> Battle over Vieques to accelerate
>
> By Ivan Roman
> [Orlando Sentinel] San Juan Bureau
> Posted December 18, 2000
>
> SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- The date is set for the unprecedented
> referendum for voters in Vieques to decide if, after 60 years of
> bombs and displacement, the U.S. Navy stays or goes.
>
> Between now and Nov. 6, the race is on to win the hearts and minds
> of the island municipality`s 7,000 voters. The agreement hammered
> out between officials in Washington and San Juan allows training
> with dummy bombs until May 2003 at the Vieques target range, the
> Navy`s premier training facility in the Atlantic.
>
> What happens after that date will be decided at the polls, so each
> side in this intense confrontation has to make its case.
>
> Among the Navy`s salvos: $40 million in economic-development
> projects, four pianos, 140 new jobs, and a boat ride and visit for
> 32 Vieques elementary-school children to the Naval Station Roosevelt
> Roads in Ceiba, across the channel from Vieques.
>
> Navy spokesperson Ruth Diaz said a handful of people have already
> been selected to fill the carpentry, plumbing and office jobs being
> offered -- half on Camp Garcia in Vieques and the rest on Roosevelt
> Roads. Daily transportation will be free.
>
> Military and civilian Navy personnel gathered donations for four new
> pianos for schools in Vieques when teachers complained they didn`t
> have musical instruments. And 32 children were brought by boat for a
> day of fun and friendship Thursday at the base`s elementary school.
>
> Children from the base`s school welcomed the Vieques children with a
> Christmas concert. Then they paired off as buddies during computer
> and math classes. They had lunch together, and the Marine Corps`
> Toys for Tots program gave out toys.
>
> "This is part of our being a good neighbor, which we want to be,"
> Diaz said. "This has nothing to do with buying votes."
>
> But Adm. Kevin Green, who heads the Navy`s Southern Command, has
> said he wanted to complete the economic-development projects and
> other goodwill efforts before the referendum for a reason -- action
> could be the Navy`s best campaign tools.
>
> "The Navy fully realizes it must devote more resources to community
> relations in Vieques, and be the economic force that it is in
> civilian communities such as in eastern Puerto Rico," he said in The
> San Juan Star. "We are appealing to the people of Vieques that it is
> not too late."
>
> Critics beg to differ.
>
> Two-thirds of Vieques voters last month backed mayoral candidates
> who want an immediate end to all bombing exercises. Many blame the
> Navy for their having to live on one quarter of the 52-square-mile
> island. They say the Navy has taken the best beaches, is strangling
> tourism and the economy, and has polluted the island.
>
> The Navy denies these charges and is trying to develop a new image.
> But given that the Navy has let residents down in the past, some of
> its critics think this latest attempt won`t work.
>
> "They started this before the elections and didn`t get the results
> they wanted," mayor-elect Damaso Serrano said. "I don`t think people
> will let themselves be fooled by this ruse."
>
> But others fear some goodwill can be bought. They complain that the
> directives let the Navy set the referendum date, giving them more
> time to win people over.
>
> Furthermore, they say, the option of an immediate halt to all
> bombing will not be on the ballot. If those who think the referendum
> is undemocratic stay home, it gives pro-Navy votes more weight.
>
> That`s why Gov.-elect Sila Maria Calderon wants to hold a referendum
> on her terms. She rebuffed the Navy`s threats to block the transfer
> of 8,000 acres of land by Dec. 31 and halt economic-development
> projects if she didn`t commit to the agreement.
>
> She reaffirmed her pledge to reopen negotiations on the issue,
> remove police support at the Navy camp`s gates in Vieques and impose
> environmental regulations that would hinder military exercises.