----- Original Message ----- From: Claudia K White <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2000 6:37 PM Subject: [STOPNATO.ORG.UK] Generations of Viequenses Want the Navy Out / Generaciones de Viequenses contra la marina STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK -------- Forwarded Message --------- DATE: 24 Sep 2000 16:39:16 -000 From: "Vieques Libre" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: List Member <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Vieques Libre - http://www.viequeslibre.org [espaqol abajo] Inter-Generational Message Given at the Day of the Human Chain at Camp Garcma in August (A document from the Historical Archives of the CPRDC-Peace and Justice Camp) Vieques children want peace. We want the Navy out and we want an end to war activities that have caused so much damage for so many years. The Navy fence separates us from our lands, where we want to play and grow. The Navy4s fence is like a monster that destroys our best dreams. The children of Vieques, we want to see an end to the military fences. We want a Free Vieques for our parents, our grandparents, our little brothers and sisters and for all the people of Puerto Rico that love Vieques. Help us get this monster out of our Isla Nena (Vieques the Baby Island) Vieques youth is on the march for peace in our island and in defense of our human rights. We cannot permit the Navy to continue its practices that destroy our land, our Vieques. The commitment of the young people to this struggle was clearly demonstrated last month with our first organized entrance into the restricted area. We will definitely return. And we will enter as many times as is necessary to reclaim our right to live in peace and with dignity. We are forced to abandon our families to study on the main island. The military presence and their control over our lands strangle our economic development. Therefore, after studying, we have no opportunities of work here, and are forced to remain separated from our loved ones our families and our Vieques. This Navy fence is a symbol of military power that for decades has brought great suffering to our people. This fence with its barbed wire and razor wire represents the death of our people. Like the Berlin Wall, this fence must come down. We young people of Vieques are prepared to participate in dismantling taking down this fence, which robs us of, that which by natural right belongs to our community. When the moment comes and we know its not today, but it could be tomorrow when the moment comes to take down the fence from North to South, Vieques youth will be present! For more than half a century the Navy has attacked the Viequense family, forcing our husbands to search for work in other places and our sons and daughters to leave in order to study. They have attacked and raped our women. They have poisoned our land, air and water. It is time to put an end to this violation. It is time to unite the greater Viequense family and the greater family of Puerto Rico in defense of Vieques. The Navy fences could never stop the march of history and justice. This fence will not halt the march of our people toward its destiny that is to have a Vieques Free from the Navy. Today we meet in front of this military fence to know it up close, to contemplate our lands trapped on the other side. Today we place ribbons and flags, we reflect and pray for our peace and that of our future generations. But at another moment we will find ourselves in front of this fence with a sense of duty in our hand, with the history of so many abuses in our hearts and with the commitment to do away with all the barriers that separate us from our territorial patrimony and our peace. The Viequense family is united against the Navy threat. Vieques is ours, lets rescue her! Experience is our best teacher. Those of us who have experienced for many years the military abuses are also present at this historic moment in our struggle for peace. We have lived decades of violations and lies, promises and trickery, from politicians and the military who use Vieques for their purposes that in no way contribute to the well being of our people. We lived the expropriations of the 404s. We lived the attempts to take all of us out of Vieques in 1947 and 1961. We were here when they killed Mapepe in 524 and during the riots and fights of the sixties and seventies. We fought against the expropriation of Esperanza and the Southern coast in 1964. We were here when they lost the atomic bomb in 1966. We fought together with the fishermen in 794. We fought against the Radar that they built despite our protests. And we are still here, to say presente! We have seen many of our children, brothers and parents die of cancer and other illnesses caused by military contamination. We say: NO MORE BOMBS! NO MORE CANCER! WE WANT PEACE FOR VIEQUES!
