Vieques Bombing Draws Protesters

With inert U.S. Navy bombs falling on the Vieques bombing range, 100 activists headed for the island Monday to obstruct the exercise, the latest in a series of military operations that have come to dominate Puerto Rican politics.

Guards arrested six demonstrators inside the Vieques training ground Monday during the largest military exercises here since a fatal bombing accident in 1999 sparked widespread protests.

One man was arrested inside the 900-acre target zone on the eastern tip of Vieques, said Navy spokesman Bob Nelson. The protester wasn’t hurt, and it wasn’t immediately known if nonexplosive shelling and bombing were occurring at the time of the arrest, Nelson said. The other five were arrested on horseback outside the target zone.

About 100 activists from the Puerto Rican Independence Party left the main island of Puerto Rico for Vieques, vowing to trespass onto the range. But on Vieques itself, reaction to the exercise was surprisingly muted, perhaps reflecting the wear and tear of a yearlong battle to oust the Navy from its Atlantic Fleet training ground.

Few protesters gathered outside the Navy’s Camp Garcia as ships attached to the George Washington battle group fired inert shells into the zone about 9 miles away.

The exercises began Sunday and could run through next Sunday. Navy warnings to fishermen were posted and broadcast by radio Saturday night, surprising many islanders.

Nothing could be heard at Camp Garcia’s gates Monday, although one resident had claimed Sunday that the shelling shook her house.

Last year, a civilian Puerto Rican guard was killed on the range by two bombs, the first fatality in six decades of bombing. The accident united Puerto Ricans in demanding that the Navy abandon Vieques.

Islanders say years of live bombing--including the use of napalm--have destroyed wildlife and fishing grounds, contaminated water supplies, impeded tourism and created what they say is a high cancer rate.

The Navy disagrees and says Vieques is the only place its Atlantic fleet can hold simultaneous land, air and sea exercises with live fire before deploying abroad. This week’s exercises will certify the George Washington battle group’s combat readiness before a six-month tour.

In May, the Navy briefly bombed and shelled the zone days after federal agents peacefully removed 224 protesters. Protest leaders heard no bombing and claimed the Navy was lying; the Navy said it had proved its argument that the exercises don’t harm 9,400 civilians who live in the middle third of the 21-mile-long island.

More than 200 people have since been arrested inside the training ground, including 38 on Sunday.

After negotiations with Puerto Rico’s government and the Navy, President Clinton has ordered the Navy to resume limited training using nonexplosive bombs and shells. The Navy must abandon Vieques by May 2003 if island residents vote to expel it in a referendum expected next year.