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   Vol.65/No.22            June 4, 2001 
 
 
Students back protesters jailed in Vieques struggle
 
Reprinted below is a May 24 letter sent by a Militant reader in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on the ongoing fight to get the U.S. Navy out of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques. The struggle has become a focal point of politics in this U.S. colony since April 1999, when a U.S. warplane dropped a bomb that killed David Sanes, a Vieques resident and civilian guard employed by the Navy. The resumption of U.S. bombings and military exercises on Vieques in late April touched off a renewed wave of protests in Puerto Rico and in several U.S. cities. Thousands have rallied in San Juan, while other protesters have carried out civil disobedience on the Navy's firing range, and are now facing trials and jail sentences by a U.S. court.

What has been happening here for the past two years has been an unceasing struggle to get the Navy out of Vieques. The latest wave of those involved in civil disobedience against the April bombings are being sentenced to 40 days in prison and fines in some cases, except for those previously convicted, who are getting prison terms of between 90 days and four months, as was the case with Rubén Berríos, president of the Puerto Rican Independence Party. Today, Al Sharpton [prominent Democratic Party politician in New York and president of the National Action Network] will be sentenced to 90 days.

There are a number of students who entered the firing range and who are now being sentenced. They are accusing one of the students of destruction of property, aggression, and sedition in addition to the trespassing charges.

We, the students, have set up a protest camp behind the federal jail in Guaynabo [in the San Juan area] in solidarity with all the civil disobedience protesters who are in jail and with those who will be jailed after the trials. And I say they will be jailed, because the judges here have taken an arrogant stance, making sarcastic comments in the middle of the trial, and they have a ridiculous number of marshals stationed inside the courtrooms. This is on top of the excessive sentences against our compañeros for a minor offense. The attitude of the federal authorities has been abusive and we the people will not forgive them.

About two weeks ago, a teacher from Caguas died from kidney failure a few days after being released from prison. He had been on a hunger strike in jail, but the prison authorities had denied him water, sometimes for up to 18 hours, and they had put him in the hole with the excuse of monitoring him better. The family and the students think that denying him water during the hunger strike helped precipitate the death of this teacher.

On Monday, May 28, there will be a rally in support of those jailed for civil disobedience. As I mentioned, the students have a solidarity camp. This is one of three in the area. We have received a lot of support from the labor movement here. The unions are always following what we are doing and the support to the cause has been massive. They bring us ice and other things. The compañeros of the electrical workers union have provided us with electricity from a light post next to the camp. The support has been big. We have not seen support like this since the 1998 strike against the telephone company.

José Sánchez
San Juan, Puerto Rico  
 
 
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