wfn.org | Elder gets probation for Puerto Rico protest

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Note #6141 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

3-August-2000
00278

Elder gets probation for Puerto Rico protest

"I was moved by the love and mercy of God"

by Alexa Smith

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A Presbyterian elder has been sentenced to one year on
probation for his role in a protest against bombing exercises by the U.S.
military on a tiny Caribbean island.
	Jose Morot, 52, was released from jail Thursday. He was arrested about a
month ago for protesting against the U.S. Navy's use of  Vieques for test
bombings and storage of explosives.  Vieques is a small island between
Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
	The U.S. military appropriated the island as a training ground in the
1940s. Several attempts to evict Vieques' 9,000 residents have failed.
Organized opposition to the U.S. military presence escalated in 1979 when
fishermen began blocking Navy maneuvers to dramatize how the explosions were
destroying the environment and restricting fishing.
	 Demonstrators have been more strident since an incident last year in which
a civilian guard was killed during maneuvers.
	Morot is an elder of the First Presbyterian Church in Hormigueros, Puerto
Rico. He was one of 134 demonstrators arrested. Most of the demonstrators
have refused to post bail at the request of the Party for Puerto Rican
Independence, which maintains that U.S. courts have no jurisdiction in
Puerto Rico.
	Morot told the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) News Service that he will pay
the $10 fine a federal court judge imposed earlier today, because his
problems with high blood pressure preclude further jail time.
	"The damage the Marines are doing to nature in Vieques is very bad," Morot
said after the hearing. He emphasized that trespassing on the military site
was his way of protesting both the destruction of the island and the
suffering of the people who live there. "I was moved by the love and mercy
of God," he said.
	Vieques has dozens of secluded beaches, coral reefs and lagoons. More than
123 species of birds nest on the sub-tropical island, which is only four
miles wide and 21 miles long.
	According to Jorge Fernandez Porto, environmental liaison for the Party for
Puerto Rican Independence, protests against the bombings on Vieques have
"not stopped and will not stop . . . as long as the Navy continues maneuvers
and bombs Vieques."
	 Fernando said operations escalated on Vieques after the military closed a
shooting range on the nearby island of Culebra in 1975.
	"The independence movement," he said, "has for many decades denounced the
militarization of our country. . . . It has always been the agenda to
demilitarize both of the islands.  This is not a new thing. It is an old
item on the agenda."
	The Rev. Harry Del Valle, the executive of the Synod of Puerto Rico, said
Presbyterians have opposed military exercises on Vieques for some time, but
Morot is the first Presbyterian to be jailed. He said the General Assembly
of the PC(USA) also has opposed the bombing.

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