A caravan of nearly 30 vehicles wended its way through Union City, Hoboken, and Jersey City Saturday to advocate permanently ending the U.S. Navy’s test-bombings on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico. Vieques, a tiny island with a population of 9,800, is located in the Caribbean off the eastern coast of Puerto Rico. Ten months after a bombing incident on April 19, 1999 accidentally killed David Sanes Rodriguez, a Vieques civilian, and injured four others, an estimated 90,000 Puerto Ricans took to the streets of San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico, to protest the U.S. Navy’s occupation of Vieques. Saturday’s demonstration began at 11 a.m. on Bergenline Avenue and 49th Street in Union City and then headed down 14th Street to Willow Avenue in Hoboken before winding up on Chapel Avenue in Jersey City. Caravan participants decorated their cars, utility trucks and vans with Puerto Rican flags, markings and banners. Supporters at Caven Point were given fliers listing the names, addresses and telephone numbers of federal officials whom they were urged to contact regarding the Navy’s presence in Vieques. Similar demonstrations took place the same day in New York and Connecticut. “Our mission today is to bring attention to the Vieques situation,” said Anthony Cruz, co-chairman for the Hudson County Committee in Support of Vieques, Puerto Rico, which organized the event. “The protest has been going on for over 40 years. This is truly only one of the few issues that Puerto Ricans are united on.” Cruz cited the recent march in San Juan as evidence of this unity. He continued by saying that besides the death of Rodriguez and the injury of others, the bombs have devastated the island’s ecology and that there are higher numbers of cancer cases on the island. According to a study by the Puerto Rico Department of Health, from 1985 to 1989, the rate of cancer in Vieques rose to 26 percent above the rest of Puerto Rico. Cruz believes that incidents such as the accidental dropping of 263 uranium-tipped bombs on parts of the island during the navy’s 59 years of occupation have contributed to the increase in cancer cases. He added that only 55 of the dropped bombs have been recovered, leaving the others scattered around the island. “People are suffering,” said Carmelo Garcia. “I feel that this is a human cause. I think it’s very important that this movement shows our unity and that we would really like the removal of the Navy base from Vieques.” “You have to keep the pressure on to make sure that all bombing ceases on Vieques and the island is returned to its people,” said Rep. Robert Menendez (D-13th Dist.). “We believe it is morally wrong. We want to ensure that they as citizens have the same liberties as we do. I’m sure that if bombings were happening along the shores of the Hudson here, we would not tolerate it.” Sixty-one years Celidio Otero, a Jersey City resident and native of Puerto Rico said, “Sixty-one years that they have been in Vieques is enough. Within the context of Democracy, the constitutional rights of the people of Vieques should be respected. The U.S. should take the testing where the ecology and health of civilians would not be in danger, especially for such a long period of time.” After rejecting concessions by President Clinton this past December that would have eventually ended live-fire exercises on the island and demanding the closing of the Vieques bombing range, Puerto Rican Gov. Pedro Rossello later agreed to a referendum on the island. Under the referendum, Vieques voters will decide whether they want the Navy to leave by May 1, 2003 or allow the Navy to stay indefinitely. Recently, the Puerto Rican government also took possession of 110 acres of land on the western section of Vieques that will be used to extend an airport. In return, the Navy will be allowed to resume training before the referendum. The Navy has not yet mentioned a date for resuming their training. Cruz said most Puerto Ricans do not agree with their governor and criticize him for abandoning his original stance to stop all bombings. “We don’t agree with the governor,” said Fernando Colon, a member of the Committee in support of Vieques. “This is one more contest as to what has been happening on Puerto Rico. They [U.S. Navy] have done a lot of damage. We have a lot of people dying. They haven’t done anything for the past three months, so why can’t they not do anything forever?” Colon quickly added, “That doesn’t mean we’re against the U.S. government.” Some have become concerned that Puerto Rico is gaining an anti-American image. On March 5, leaders from the island’s New Progressive Party, along with tens of thousands of supporters, held a pro-U.S. march in Old San Juan. While many said they are not anti-U.S., they also said that things must change. “After 50 years, it’s time for the Navy to leave,” said Jaime Vasquez, former deputy mayor of Jersey City. “We can go someplace else and do our bombings.” “If the people of Vieques really want them out, if they don’t want the military there, they can push them out, make them leave,” said Pedro Gonzales, a Union City resident of Cuban descent. “They’re sacrificing people’s lives,” said Jean Pier, 14, who is of Cuban descent. The U.S. Navy has occupied land on Vieques since 1938 and has conducted live-fire training since 1941. The U.S. now controls 26,000 of the island’s 33,000 acres, using some 70 percent of the land for bomb testing. Puerto Rico has been a U.S. territory since 1898, when the United States gained it from Spain during the Spanish-American war. The island’s residents were granted U.S. citizenship on March 2, 1917. As a commonwealth, the island’s 3.8 million people are barred from voting in U.S. presidential elections and have no votes in Congress, but receive $11 billion annually in federal aid and pay no U.S. income tax.
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