From: "V S C" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: "STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN!" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Vieques Support Camapign
http:/palfrente.tripod.com
E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
U.S. Navy out of Vieques! U.S. colonialism out of Puerto Rico!
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ONLY THE PEOPLES' STRUGGLE WILL GET THE U.S. NAVY OUT OF VIEQUES!
Immediately after the bomb explosion that killed civilian worker David Sanes
in Vieques, Puerto Rico two years ago, the indignation of Puerto Ricans
erupted in a mass resistance movement across the board. Workers, students,
religious and labor leaders, young and old, in the main island of Puerto
Rico, in Vieques, in the Puerto Rican community of the U.S., the demand grew
to stop the bombing and to immediately remove the U.S. Navy from Vieques,
Puerto Rico. In militant defiance Puerto Ricans everywhere took to the
streets with the support of allies from other nationalities and other
political struggles.
The willingness to fight for the removal of the Navy was expressed in
numerous protests, marches, civil disobedience actions and incursions into
the restricted U.S. Navy bombing range. Over 16 protest encampments were
established inside the bombing range. Military maneuvers were halted for
more than a year. As the devastating effects from the military bombing
rehearsals in Vieques drew worldwide attention as a result of the peoples'
struggle, solidarity to the Puerto Rican people was strongly expressed from
all corners of the world.
If anything came out clearly in the last two years of this struggle, which
had an effect on officials in Washington, is that events in Vieques created
circumstances throughout Puerto Rico which intensified resentment towards
the U.S. colonial presence, thus, giving credence to the cause for political
independence & self determination. In addition, the rallying cry demanding
the immediate withdrawal of the U.S. Navy from Vieques created an
unprecedented political consensus and mass popular support with the
potential to consolidate a pro-Vieques movement into a movement of massive
resistance to U.S. colonial control over Puerto Rico.
The imposed U.S. Navy presence in Vieques, the expropriation of lands and
property, the removal of the native population against their will and the
destruction of the environment over a 60-year period, brought to light for
all to see, living evidence of colonial oppression in Puerto Rico. The
attention this issue gained throughout the world was a political
embarrassment for U.S. officials when many people began to question the
nature of the relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States.
The ecological destruction, uranium poisoning, cancer epidemic and other
detrimental effects of continued U.S. Navy & NATO bombing in Vieques, as
well as the peoples' demand for the removal of the Navy, have become widely
known to national and international proportions.
More recently, we find elected officials in the U.S. who would not touch the
issue of Vieques prior to the elections of November 2000, are now grabbing
headlines, and posturing as the "leaders" of a "new" stop the bombing
movement. These politicians see political-electoral capital in manipulating
the call for a halt to the bombing. We should expect their role in these
events to be aimed at attempts to undermine and pacify the pro-Vieques
movement and to defuse the militancy of the Puerto Rican people.
And because these figures have political career ambitions, there is reason
to suspect, if not conclude, that their motives are influenced by recent
census results which show a significant increase in the Latino population of
the U.S., with New York State showing the highest concentration. Politicians
know very well that the Vieques issue is dear to Puerto Ricans and other
Latinos.
These politicians also understand the significance of the voter backlash
against former Governor Pedro Rosello and the pro-statehood New Progressive
Party (PNP) in the recent gubernatorial elections in Puerto Rico, which he
lost. This election served as a referendum revealing the anti-Navy
sentiments there. Public opinion expressed itself against the outright
betrayal when Rosello secretly signed the Clinton-Rosello agreement that
approved the continuation of the bombing, and went against the wishes of the
people of Vieques and all of Puerto Rico. It was because of this reason that
Sila Calderon, of the colonialist Popular Democratic Party (PDP), won the
election.
What politicians like Gov. George Pataki, Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Chuck
Schumer, and others have in common is that they were all extremely careful
in their overtures not to offend the most racist, imperial-minded &
warmongering elements of the Pentagon and the U.S. government. While
appearing to criticize the U.S. Navy's human rights violations on the island
of Vieques, these officials have reiterated repeatedly that they "favor a
strong Navy."
And what does favoring a "strong Navy" really mean, if not supporting the
maintenance of a killing machine structured and deployed not for defense,
but to exert the arrogance of a historically proven conquering power
throughout the world?
First and foremost, the U.S. Navy presence in Vieques is an integral part of
the U.S. military presence in Puerto Rico comprising 80 percent of the U.S.
Southern Command. The U.S. Navy has been the key component for all U.S.
military interventions in Latin America and the Caribbean. Now that the Fair
Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) promises giant U.S. corporations a freer
hand to plunder the natural wealth and exploit the people of Latin America,
the role of the U.S. military will be more vital to protect their interest
from mass rebellions in these impoverished countries.
Just look at the enormous size of the U.S. Navy today, its numerous warships
armed with the most sophisticated hi-tech weapons and the hundreds of
billions of dollars spent for their cost. Clearly, this expense stands
opposed to the real needs for decent health care, education, housing and
other desperately needed social programs which U.S. poor and working
families are not having met.
Some of these officials claim to support the halt of the bombing, and in
some cases, an eventual Navy withdrawal from Vieques because of the health
issues involved. This has been an issue at the core of much of the 60 year
struggle against the Navy in Vieques.
It is a contradiction, if not outright hypocrisy, for politicians to claim
support for human rights and the call for ending the bombing in Vieques,
while at the same time advocating for the transfer of the Navy's deadly
chemical and radioactive contaminants to another impoverished and oppressed
country in the Third World. It is no surprise that they are looking at the
Third World, people of color, as a so-called "resolution for the Vieques
problem." It has been the tradition of imperialism to view the people of
these regions in the world as expendable.
The Committee for the Rescue & Development of Vieques which has been at the
forefront and representative of the peoples' struggle on that island, has
made it clear that realizing their demands can not be just if it is achieved
at the expense of the health & safety of other peoples. If the use of deadly
weapons has proven to be detrimental for Vieques and all of Puerto Rico, it
can not possibly be better for human beings anywhere.
This principal is held by many in the Vieques support movement which
explains why many were startled when Congressman Jose Serrano endorsed the
idea of transferring the Navy's target practices to the Caribbean country of
Saint Kitts & Nevis. For someone who has supported many progressive causes
and has spoken out on behalf of human rights, to encourage dumping the
problems of Puerto Rico on the territory of another people, is
unconscionable and cannot be considered part of the solution but instead, a
shameful reversal of conviction. Genocide does not cease to be what it is
when practiced against people other than Puerto Ricans.
Ultimately, Serrano's endorsement for transferring the U.S. military
practices to another island can only serve the purposes of the Pentagon and
the U.S. government, which aim to trivialize the struggle and the demands of
the people of Vieques.
His mistake, as well as others in the Vieques support movement, regardless
of what the intentions may have been, is rooted in lacking faith in the
independent actions of a militant mass movement. There is nothing stronger
than the power of a united people, this has been proven throughout the
history of humanity and the Puerto Rican people. The Puerto Rican peoples'
struggle shall one day prove to be decisive in getting the U.S. Navy out of
Vieques and colonial oppression out of Puerto Rico forever.
_________________________________________________
KOMINFORM
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Fax +358-9-7591081
http://www.kominf.pp.fi
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