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NAVY LEAVES WAKE OF POLLUTION AND PRISONERS IN VIEQUES
The official departure of the U.S. Navy from the small island of Vieques, Puerto Rico, on May 1, 2003, sparked days of victory celebrations there, throughout Puerto Rico, and in Puerto Rican communities across the mainland U.S. None so enthusiastic as on the Isla Niña itself, however, and five men are still doing hard time for the historic liberation celebration.
On the evening of April 30, 2003 thousands of the island's nearly 10,000 residents and visiting supporters were reveling at the gate of the abandoned bombing range, waiting to reclaim it at the stroke of midnight.
Since an errant bombing run in April, 1999 killed civilian Navy employee David Sanes, a campaign built on civil disobedience, resulting in more than 1,600 arrests and hundreds imprisoned, finally convinced the Navy to leave. At midnight, flares lit the sky and the gates fell beneath the wave of humanity surging into the once-occupied land.
David Cline, national president of Veterans for Peace, describes what happened next:
(P)eople with wire cutters began taking down the fences. People waving Puerto Rican flags climbed on top of the guard post, a cinderblock building that had once been the base for military police operations. Soon others pulled out sledge hammers and began demolishing the cinderblock building, a symbol of the despised military occupation.
Members of Vieques Horsemen for Peace rode up through the once off-limits land, shooting flares and roman candles skyward and shouting victory slogans. Several abandoned Navy vehicles were discovered, overturned and set afire. At this point, Puerto Rican police were ordered to 'restore order' and although there were no violent confrontations or arrests, the police had to retreat several times as the overwhelming crowd threw water to cool them down.
The following day this incident was played up by the news media with one Spanish language paper running a cover photo of a burning vehicle and the headline 'They Burned The Peace.' Ms. Sila Calderon, the Commonwealth Governor, denounced the events as the work of unnamed outside forces and demanded an investigation and arrests.
The truth is that the majority of people who tore down the gates and guardhouse and burned the vehicles were local residents celebrating their liberation. It is ironic that when Germans tore the Berlin Wall down, it was hailed as an act for freedom, when U.S. tanks pulled down Saddam Hussein's statue in Baghdad, it was billed as "liberation", yet when Viequenses celebrated the end of over 60 years of continuous U.S. military bombing by tearing down symbols of that oppressive presence, it was called criminal vandalism.
Although no arrests were made at the scene, the FBI made up for the Navy's absence with their own show of force: interrogating witnesses and stalking suspects. The Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques (CRDV), whose Peace and Justice Camp at the gate of the bombing range has been the focal point of nonviolent resistance since 1999, was quick to "show solidarity with and support the compañeros being persecuted for such acts. If there is a desire to go after and judge those who have been violent in Vieques, bring the pilot who killed David Sanes before the people of Vieques for judgment, and then the Admirals and other military officials responsible for the death and destruction to our island and people over decades."
When the Navy left on May 1, only two of the earlier Vieques defenders remained in prison. Israel Medina Colón was released May 13, and Ismael Guadalupe Torres on June 10. On June 20, the FBI raided the offices of the CRDV, still itching for evidence to indict someone, anyone, for the events of May 1.
Then, beginning very early on the morning of June 25, 2003, FBI agents entered several homes in Vieques and elsewhere in Puerto Rico, arresting ten people. Multiple charges of conspiracy and destruction of federal property were filed, all related to the events of May 1. The arrested were released within days, on bail ranging from $5,000 upward.
Two others were sought; José Pérez González was arrested later and José Vélez Acosta, who had been visiting family in St. Croix, turned himself in on September 5. The others accused were José Montañez Sanes, nephew of David Sanes; Jorge Cruz, Viequense from a fishing family; Nilda Medina, retired Vieques teacher and one of the leaders of the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques; Willie Miró, Viequense worker; Néstor de Jesús Guishard, Viequense school counselor; Manuel Pérez, Viequense municipal worker; Osvaldo Skerret Cecilio, Viequense construction worker; Andy Santiago, Viequense worker; Heriberto Hernández, Viequense sports trainer and municipal employee; and Jesús Delgado, teacher from a Vieques family. Some had already served prison sentences during the successful civil disobedience campaign.
A Committee in Support of the Accused for the First of May in Vieques was formed, and a bank account established to accept contributions for bail and family sup-port (details at end). Community support for the accused runs deep and wide: even a pro-Navy member of the Muni-cipal Assembly told the accused, "in this case I have to support my people because I know you are not criminals, but good Viequenses." She joined a unanimous resolution of the Assembly calling for a dismissal of charges because "the destructive acts were provoked by decades of repressed rage and frustration and not malice or criminal intent."
On September 8, José Pérez González was the first to face trial. Two days into his trial , ten of the other May First defendants entered into a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney to avoid application of mandatory 5 to 20 year sentences against several of the accused. Pérez González was convicted on four counts of conspiracy and destruction of property, and sentencing dates for all were set for November and December.
Vélez Acosta, who had turned himself in just the week before, later made a similar plea agreement and remained in custody until sentencing, along with Pérez González.
The twelve received the following prison sentences:
José Pérez González, 5 years.
José Vélez Acosta, 33 months.
José Montañez Sanes, 18 months.
Jorge Cruz, 18 months.
Néstor de Jesús Guishard,
8 months + 2 years probation.
Heriberto Hernández,
4 months + 2 months house arrest.
Jesús Delgado,
9 months house arrest + 18 months probation.
Osvald Skerret Cecilio, 2 years probation.
Willie Miró, Nilda Medina, Manuel Pérez, and
Andy Santiago, one year probation.
The following week, Néstor de Jesús Guishard re-ceived six additional months because his May 1 conviction violated probation for earlier civil disobedience in Vieques.
At one sentencing hearing, José Montañez Sanes fainted. Scott Barbés, a friend of Sanes, moved to help and was grabbed by the marshals, handcuffed, and sentenced to 15 days in prison for contempt of court. In another Vieques-related courtroom incident, Domingo Domínguez was found in contempt and sentenced to 30 days.
Last May, the CRDV mobilized about 100 people in fishing boats to the area once used by the Navy for bombing practice. Representatives of religious communities, labor and political leaders joined dozens of Vieques residents in 'The Return to the Camps', a reference to the civil disobedience camps that were the cornerstone of the campaign to stop the bombing. The activity was held to dramatize the urgent necessity for decontamination and the return of lands to local control.
"If they do not eliminate the military toxins accumulated over six decades of bombing, the Navy will continue to kill our people for a long time to come," said Ismael Guadalupe, a spokesman for the CRDV. "The Puerto Rican Health Department has been totally negligent for not examining our people," declared Nilda Medina. "We have no doubt that the very high cancer incidence among our population is related to depleted uranium and other military toxics."
Eleven people stayed two nights in the once restricted area where the first ecumenical chapel had been built, now controlled by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). They report that visitors in yachts that frequent the area every weekend since the Navy stopped bombing have created an enormous garbage dump, and denounced the lack of action by FWS on this situation.
The CRDV does not discount future use of non-violent civil disobedience in defense of the environment, health and the natural right to enjoy and use their territory. The group will also act for sustainable, community controlled development and against recently announced mega-hotel projects planned for the island. In the fifteen months since the Navy departed, real estate speculators have dramatically inflated property values on Vieques, threatening local control of development
For more information contact the Committee for the Rescue and
Development of Vieques, POB 1424, Vieques, PR 00765, (787)741-0716,
oficina@prorescatevieques.org 
Letters of support should be addressed to the Vieques prisoners at the addresses shown in the Inside and Out listing Contributions for prisoner commissary and family support may be made payable to Committee in Support of the Vieques Accused for May First, POB 191792, San Juan, PR 00919-1792. Donations may be deposited directly to Banco Popular account # 116-26767-4.
