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Contact: Linda Bloom ·
(212) 870-3803 · New
York, N.Y.
The first of a series of
delegations from the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries visited the Puerto Rican
island of Vieques Dec. 17-20 to express support for the people there.
For months, Puerto Ricans have
actively protested the U.S. Navy's use of two-thirds of the island for training with live
ammunition. Last April, two bombs from a Navy attack jet went astray, killing
an island resident.
Bishop Juan Vera Mendez, leader
of the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico, told United Methodist News Service on Dec. 20 that
the protest has intensified in the past few weeks. "The population (of
Vieques) has mobilized itself at the entrance of Camp Garcia," he explained through a
translator.
Although President Clinton has
proposed to close the Navy base within five years and give residents a $40 million aid
package, the bishop and others consider the proposal unacceptable and demand immediate
closure.
The peaceful demonstration has
blocked vehicles from entering the camp. Vera Mendez participated in a Dec. 18
ceremony in which the international flag for peace was raised at the camp. He
also joined the Board of Global Ministries delegation staying in one of the 10 camps that
have been established by religious groups, political parties, labor unions, teachers and
others in the restricted area of Vieques.
Joan Chapin, a board director
from Caro, Mich., led the delegation, which also included her husband John; the Rev.
German Acevedo-Delgado, a board executive; and Don Reasoner, a board
missionary. The Methodist Church of Puerto Rico has two congregations on the
island, including one that just celebrated its 97th anniversary.
While the escalating protests
are new, the situation in Vieques is not. The U.S. Navy has conducted target practice on
the island -- seven miles off Puerto Rico -- since 1941. Vera Mendez said the
Methodist Church of Puerto Rico first expressed its support of the people of Vieques in
1968 and noted that since 1972 the United Methodist General Conference has passed
resolutions about the island. General Conference is the only body that can
speak officially for the entire denomination.
The current resolution, first
adopted in 1980, states that the 1996 General Conference "expresses its solidarity
with the people of Vieques in their most ardent desire that the United States Navy cease
its military activity that adversely affects the citizens of Vieques, and that the United
States Navy repair whatever damages it has caused the people of Vieques."
Specifically, the bishop
explained, the people of Vieques and Puerto Rico want the Clinton Administration to
permanently stop all bombing on the site; clean up the island's contaminated soil and
water; establish a firm date to withdraw from the island; and compensate residents
adversely affected by the Navy's presence over the years.
Until those goals are achieved,
he said, the protests will continue. At the religious camp in the restrict
area, the plan is to bring in a new group of protesters every four days. Vera
Mendez urged United Methodists from outside Puerto Rico to join their brothers and sisters
at the camp.
According to the Rev. Randolph
Nugent, the Board of Global Ministries' top executive, the board will continue to send
protesters to Vieques over the next few months. The United Methodist campaign -- involving
Global Ministries, the Council of Bishops, the Board of Church and Society and local
congregations -- also will focus on letter writing, lobbying Congress and the Clinton
Administration and the issuing of a pastoral letter by the bishops.
Nugent called the Navy's
presence on Vieques "an assault on the environment and an assault on the physical
wellbeing of the island's 9,000 residents."
The Council of Bishops passed a
resolution about Vieques last May, calling on the Navy to "cease its military
activities, repair whatever damages it has caused and transfer all the land that is
currently occupied to the Puerto Rican government." It also sent a
delegation to Vieques in June at the request of Vera Mendez.
December
21, 1999
Produced
by United Methodist News Service, official news agency
of the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, New York, and Washington.