wfn.org | Methodist officials protest U.S. action in Vieques

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

CLEVELAND (UMNS) - United Methodist bishops, the denomination's global
missions agency and its social action arm criticized U.S. agents' arrest of
nonviolent protesters - including a Methodist bishop - May 4 on the Puerto
Rican island of Vieques.

The United Methodist Council of Bishops, church agency executives, and
leaders of autonomous Methodist bodies throughout Latin America voiced their
opposition in Cleveland, during the quadrennial legislative session of the
9.6 million-member, worldwide United Methodist Church.
	
"We are disappointed that the U.S. government chose this course of action
rather than continuing negotiations (with Vieques), and we stand in
solidarity with the people arrested and the citizens of Vieques," said
Bishop Charlene Kammerer of Charlotte, N.C., at a press conference.

"We ask that United Methodists and all people of conscience continue
responding to God's call for justice until every single one of the 33,000
acres of the island now occupied by a hostile U.S. military presence is
returned, bomb-free, to the people of Vieques," the United Methodist Board
of Global Ministries said in a statement that was read at the press
conference.

According to news reports, Bishop Juan Vera Mendez of the Methodist Church
of Puerto Rico was among the demonstrators arrested before dawn at a U.S.
military bombing range on the island. Vera was among some 300 people who had
encamped at the range and refused to leave. 

Victor Ortiz, a layman from the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico and
colleague of Vera's, said the bishop had been released from custody several
hours after his arrest. "The religious community of Puerto Rico and Vieques
has been very visible in these protests," Ortiz reported.

United Methodist leaders were arranging legal assistance for Vera and other
protesters, Ortiz added.

The U.S. military range at Vieques has been a flash point of political
unrest and protest for nearly a year, ignited after a bombing accident in
April 1999 that killed civilian security guard David Rodriguez. Methodist
leaders from the United States and Latin America have called for U.S.
withdrawal from the small island (population 9,500), saying continued
military action threatens the health, well-being and human rights of
citizens there.
	
A bishops' delegation to Vieques last year observed firsthand "the
conditions of poverty, pollution and other ecological damage to the island"
resulting from "60 years of bombing, strafing and ground maneuvers by the
U.S. Navy" and other NATO forces, said Bishop Felton E. May, speaking for
the Council of Bishops. May leads the church's Washington Area. 

Church leaders said Vera planned to attend the United Methodist assembly
next week and would speak on the unrest in Vieques. The General Conference
runs through May 12. Meanwhile, bishops and other church officials planned
to present their concerns in writing to the White House.
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					--M. Garlinda Burton

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United Methodist News Service
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