Students Add Voice to Citywide Vieques Bombing Protest

BOSTON--A small group of Harvard students protested by day and camped by night outside the JFK Federal Building this weekend, joining over 100 other protesters against the U.S. Navy occupation of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques.

The crowd marched in a circle holding signs and waving Puerto Rican flags, saying they will not leave the area until the U.S. permanently stops testing bombs on the island.

Hans S. Perl-Matanzo '01, who is the founder and director of Harvard Students for Peace in Vieques, Now!, helped lead the crowd with a megaphone, shouting out slogans in both English and Spanish.

"This is an act of civil disobedience," said Latinos for Social Change member Hector G. Arce, who is also a Harvard graduate student. "We did not ask for permission to stay here."

The U.S. Navy has occupied Vieques since 1941, using the island as a training ground for air, land and sea forces, including weapons and bomb testing. Protesters say the testing has hurt the island's environment and the health its 9,300 residents, and argue the U.S. Navy should leave the island immediately.

On Thursday, U.S. marshals and FBI agents peacefully removed 216 protesters who had been camped at the military training range since April 1999. The group began its protests after civilian guard David Sanes was accidentally killed by an errant bomb drop last year.

Perl-Matanzo said he believes the removal of the protesters from the Vieques military range will only strengthen the growing outcry against the navy presence.

"The removal made the struggle shift from speculation to a show of force where the U.S. made it clear it is more important to continue its colonial legacy than change its policy," Perl-Matanzo said.

The protesters removal has brought international attention to the situation in Vieques, helping spur the actions of those supporting U.S. withdrawal.

On Friday, several protests took place across the country. Fifteen protesters were arrested in front of an U.S. Navy recruiting office in Philadelphia. Also, eight students rushed the field during a Yankees game in New York carrying Puerto Rican flags. Perl-Matanzo said the students were from Dartmouth.

Five uniformed police officers were present throughout the demonstration, but did not interfere with the protest. The group did not obtain any permits to camp in front of the building, but said they plan to stay until the bombing stops or they are removed.

The group has not been contacted by any police officials, and is currently unsure of whether they will be allowed to stay. Most of the group said they believe that if any action is taken, it will occur this morning, when thousands of commuters arrive to work in the heavily trafficked area.

"We are in a very ambiguous position," said Jim Seale-Collazo, a first-year student at the Graduate School of Education. "I don't think we have forced them into any situation where they will have to respond to us, but we really don't know."

Kimberly M. Sanchez '03 said she believes continued protests are the best way to keep the Vieques issue in the public spotlight.

"Now that the civil disobedience camps on the island have been dismantled, this is the only avenue left open for supporters to voice their condemnation of the human rights violations that have and will take place on Vieques if the U.S. Navy is allowed to continue its occupation of the island," Sanchez wrote in an e-mail message.

Sanchez, who is a Puerto Rican native, visited Vieques during winter break, and has been actively involved with Perl-Matanzo in the campaign to end U.S. testing there. She attended the protest on Friday and said she plans to camp out at the JFK building this Wednesday night.

"There is absolutely no reason why the Navy should have to conduct live bombing practices on a small, inhabited island," she said. "Viequenses are being taken advantage of and put at risk. Their rights are not being respected."

Several Latino community leaders, as well as Boston City Councillors Charles H. Turner and Charles C. Yancey, spoke at Friday's demonstration, expressing support for the right of the people of Vieques to decide whether the U.S. Navy can continue testing.

In January, President Clinton agreed to allow Puerto Ricans to have a referendum on the issue. The U.S. has agreed to leave by May 1, 2003 if voters reject the U.S. Navy's presence. No date for the referendum has been set.

Protesters said the referendum is not enough, saying they want the navy to leave immediately.

The protesters said they also hope that the continued protests will become an election issue during the 2000 presidential campaign.

"Protests like these send politicians such as Clinton and Gore the message that there are many who care about this issue and are even willing to be arrested in support of their convictions," Sanchez said.

"With election time just around the corner, politicians must pay attention to our demands in order to secure the valuable Latino vote," she added.

Perl-Matanzo and his group have been working all year to gather support for the movement to reclaim the island.

In November, the group circulated a petition calling for the removal of U.S. forces from Vieques, which was signed by over 300 students as well as 65 professors, including Frankfurter Professor of Law Alan M. Dershowitz, Warburg Professor of Economics emeritus John Kenneth Galbraith and Fletcher University Professor Cornel R. West '74.

In February, the group persuaded the Cambridge City Council to pass a resolution urging the U.S. Navy to leave Vieques. The resolution was then sent to influential lawmakers, including President Clinton, hoping to persuade them to end the occupation. The Boston City Council passed a similar measure in March.