VIEQUES - Lawyers speak up against U.S. military

[Steve Zeltzer <lvpsf@labornet.org>]

Lawyers speak up against U.S. military

Carmelo Ruiz

(Puerto Rico, May 4 1999) The civil disobedience campaign against the
United States Navy's presence in the island-municipality of Vieques is now
entering its second week, and the activists show no signs of
discouragement. Even the Puerto Rico Bar Association (Colegio de Abogados)  
is opposed to the military's activities there.

This campaign, which follows a local decades-long tradition of anti-Navy
activism, was triggered by a tragic event on April 19. That evening, a
civilian was killed in Vieques by bombs dropped from an American fighter
plane.

Since 1941, the U.S. Navy has taken over most of Vieques for the purpose
of carrying out training maneouvres, such as amphibian landings and target
practice.

The protesters have been camping out in the area used by the Navy for
target practice for two weeks now, and so far have no intention of leaving
the place.

"We are here to let the Navy know that they are the invaders, not us",
said protester Cacimar ZenÛn, who was born and raised in Vieques. "We
don't plan to leave right now. We could leave tomorrow or next year."

Last Saturday evening, the number of protesters swelled from 34 to 59.
They are mostly university students and supporters of the Puerto Rico
independence movement.

There is no drinking water, food or vegetation to give shade in the area
where they are camping, which is dotted with bomb craters. The nearest
civilian settlement is eighty minutes away by boat. Vieques fishermen have
made numerous trips there in order to keep the protesters supplied with
water, food and other necessities.

But the protest action is turning out to be extremely expensive. According
to one fisherman, a boat trip to and from the protesters' camp can cost
between $41 and $50 in gasoline, and some are making the trip more than
once a day. Civil society organisations, like the pro-independence
Congreso Nacional Hostosiano, are raising funds to help the Vieques
fishermen cover their expenses.

The Puerto Rico Bar Association holds that the Navy's activities in
this island-town are illegal.

A full two months before the April 19 tragedy, the Human Rights and
Environmental Commissions of the Bar Association held hearings in Vieques
and heard testimony from different sectors of the local population.

"Both Commissions found that the training maneouvres of the military
threaten the very lives of the people of Vieques, in clear violation of
international law. The toxic materials generated by the bombings
deteriorate the health of local residents by causing cancer and diseases
of the central nervous system, and destroy the natural resources of this
island", said Bar Association president Eduardo Villanueva in a press
conference.

Attorney Jessica Rodrėguez, who heads the Environmental Commission,
summarised her findings on Vieques in a report which states that in 1989
the cancer rate of the island's population was 26% above the Puerto Rican
average and that the Navy's bombing is polluting Vieques with asbestos,
lead, mercury, nitrites and other substances.

According to her report, the Navy has appropiated the most fertile and
productive lands of Vieques, and the military occupation severely
restricts the freedom of movement of the local population.

In a report to the Bar Association, Human Rights Commission member Fermėn
L. Arraiza-Navas called the Navy occupation of Vieques "a massive human
rights violation".

His report states that the U.S. military is hindering the economic, social
and cultural development of the people of Vieques, in open violation of
the United Nations Charter, the 1993 Vienna Declaration on Human Rights,
and Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It also claims
that the situation in Vieques contradicts the commitments that the
international community made in the International Conference on
Development and Social Progress, held in Copenhagen in 1995.

"On August 20 1980, the Decolonisation Committee of the U.N. condemned the
military maneouvres and provocations of the U.S. Navy in Vieques, as well
as the repression against patriots who struggle to put an end to the U.S.
military intervention in that island-municipality and demanded that the
U.S. government cease all its military activities in Puerto Rico", said
Arraiza-Navas.

He went on to say that "One would have to be blind not to conclude that
the military maneouvres, bombings and provocations of the U.S. Navy in
Vieques violate basic parametres that are essential for the protection of
human rights in Vieques as well as in the rest of Puerto Rico."

P.R. secretary of justice JosČ Fuentes-Agostini announced yesterday that
he is investigating the possibility of filing a lawsuit against the U.S.
Navy to stop its exercises in Vieques.

New Progressive Party senator Roger Iglesias, who represents a district
that includes Vieques, formed an advisory committee on April 21 to explore
the possibility of suing the U.S. military.


for more information about Vieques:

http://www.micronetix.net/virus/vieques.htm