Officials: U.S. Navy to Withdraw From Vieques BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The Pentagon will announce on Thursday it is planning to permanently end controversial naval training on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques in 2003, a senior U.S. official said.
The official, traveling with President Bush in Belgium, told reporters: ``The Pentagon will have an announcement today (Thursday) to confirm what you've read about that (a cessation of training).''
The official asked not to be identified. Bush himself declined comment on the issue.
In Washington on Wednesday, officials said the Pentagon would announce that the step would be taken regardless of the results of a November referendum by residents of the small island off Puerto Rico, a U.S. Caribbean territory.
News of the Navy decision emerged just hours after an aircraft carrier battle group began a new round of exercises off Vieques.
``We plan to be out of there by May 2003,'' said one of the officials in Washington.
One defense official told Reuters that the decision had been made by Bush, based on the political realities of strong Hispanic opposition to the continued use of the island, and that new Navy Secretary Gordon England had agreed.
One official stressed that the Navy planned up to 90 days a year of training on Vieques until May 2003.
Opponents of the training say it damages the health of Vieques' 9,300 residents and the environment and seek an immediate halt to the bombing.
There was no immediate reaction to the news from Puerto Rico's Gov. Sila Calderon, who had traveled to Vieques earlier on Wednesday to express solidarity with residents and to announce that she had signed a bill to hold a referendum among Vieques voters in July on the Navy's future on the island.
The defense officials in Washington said England had decided to name a panel of experts to look into alternatives for training U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups before they deploy overseas.
``He is challenging the Navy to shake out the cobwebs and look at the way we do things,'' said one official. ``The assumption is that we need to be out by 2003 and we have to look for alternatives.''
The Navy has conducted bombing exercises on Vieques, a 33,000-acre island, for some six decades. But it has faced increasingly vociferous protests by Puerto Ricans and environmentalists.
It remained to be seen whether Calderon would now revise plans to hold a referendum on July 29. While the vote would not bind the federal government, Calderon has argued it would be effective at influencing public opinion.
U.S. Rep. Jose Serrano, a New York Democrat who has been active in opposing the bombing exercises, said on Wednesday evening he had not had official word on the White House plans but much would depend on details.
Serrano indicated that if the plan were to continue bombing until 2003, it would not be good enough for opponents of the Navy training, since the November referendum would in any case offer a chance to call for the Navy to go in 2003.
``It's possible that all we're hearing is an attempt to stop the vote from taking place in Puerto Rico so that the navy and the U.S government will not be embarrassed by having the American citizens who live in Vieques basically kick the Navy out,'' Serrano told Reuters.
The latest round of Navy training began on Wednesday in waters off Vieques but Puerto Rican officials said bombing training was not expected to start until Monday.
The Navy's use of Vieques has sparked widespread protests since a civilian security guard was killed there in a botched bombing run two years ago. During war games in April, about 180 protesters were arrested for trespassing on Navy property.
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