "judging from the public information that comes out
of the White House, it appears that you are not being told the truth about the situation on our
island." In the letter to Clinton, the CRDV emphasized that "three more years of bombing, without
guarantee that the Navy will leave, is not an acceptable solution. Ordering the Navy out, without
any more bombing, is acceptable."
Together with the letter, the CPRDV sent a list of the Vieques community organizations that make
up the Coordinating Committee for Peace and Justice on Vieques, that support the delcarations
contained in the letter.
Included, copy of letter to the President.
COMMITTEE FOR THE RESCUE AND DEVELOPMENT OF VIEQUES
PO BOX 1424 VIEQUES, PUERTO RICO 00765
TELEFAX (787) 741-0716 E MAIL: bieke@coqui.net
25 June, 2000
William J. Clinton
President of the United States of America
The White House Washington, D.C.
Dear Mr. President
We take this opportunity to inform you of the grave situation caused by the presence and activities
of the US Navy on the Island of Vieques. Judging by the public information that comes from the
White House, it appears you have not been told the whole truth about the situation on our island.
During the last sixty years, Vieques has been bombed constantly, as if we were at war, causing
physical, spiritual, emotional damages as well as devastating environmental destruction. Federal laws
have been violated daily. The population of this beautiful island is denied the right to live in peace, a
right that is guaranteed by the federal and Puerto Rican constitutions.
It is incomprehensible for us that the U.S. Navy continuously carries out military maneuvers on land,
air and sea in such close proximity to the populated area of our island, risking the lives of many
human beings. The United States claims to be a stalwart of human rights. However, the military
presence and activities here violate the basic human rights of our people.
We ask that you take into consideration the unified commitment demonstrated by the Puerto Rican
people in this matter. A Special Commision to Study the Situation of Vieques, created by the
Governor of Puerto Rico, and representatives of all sectors of Puerto Rican society, concluded that
the only solution to the crisis created by the Navy´s presence and actions here, is the immediate and
permanent cessation of all military activities.
The historic demands of the people of Vieques are: demilitarization, decontamination, return of lands
to our people and sustainable economic development.
We know your meeting with our political leaders will help you understand why the overwhelming
majority of our people oppose the continued Navy use of Vieques. They will talk to you about our
children who die from cancer, our sick and unemployed and the hope for a better future that is only
possible in a Vieques without the Navy presence. Three more years of bombing, with no guarantee
that the Navy will leave, is not an acceptable solution. Ordering the Navy out without any more
bombs of any kind is.
Thank you,
Nilda Medina Díaz
For the CRDV
Subject: A Vieques Protesters to Vieques
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 08:52:33 -0100
26 June, 2000
PRESS RELEASE
Call for protesters to come to Vieques in opposition to Navy bombing
The Committee for the Rescue and Development called today for organizations and individuals in solidarity with the cause of Peace for
Vieques to travel to the island municipality today, Monday and during the
resto of this week to participate in protests and actions of civil disobedience
to denounce the US Navy bombing here.
The Peace and Justice Camp, in front the Navy base, Camp García, will be
the meeting point for protesters who should bring their camping equipment
and provisions. At the camp people will receive instructions about
participation in the protest actions that will take place over the next several
days under the direction of Vieques´ community leaders.
A vigil in front of the entrance to Camp García will be held each night this
week in support of protesters inside the bombing area and for those who will
be entering next.
The Committee for the Rescue and Development called today for
organizations and individuals in solidarity with the cause of Peace for
Vieques to travel to the island municipality today, Monday and during the
resto of this week to participate in protests and actions of civil disobedience
to denounce the US Navy bombing here.
The Peace and Justice Camp, in front the Navy base, Camp García, will be
the meeting point for protesters who should bring their camping equipment
and provisions. At the camp people will receive instructions about
participation in the protest actions that will take place over the next several
days under the direction of Vieques´ community leaders.
A vigil in front of the entrance to Camp García will be held each night this
week in support of protesters inside the bombing area and for those who will
be entering next.
Subject: Viequenses en zona de bombardeo Viequenses in bombing range
Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2000 12:54:42 -0100
25 de junio de 2000
COMUNICADO DE PRENSA
VIEQUENSES CONTINUE ENTERING INTO NAVY RESTRICTED LANDS
Manifestantes ubicados en la zona de bombardeo
Un núcleo de manifestantes por la paz de Vieques penetraron exitosamente ayer en el área de
bombardeo de la Marina de Guerra de EU en la Isla Nena. Mientras agentes federales y policía
militar arrestaban a treinta y seis personas en la zona de la verja militar a dos millas al norte del
portón de Campamento García, un núcleo de manifestantes logró entrar al área de bombardeo al
extremo este de la isla.
A group of protestor for Peace in Vieques successfully ppenetrated the US Navy´s bombing zone
on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques yesterday. While federal agents and military police arrested
thirty six protesters inside the perimeter fence close to the entrance to Camp García, another group
made it to the bombing area
Según Carlos Zenón, uno de los coordinadores de las acciones de desobediencia civil, temprano en
la mañana de hoy (domingo) se recibió la comunicación indicando que la misión de penetrar el área
de tiro fue exitosa. "El objetivo de nuestras acciones de entrada a la zona restringida en estos días
es ubicar gente en posiciones de servir de escudos humanos en el área de bombardeo. Podemos
asegurarles que hay un grupo de nuestra gente en la zona de impacto preparados para quedarse allí
por varios días," dijo el veterano líder de la lucha viequense.
El liderato de la oposición a la presencia militar en Vieques está trabajando en forma unida para
mantener una constante presencia de personas en la zona de tiro hasta que termine el periodo del
bombardeo anunciado por la Marina para esta semana.
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