> Vieques trespassers sentenced to mere hours behind bars
>
> [Beneath this article: "Politician Berrios sick with cancer"]
>
>
> Published in The Orlando Sentinel on June 14, 2000
>
> Activists won`t rule out trespasses
>
> Puerto Rican activists declared victory after being handed brief
> terms for sneaking onto the U.S. Navy bombing range.
>
> By Ivan Roman
>
> San Juan Bureau
>
> SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Anti-Navy activists claimed victory Tuesday when a
> federal judge found former senator and gubernatorial candidate Ruben
> Berrios and an environmental expert guilty of trespassing for re-entering
> the Vieques target range, but ordered them locked up for just a few hours.
>
> As Berrios and Jorge Fernandez Porto were led to holding cells -- for
> sentences of six and four hours, respectively -- family, friends and
> supporters of the Puerto Rican Independence Party outside the federal
> courthouse cheered. They say that in this test of wills, the government
> blinked.
>
> Greeted as a hero when he came down the federal courthouse steps later,
> Berrios told more than 300 supporters that the court proved the Navy can`t
> beat the will of the people in this fight to get them out of Vieques.
>
> "The first thing I want to say is `We won!`" said Berrios, pointing to the
> dozens of Puerto Rican and PIP flags waving about. "Today`s nominal
> sentence made clear the moral bankruptcy and the lack of legitimacy of this
> government`s actions that its own court won`t sustain. The Navy in Vieques
> is finished."
>
> The pair were the first of the 216 people federal agents cleared off the
> Navy`s restricted grounds in
> Vieques on May 4 to defy warnings and return. They faced up to six months
> in jail and a $5,000 fine.
>
> In Tuesday`s light sentence, activists see a precedent for about 90 others
> still facing trespassing charges for returning to the range. They also
> expect a boost to the continuing civil disobedience.
>
> Fernandez Porto, who was released about 3:30 p.m., was asked whether he
> would return to Vieques.
>
> "We don`t dismiss anything ... we are willing to do whatever we have to do
> at the moment that it`s
> necessary," he said.
>
> "People who were already willing to serve six months in jail have now seen
> how the government got weak in the knees," said Julio Muriente, president
> of the New Independence Movement, another trespasser awaiting trial.
>
> This is the latest twist in the 14-month fight to get the Navy to stop
> bombing on the Vieques target range, considered the crown jewel of Atlantic
> training facilities, and leave the 22,000 acres it has
> owned on the island municipality since World War II. In April 1999, a
> wayward bomb killed a Puerto Rican civilian security guard at the range.
>
> Since activists, lawmakers and environmentalists were cleared off the Navy
> grounds in Operation
> Eastern Access, many have kept their promise to return, sustaining the
> movement and trying to
> create a logjam in the federal courts. After Berrios and Fernandez were
> caught May 10, three other groups, one as recently as last weekend, have
> crawled under fences or sailed on small boats to get
> back in.
>
> Attorney General Janet Reno had warned those evicted on May 4 that they
> could be fined up to
> $250,000 or face up to 10 years` imprisonment if they returned. But the
> misdemeanor trespassing
> charges they have all received are a far cry from that. No arraignments
> have been set for any other
> protesters.
>
> Seemingly reluctant prosecutors have said that the full force of the law is
> reserved for the "real crime" they deal with constantly. Upon hearing the
> judge`s ruling Tuesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jorge Vega Pacheco pointed
> out Berrios` three-month prison term for conducting a similar protest on
> the old target range in the neighboring island municipality of Culebra in
> 1971, but made no specific sentence recommendation.
>
> He said the maximum six-month term could have made people so indignant that
> more protesters
> would feel compelled to sneak onto the Navy grounds.
>
> "We`re not going to make a political statement here," Vega Pacheco said.
> "Each case will be seen
> on its merits. No matter which way this went, somebody would say this would
> be a boost to the
> protesters."
>
> The judge allowed Berrios to make a closing statement. While he did not
> offer to defend himself on the trespassing charge, Berrios delivered a
> four-page speech calling the United States "undemocratic" for siding with
> the Navy over the people`s will and blasting Congress` refusal to act to
> resolve Puerto Rico`s colonial status.
>
> Before sentencing, U.S. District Judge Juan Perez Gimenez, who is believed
> to be a strong advocate for statehood, shot back:
>
> "When I analyze your actions, I see clearly and with immense satisfaction
> that our democracy is
> strong and alive.
>
> "When I hear you ridicule it, criticize it, even disparage it, I know it`s
> strong and alive."
>
> Posted Jun 14 2000 5:40AM
>
> *********************************
>
> Politician Berrios sick with cancer
>
> By Ivan Roman
> San Juan Bureau
>
> Published in The Orlando Sentinel on June 15, 2000
>
> SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- The day after he was jailed for six hours for
> trespassing on the Vieques target range, Puerto Rican Independence
> Party President Ruben Berrios announced Wednesday that he has
> prostate cancer. But he made it clear that he doesn`t intend to let it slow
> him down.
>
> Surgeons plan to remove his prostate this week or next week. He`ll
> recover for about two months and then keep running his gubernatorial
> campaign. Berrios, 60, who spent almost a year on the Vieques target
> range to block the Navy`s bombing exercises, said he`ll go back to visit
> Vieques residents in their homes as soon as he is better.
>
> Doctors said the cancer appears to be contained to the prostate, so the
> prognosis is good. Berrios found out two weeks ago, but he kept it quiet
> to avoid influencing his trial or his sentence.
>
> "I`ve been through two hurricanes out on the range, 30 years fighting
> against a superpower, a year in that prison without bars, and this cancer
> is not going to beat me," Berrios, flanked by doctors, told teary and grim
> supporters.
>
> The announcement came a day after Berrios and his supporters claimed
> victory when a federal judge sentenced him to just six hours in jail for
> re-entering the restricted Navy grounds May 10, six days after federal
> authorities evicted him and 215 others. Anti-Navy activists say the light
> sentence proves the U.S. government won`t carry out its threat to punish
> \protesters.
>
> PIP activists said they can`t prove it, but they suggest that Berrios`
> cancer could be tied to his presence on the range for almost a year.
>
> In local studies -- disputed by authorities -- Vieques` civilian population=
> ,
> situated eight miles from the target range, has a higher rate of cancer
> than the main island of Puerto Rico.
>
> Berrios reportedly was healthy before he spent a year on the range,
> which contains heavy metals, toxic substances and bullets coated with
> depleted uranium. That he now has cancer is more than a coincidence,
> activists say.
>
> Last month, 200 Vieques residents with cancer or other illnesses filed
> with the Navy an intent to sue for health problems. The Agency for
> Toxic Substance Disease Registry is conducting a public health
> assessment of Vieques.
>
> Navy officials say "no scientific study or empirical data" has linked their
> activities to health concerns in Vieques and that of the 180,400 new
> cases of prostate cancer diagnosed each year, a vast majority are in men
> in Berrios` age group.
>
> "Linking his illness to any Navy activities on Vieques past or present is
> highly speculative," said Lt. Jeff Gordon said, adding that the Navy
> supports the current agency-conducted study.
>
> Berrios first got to the range in May 1999, about a month after a
> wayward bomb killed security guard David Sanes Rodriguez, which set
> off the intense campaign to force the Navy to leave.
>
> He left his Puerto Rico Senate seat, but remained a candidate for
> governor this year.
>
> Politicians from all parties wished him well Wednesday in this personal
> battle. Some local doctors question whether Berrios can handle the
> rough-and-tumble political arena in Puerto Rico.
>
> But Berrios vowed to be on the campaign trail.
>
> "Everything indicates that when I die, I`ll die of old age," he said.