Intruders Damage Plane at U.S. Base in Puerto Rico
A group of unidentified individuals broke into a U.S. Air Force Base on Sunday and set a National Guard A-7 combat jet on fire, causing $100,000 damage to the aircraft, officials said.
The fire caused no injuries at the base next to the capital’s Luis Munoz Marin International Airport.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the incident, and police said authorities were continuing their investigation.
Police officials said unidentified individuals cut through a wire fence to the northern part of the base and set the plane on fire.
“The plane was only partially burned but represents $100,000 in damages,” a police spokeswoman said.
On Jan. 4, 1981, Macheteros, or Machete Wielders--a clandestine and the most important of many island separatist guerrilla organizations--destroyed nine National Guard combat planes with explosives.
Legislation now stalled in a Puerto Rican Senate committee would permit the Caribbean island, which maintains a commonwealth relationship with the United States, to hold a referendum this year on whether to remain a U.S. commonwealth, seek to become a state or break away to establish an independent nation.
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