The events brought together a range of forces, including supporters of the fight to end Puerto Rico's status as a U.S. colony, other activists in the struggle to end the military's use of Vieques as a live-fire training ground, and some prominent Democratic Party politicians and their supporters.

Among the dozens of people jailed for their part in recent protests are some Democratic politicians and union officials. Some have been released after serving sentences of more than a week. Among those still doing time are Alfred Sharpton, an influential New York Democrat and president of the National Action Network; environmental attorney Robert Kennedy Jr.; and Dennis Rivera, president of Local 1199 in New York of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

The SEIU, which organizes tens of thousands of workers in health-care institutions, brought 12 busloads of its members to the July 19 demonstration in Washington, which was organized by Operation Push. Buses also came from Philadelphia, Chicago, and parts of New Jersey.

Among those speaking were Jesse and Jacqueline Jackson, New York Democratic Party congressmen Charles Rangel and Jose Rivera, Kahdeem Muhamad of the Nation of Islam, and Manuel Rodriguez of the Puerto Rican Independence Party. Jacqueline Jackson had been sentenced to 10 days in jail after being arrested during a protest at Camp García on Vieques.

The speakers mainly focused on the treatment of participants in the protest actions on the island, noting the high levels of bail set by the courts and the strip searches to which prisoners are subjected.

Some 120 people took part in a two-hour protest July 22 outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where Sharpton is serving a 90-day sentence. They marched around a row of half a dozen tents in which a small core of protesters are camped out. To the accompaniment of several drums the demonstrators chanted slogans like "U.S. Navy Out of Vieques" and "Free Reverend Al." Sharpton is scheduled to be released on August 15.  
 
Decision on referendum
Several marchers commented on U.S. president George Bush's decision to cancel a planned referendum, and to end the naval presence in 2003. Ricardo Gabriel, a 20-year-old student in New York, described the announcement as a belated "acknowledgment that this is an international issue." He added that Bush "wanted to avoid the embarrassment of losing the referendum."

Boston College student Desmond Reich said that he doesn't trust Bush to stick by the announcement. "I'll be waiting to see some action," he said, observing that the U.S. government is "trying to save face before the world."

Several supporters of the Al-Awda Palestine Right to Return Coalition joined the protest. Reem Abu-Sbaih, 29, a trainee doctor whose family emigrated from Palestine several decades ago, told the Militant that "the fight for self-determination connects the struggle of the Puerto Rican and Palestinian peoples." She noted that some of the armaments tested on Vieques end up in the hands of the Israeli armed forces, who are backed by Washington in their suppression of the Palestinian people's fight for self-determination.

Carlos Rovira of the Vieques Support Campaign, who chaired the rally, linked protests against police racism and brutality, in which Sharpton and his supporters have often played a prominent part, to the fight in Puerto Rico.

Democratic Party member Adam Clayton Powell III, Frank Velgara of the Vieques Support Campaign, Cynthia Davis of the National Action Network, and representatives of Al-Awda and the campaign to free Mumia Abu-Jamal were among the speakers.  
 
Impact on capitalist politics
The increased involvement of leading political figures in such protests is testament to the impact of the widening movement to eject the U.S. military. That movement--spearheaded by fishermen and other working people on the island--has been manifest in protests of tens of thousands of people, as well as in actions on Vieques, including an encampment on military-controlled land on Vieques that was violently broken up by U.S. security forces in May of last year.

Politicians in both major parties have called for an end to the naval exercises. Republican New York State governor George Pataki is one. Democratic Party politicians, from Senator Hillary Clinton to former New York mayor Mario Cuomo have supported Jackson, Sharpton, and other members of their party who have been jailed.

Not all politicians have publicly declared themselves for the protests. "I don't see where Puerto Rico should get any favorite treatment," said Republican senator James Hansen recently, claiming that Vieques residents "sit down there on welfare."

Many politicians preparing for the New York mayoral election later this year are mindful of the weight of the Puerto Rican community in the city. Almost 790,000 New York residents identified themselves as Puerto Rican in the last census--around 10 percent of the city's population and one-third of those who classified themselves as Latino or Hispanic.  
 
 
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