BY RON RICHARDS
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - David Sanes, a resident of the
Puerto Rican island of Vieques, was killed April 19 when two
U.S. Navy warplanes on a training mission for the U.S.
bombing campaign against Yugoslavia dropped 500-pound bombs
on a lookout post there. Four other Vieques residents, three
civilians and one sailor, were injured.
A U.S. Navy spokesman, Robert Nelson, called Sanes's death an "an unfortunate accident." He said it happened when two F/A-18 Hornet jets took off from the USS John F. Kennedy aircraft carrier to carry out a bombing practice run and missed their target by three miles. Sanes, 35, was working as a security guard for a company that has contracts with the U.S. Navy.
The same night of the bombing, 200 angry protesters in Vieques demonstrated at the entrance to the U.S. Navy's Camp García. The next day 300 people picketed in front of City Hall to demand that the Navy leave. They chanted "Stop the bombing" and "How many more viequenses must die?" Protesters also demanded the mayor of Vieques release the names of the four wounded. U.S. military authorities did not release their names for more than a day.
The Association of Fishermen in Vieques organized a protest by two dozen fishermen who took their boats to the area where Sanes was killed. They laid wreaths and placed an eight-foot cross there in his memory.
In San Juan, a protest demanding the U.S. military get out of Vieques was held in front of Ft. Buchanan.
"Kosovo has reached Vieques," declared Robert Rabin a member of the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques.
"The U.S. Navy says it was an `accident' and says they're sorry, just like they said it was an `accident' and said they were sorry when they dropped bombs on people in Kosovo," said Ricardo Jordán, another activist from the committee. "The U.S. military lies about their bombing in Vieques, so how can we believe what they say about the war in Kosovo?" he asked.
Vieques is a small island east of the main island of Puerto Rico with a population of 9,500. The U.S. Navy has occupied two-thirds of the island since World War II. The bombing range on Vieques is a part of the U.S. military facility on the eastern tip of Puerto Rico that includes the Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, offshore firing ranges, submarine practice areas, and communications towers in the rain forest of El Yunque. It is the only place in the world where ships, aircraft, and submarines can all fire live ammunition in the same general area. The facility is also used by other governments that pay the U.S. Navy for "services."
Fishermen and others have organized protests against the U.S. Navy in Vieques for decades, standing up to harassment from the military and even the FBI. There have also been protests against U.S. Navy plans to build a giant radar on Vieques and on the main island. Many residents have complained about higher-than-normal rates of cancer among people on Vieques.
In face of the widespread anger throughout Puerto Rico, colonial government officials have felt compelled to criticize the U.S. military's use of Vieques for target practice. In a letter to U.S. president William Clinton, Gov. Pedro Rosselló requested the immediate halting of United States and allied activities that entail the use of weaponry anywhere in the Vieques area.
Carlos Romero Barceló, the nonvoting member of the U.S. Congress from Puerto Rico, also issued a complaint. Rosselló and Romero Barceló are leaders of the pro- statehood New Progressive Party (PNP).