US Navy Bombing Error Causes Tragedy in Vieques
By Carmelo Ruiz
1999 Viva La Nación!

Información enviada al Director de Tlahui. Puerto Rico a 25 de Abril, 1999. Puerto Rico, April 25, 1999. -- The residents of the island-town of Vieques had warned for years that something like this would happen.

On the evening of Monday, April 19, one Vieques resident was killed and four others were wounded by two 500-pound bombs dropped by an US Navy FA-18 fighter plane. They were in an observation tower used for monitoring military exercises on the island.

In 1941 the US Navy forcibly seized over two thirds of the island and has been using it as a firing range ever since. Furthermore, the Navy plans to build a radar complex that local residents fear will expand and perpetuate the military presence.

Vieques, which is a municipality of Puerto Rico, measures about twenty kilometers from east to west and six kilometers from north to south. It lies between the main island of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, US territories since 1898 and 1917, respectively.

Vieques is frequently subjected to bombardment from both sea and air. The sounds of heavy artillery, missiles and low-flying warplanes are often heard in residential areas.

A US Department of Defense spokesman told the local press last week that 80 percent of the US ships and warplanes participating in the NATO war against Yugoslavia trained in Vieques.

This week's tragedy has angered many Puerto Ricans. But Vieques schoolteacher and anti-Navy activist Ismael Guadalupe points out that it's not the first time that the U.S. military have caused accidents and tragedies here.

"In the forties and fifties, people were killed and wounded by bombs that fell on the countryside", said Guadalupe. "In the mid-seventies, a missile fell next to a school, but fortunately didn't detonate. And in 1994 another FA-18 dropped five 500-pound live bombs just outside the main village, missing their target by ten miles." Puerto Rico Bar Association President Eduardo Villanueva believes the US Navy should leave Vieques. "There are international treaties and agreements, some of them signed by the United States, that affirm the right of all peoples to live in peace and free of risk," he said. "The U.S. government violates that right blatantly in Vieques."

After Monday's tragedy, U.S. congressman José Serrano, who was born in Puerto Rico, sent a protest letter to president Bill Clinton and US Secretary of Defense William Cohen. Serrano represents a district in New York state, where hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans live.

"This incident makes it imperative that the Department of Defense review their current military operations in Vieques and initiate plans to end their military presence there," says the letter. "The residents of this island should not have to live in constant fear of another incident occurring, endangering their lives and their homes."

In a press statement issued this week, the San Juan-based Caribbean Project for Justice and Peace accused the US Department of Defense of being disrespectful to the Puerto Rican people because of its insistence on continuing to use Vieques for target practice.

San Juan Mayor Sila Calderón also had words of support for the people of Vieques. She declared yesterday that the US Navy should substantially reduce its presence and activities there. Calderón also said that the US Puerto Rico 'common defense' agreement does not in any way justify the suffering of the residents of Vieques.

The Caribbean Institute for Action and Ecumenical Formation echoed similar sentiments. "The Christian community cannot put up anymore with the Navy placing itself above reason and logic, insisting on doing whatever it feels like, disregarding the lives of people, and causing anguish, pain, sickness and death," said Eunice Santana, the organization's executive director.

Meanwhile, the Puerto Rican peace and independence movements are concerned about the US Army South (USARSO), which is moving from the Panama Canal Zone to Puerto Rico this year. They believe that this increase in the military presence will put Puerto Ricans at greater risk.

As a direct result of USARSO's move to Puerto Rico "military maneuvers will intensify and the threat to our security and the destruction of our environment will increase," warned the Caribbean Project for Justice and Peace.

This article was originally published in VIVA LA NACIÓN!, an electronic newsletter devoted to opinión and commentary on current Puerto Rican affairs written by Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero.

From: National Committee to Free Puerto Rican Prisoners prpowpp@aol.com
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