> --- Robert Rabin - Nilda Medina <bieke at coqui.net>
>
> > COMMITTEE FOR THE RESCUE AND DEVELOPMENT OF VIEQUES
> > P.O. 1424 Vieques, Puerto Rico 00765
> > Telefax (787) 741-0716 E mail: bieke at coqui.net
> >
> >
> > Vieques Update
> > 23 July, 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