> Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques
>
> PO Box 1424 Vieques, Puerto Rico 00765
>
> (787) 741-0716 E mail: bieke at coqui.net
>
> 27 September, 2000
>
> PRESS RELEASE
>
> Spokesmen for the Committee for the Rescue and
> Development of Vieques (CRDV) and the Peace and
> Justice Camp announced several protest and educational
> activities in the days leading up to the first of
> October, when a large scale march and protest will
> take place here in support of civil disobedience
> actions for peace on Vieques. On Friday, 29 September
> at 7PM in the Peace and Justice Camp, the documentary
> film, Crossing fronteirs (Cruzando fronteras), by
> filmaker Sonia Fritz, about the participation of
> Viequense women in the struggle for demilitarization.
>
> Saturday, 30 September, a very special vigil will be
> held at Peace and Justice Camp, in front of the
> entrance to the bombing range (Camp Garcia), beginning
> around 7PM. In addition to the lively protests in
> front of the gates to the base - action taken by the
> CRDV every Saturday for over a year - musicians from
> Vieques and the main island will sing for Peace on the
> "lsla Nena" (Baby Island, nickname for Vieques).
> Ruben Bonano and Mercedes Perez from Vieques and the
> singer/songwriters from Puerto Rico, Zoraida Santiago
> and Noel Hernandez will offer their music during the
> vigil.
>
> At 5:00 in the morning of Sunday, an early moring wake
> up action, know in Spanish as a Diana, will move
> through the different neighborhoods of Vieques
> announcing the actions of the day. According to Judith
> Conde, of the Vieques Womens Alliance,"we will take a
> message with Plena music throughout Vieques to urge
> our people to participate in the protest activities of
> this day."
>
> Organizers of the October 1st activities will offer
> details that night about the march and protest that
> will take place the following day beginning at 11AM in
> the Sun Bay Public Beach area in Esperanza.
>
> Around a thousand people are expected to arrive in
> Vieques over the weekend and the Vieques community
> organizations estimate the same number of Viequenses
> will participate in the marcha and protest. Robert
> Rabin, one of the spokesman for the CRDV indicated
> that the activities of this week mark the beginning of
> a series of actions planned for October and designed
> to create obstacles to Navy plans to carry out
> maneuvers during this period.
>
> 27 September, 2000
>
> PRESS RELEASE
>
> Several camping areas have been prepared in Vieques
> to house the hundreds of protesters that will arrive
> from the main island this week end to participate in
> the Concentration/March en Support of Civil
> Disobedience the First of October.
>
> Nilda Medina, representative of the Committee for the
> Rescue and Development of Vieques (CRDV) on the
> October 1st Organizing Committee, indicated that
> "...four areas have been prepared for protesters
> during the week end. In the Public Beach (Sun Bay),
> fifty spaces are reserved for campers at a cost of ten
> dollars per tent. Two other spaces have been prepared
> in the Esperanza Sector and international delegates
> will stay at the Peace and Justice Shelter in our camp
> of the same name, in front of the gates to the Navy
> base.
>
> Medina emphasized the importance of communicating with
> the organizers of the activities about housing and
> participation in the activities here this week end.
> The Viequenses suggested that those who can should
> travel to Vieques beginning Friday, 29 September, to
> avoid problems of congestion due to the large number
> of people who will travel in the Ferries between
> Fajardo and Vieques on Saturday and Sunday. They also
> remind campers to bring necesarry materials: tents,
> matresses, sleeping bags, flashlights and drinking
> water.
>
> For more information or to coordinate participation in
> the pro peace actions on Vieques, call the Peace and
> Justice Camp at 741-0716.
>
> Contacto: Nilda Medina, CRDV