wfn.org | United Methodist gets probation for Vieques protest

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Oct. 16, 2001 News media contact: Linda Bloom7(212) 870-38037New York
10-21-32-71B{475}

By United Methodist News Service

A United Methodist Church executive has been sentenced to one year of
probation after being found guilty of trespassing on the Puerto Rican island
of Vieques.

The Rev. German Acevedo-Delgado, a staff member of the United Methodist
Board of Global Ministries, appeared in federal court in San Juan on Oct. 11
after being charged with entering the Camp Garcia Naval installation on the
island without permission. Bishop Juan Vera, Episcopal leader of Puerto
Rico, testified on his behalf.

He was one of several protesters against U.S. Navy bombing practices on
Vieques arrested on Aug. 3. A fellow protester, the Rev. Lucy
Rosario-Medina, pastor of the Vieques Methodist Church, was found guilty
earlier of the trespassing charge. She was sentenced on Oct. 10 to five days
in jail, one year of probation and 150 hours of community work.

The U.S. Navy has conducted bombing exercises on Vieques for more than 50
years, but opposition to that practice has grown since a civilian was killed
in 1999. The United Methodist Church officially opposes the bombing
practices and supports the return of the land to the people there, as well
attention by the U.S. government to health concerns and economic
development.

In his statement before the court, Acevedo-Delgado said the actions by the
U.S. government "are endangering the security and health of the residents of
Vieques" as well as damaging the island's environment. Although the Navy has
claimed there is no direct relationship between its bombing practice and a
higher incidence of cancer and other illnesses on Vieques, he said it should
have stopped its activities there "while the pertinent studies were
completed and verified."

Acevedo-Delgado said it was his Christian moral duty to stand up against the
injustices being thrust upon the people of Vieques. "The people of Vieques
have suffered for 60 years," he said. "They are suffering diseases
associated with the toxic chemical byproducts of the Navy's bombing of
Vieques. It is in the best interest of the United States to act justly at
all times, protecting all, I repeat, all of its citizens."
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United Methodist News Service
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