> Navy hopes money talks in Vieques
>
> By Iv=E1n Rom=E1n
> San Juan Bureau
>
> Published in The Orlando Sentinel on June 05, 2000
>
> CEIBA, Puerto Rico - With decades of ill feelings and broken promises
> in the way, can anyone expect people in Vieques to vote for the Navy to
> stay and resume training with live fire?
>
> But the Navy decides when voters go to the polls. And before this
> referendum, the Navy wants to show them the money.
>
> In his first substantive interviews since his arrival Feb. 18, Rear Adm.
> Kevin Green, commander of the Navy`s Southern Command, said last
> week that he hopes to gain votes by wooing the people of Vieques with
> economic aid, new jobs, and moves that should make life easier.
>
> Before the vote -- which President Clinton`s directive states could be
> between Aug. 1 this year and January 2002 -- Green hopes a new
> factory would be open. And the ferry terminal would be moved to the
> western part of the island, opening the shortest passenger and cargo
> route to the main island of Puerto Rico. He hopes the $40 million for a
> new pier, better roads and bridges and compensation for fishermen will
> have passed the Senate.
>
> He warned that if the Navy handed over the land, residents could still see
> themselves on the sidelines as outside developers reaped all the benefit.
>
> "I think it does little economic good for the residents of Vieques, the
> people whose families have lived there for generations, to have outsiders
> come in and take over property that is being protected now," Green said.
>
> That may be an interesting statement to those who remember the Navy
> arriving during World War II, expropriating three-quarters of the island
> and forcing their families to squeeze into the civilian area of Vieques or
> leave for San Juan, St. Croix or New York.
>
> Green insists people in Vieques need to look at root causes of their
> problems, not use the Navy as an "easy scapegoat." The Navy learned
> from past mistakes, he said, appealing for people`s trust.
>
> "This is a long-term commitment," Green said. "This is not a
> flash-in-the-pan answer to today`s call, but rather a permanent
> relationship."
>
> The 27 people arrested that day and cited for trespassing for planting
> black crosses on the controversial target range scoffed at the notion of
> trusting the Navy.
>
> ....
>
> Iv=E1n Rom=E1n covers Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. He can be
> reached at 787-729-9071 or by e-mail at
> iroman at orlandosentinel.com