wfn.org | Hispanic caucus asks U.S. Navy to stop bombing island

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

May 13, 1999 News media contact: Thomas S. McAnally*(615)742-5470*Nashville,
Tenn.   10-21-32-71B{274}
 
By United Methodist News Service

The national Hispanic caucus of the United Methodist Church is calling on
the U.S. Navy to stop using the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico, for military
training exercises.

The plea by MARCHA (Methodists Associated Representing the Cause of Hispanic
Americans) is contained in a statement issued  a day after a similar call
was made May 6 by the denomination's Council of Bishops, which met in
Chattanooga, Tenn.

About 9,000 people live on Vieques, which is one of two island
municipalities that are part of Puerto Rico. Vieques is less than four miles
wide and about 12 miles long, and it is six miles southeast of the main
island.

The U.S. government took three-quarters of Vieques in 1941 for use as a
military training site.  According to MARCHA, the lives of Vieques residents
are endangered by a barrage of live bombs from airplanes, helicopters and
ships. 

Supporting that claim, MARCHA leaders cited an April 19 incident in which a
U.S. Navy pilot launched two 500-pound bombs from his FA-19 jet that missed
their targets and destroyed a Navy observation post. David Sanes, a civilian
security guard, was killed, and four others were injured.

The bombings have caused an increase in unemployment since many of the
residents depended on fishing for their livelihood, MARCHA leaders said.
They also noted that homes and other structures have damage caused by the
bombing and that the cancer rate among residents is 30 percent higher than
other municipalities of Puerto Rico.

MARCHA is calling for the U.S. government to look elsewhere for an
uninhabited island to use for military operations. Leaders of the group are
asking President Clinton to:
*	order an immediate halt of all military activities in Vieques;
*	return the entire island to its citizens for economic development;
*	provide assistance, in the form of indemnification, to the
inhabitants; and
*	stop the installation of a proposed military radar on the island.

"The inhabitants of Vieques are citizens of the United States of America,"
the MARCHA leaders  noted. "If we could not imagine that a situation like
this be tolerated in any part of the union, why is this happening in
Vieques, Puerto Rico?"  

Executive director of MARCHA is the Rev. Jose Orlando Rivera of Lakewood,
Calif.  President is Mary Silva of San Antonio, Texas. 

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