-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Vieques Actvists Take Over Statue of Liberty Date: Sun, 05 Nov 2000 14:26:29 -0500 From: Jay Moore <research at neravt.com> Reply-To: marxism at lists.panix.com To: <Undisclosed-Recipient:@bypass.com;>
Vieques Libre - http://www.viequeslibre.org
(Versión en español abajo)
November 5, 2000
PRESS RELEASE: Vieques Actvists Take Over Statue of Liberty
Ellis Island, NY-- Members from the Puerto Rico-based Colectivos de Resistencia Amigos del MAR y Amig at s de Vieques, composed of environmentalists, university professors and students, defied the altitude of the Statue of Liberty while decorating it with a banner that reads, Peace for Vieques. "The Statue of Liberty, symbol of the inalienable rights of the People, has been taken as an act of protest against the military practices by the U.S. Navy in Vieques, Puerto Rico" expressed Professor Gazir Sued, a former student leader at the University of Puerto Rico.
Representatives from both collectives, that last month took over the Tower of the University of Puerto Rico and El Capitolio (the legislature building) in San Juan, demand the immediate withdrawal of the U.S. Navy from the Island of Vieques.
Amigos del MAR y Amig at s de Vieques echo the clamor of the Puerto Rican people and demand from presidential candidates Al Gore and George W. Bush, as well as from Senate candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, a resolute position regarding the prompt eviction of the US Navy from Vieques.
Vieques is an island of the Archipelago of Puerto Rico that has been used for more than 60 years as a bombing range by the U.S. Navy as well as other NATO forces. "The negative effects of the shelling," expressed Albanaí Valentín, a student and activist at the University of Puerto Rico, "are evidenced in the deaths of civilians, in the mutilated bodies of children, in the high cancer rates of our people, and in the environmental pollution caused by the uranium, aluminum, lead, arsenic, and mercury left over by the military practices."
For more information, please contact:
New York Juan Casañas: (917) 929-1197 Olga San Miguel: (646) 263-5351
Puerto Rico Carmen Chazulle: (787) 562-8552
For up to the minute information and pictures, visit us at http://www.ViequesLibre.org.