wfn.org | Lutherans Work to End U.S. Military Operation on Vieques

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

May 24, 2000

LUTHERANS WORK TO END U.S. MILITARY OPERATION ON VIEQUES
00-142-MR

     DORADO, Puerto Rico (ELCA) -- Members of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) in Puerto Rico are working to put an end to
U.S. military training on Vieques, an island eight miles east of Puerto
Rico.
     "God is telling us that is it time to claim peace for Vieques,"
said the Rev. Francisco Sosa, bishop of the ELCA's Caribbean Synod,
Dorado, Puerto Rico.  The synod, one of 65 of the ELCA, is made up of
6,992 Lutherans in 26 congregations.
     Sosa said ever since World War II, U.S. military personnel have
used Vieques to exercise their war tactics.  "As a consequence of 
live-fire ammunition and bombing, the island and health of the people on
Vieques have suffered tremendously," he said.
     Lutheran pastors and lay people from Puerto Rico have participated
in an Christian ecumenical campaign to halt military activity on
Vieques.  Their "claim for justice and peace" began last year after a
local man, working as a security guard on the target range, was killed
by a stray bomb.
     "With the death of David Sanes Rodriguez one year ago, the people
of Puerto Rico realized that all military activity on Vieuqes must
stop," Sosa said.  "The people of Puerto Rico are pledging that not one
more bomb is dropped on Vieques," he said.
     Shortly after Rodriguez's death, Lutherans and other Christian
leaders built a camp and chapel in the restricted military-training area
on Vieques.  Clergy and lay people visited the camp on a rotating basis,
hoping that their presence would halt live-fire training there.
     On May 4, 2000, U.S. federal agents removed religious leaders and
civilians from the camp and from other military-restricted areas on
Vieques.  Because of the rotating schedule, Lutherans were not present
in the camp at the time of the arrests.
     It is important to note that those removed from Vieques were not
armed and did not resist, Sosa said.  "The people of Puerto Rico have
demonstrated peace and order in their actions and disposition."
     "Our claim for justice and peace is not about politics," said the
Rev. Francisco Javier Goitia-Padilla, Iglesia Luterana Getsemani,
Dorado.  He said the crisis in Vieques has allowed for new opportunities
for the church to talk about peace.
     "This is the first time in the history of Puerto Rico where
Christian denominations are of one mind and spirit.  We are firm in our
sentiment and commitment to return the island of Vieques back to its
people," said Goitia-Padilla.  "Our struggle for justice and peace is
about the respect and dignity for human life and for God's creation."
     "There is no moral, ethical nor evangelical justification for
bombing Vieques.  It is not believable to us that there is no
alternative area for military practice.  It is not believable to us that
the readiness of the most powerful military force of the world depends
on military exercises held in Vieques.  It is probably cheap, easy and
convenient to conduct military training there but comfort, cost and
convenience are not the pillars of national security," said Goitia-Padilla.
     The 1999 ELCA Churchwide Assembly adopted a resolution that called
on the U.S. government "to seek reasonable solutions" that will end all
U.S. military operations on Vieques.  The assembly resolution also asked
that the land be returned to the people of the island "while not
compromising our nation's security."  It asked the ELCA Division for
Church in Society, through the Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs
in Washington, D.C., to "encourage the U.S. government to seek
reasonable solutions."

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html