> Jeffrey Farrow, co-chair of the "White House
> Interagency Working Group On Puerto Rico", said today
> that: "Puerto Rico can get out of the presidential
> directives on Vieques whenever it wants. And I
> challenge Puerto Ricans to break the directives so
> that they then see how the Navy will bomb however it
> wants, as often as it wants, wherever it wants, so
> that they see how they're not going to get even a bit
> of federal land, and that Vieques will be chaos." El
> Nuevo Día newspaper, Oct. 4, 2000.
> (http://endi.zonai.com/locales/html/p8b03m10.asp)
>
> The Committee for the Rescue and Development of
> Vieques issued the following press release on Farrow
> and his statements:
>
>
> Comité Pro Rescate y Desarrollo de Vieques
> Apartado 1424 Vieques, Puerto Rico 00765
> (787) 741-0716 Email: bieke at coqui.net
>
> October 4, 2000
>
> JEFFREY FARROW DECLARED PERSONA NON GRATA IN VIEQUES
>
> Viequense leaders described the statements by Jeffrey
> Farrow challenging the people of Puerto Rico to break
> the Presidential Directives on Vieques as "a crass
> manifestation of the arrogance of the Navy and its
> lackeys". Spokespersons for the Committee for the
> Rescue and Development of Vieques (CRDV) stated that
> Farrow's comments "come from someone who wants to act
> like a bully and who thinks his superiority complex
> gives him license to violate the rights of others."
>
> "We don't want him here in Vieques. We consider
> Jeffrey Farrow an agent of the Navy and persona non
> grata in our island," said Robert Rabin, CRDV
> spokesperson.
>
> Rabin added that: "Jeffrey Farrow is the person who,
> last year at a meeting in the White House, told
> Vieques Mayor Manuela Santiago that the Navy was
> prepared to offer $80 million if she allowed it to
> remain in Vieques. Jeffrey Farrow is the person who,
> last year at another meeting in the White House, tried
> unsuccessfully to convince Congressmen LuisGutierrez
> and Jose Serrano, and Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez,
> to drop their demands that Clinton order the Navy out
> of Vieques in exchange for having Clinton resume talks
> on the political status of Puerto Rico. Jeffrey Farrow
> is the person who recently, during the Democratic
> National Convention, tried to shut down those
> delegates that were shouting 'Peace for Vieques!' and
> tried to block their 'Peace for Vieques' signs from
> the TV cameras. Jeffrey Farrow is the person who is
> not satisfied with having contributed to the
> resumption of bombing in our island, and comes with
> insults and threats. Jeffrey Farrow has acted and
> continues to act against the people of Vieques."
>
> Nilda Medina, leader of the CRDV, stated that the
> Vieques community considers Farrow to be persona non
> grata, given his consistent support of the
> continuation of bombing in Vieques. "Farrow and
> Governor Rosselló have become the principal aides to
> the Navy and the principal enemies of the people of
> Vieques. Their arrogance and their personal interests
> make them insensitive to the suffering of our people.
> Each day that goes by, with or without bombing, the
> carcinogenic toxics in the bombing area reach the
> civilian sector as they are transported by the winds
> that blow from east to west -from the bombing range to
> the civilian sector," stated Medina.
>
> Regarding the "chaos" that Farrow predicts for Vieques
> if the presidential directives are broken, Rabin said
> that that chaos has been the status which has
> prevailed in Vieques for the last 60 years since the
> Navy arrived in Vieques. The expropriation of three
> quarters of the island for military purposes, the
> contamination, the high cancer rate, the high
> unemployment, the forced migration, the poor
> transportation and health services, are evidence of
> the chaos brought about by the Navy in this island,
> said Rabin.
>
> Contact: Yvette Yolanda Martínez 787-741-0716