150,000 march for peace in Vieques

By Jose A. Cruz

Over 150,000 people turned out to demand the U.S. Navy leave the island municipality of Vieques in what was called by all sources the biggest demonstration ever held in Puerto Rico. The March for Peace for Vieques was originally scheduled to take place in March but was moved up to Feb. 21 in response to the agreement made by the administration of Gov. Pedro Rossello.

The march was called by top Puerto Rican religious leaders including Monsignor Roberto Gonzalez Nieves, the Catholic archbishop of San Juan, Rev. Juan Vera, Puerto Rico Methodist bishop, Rev. Wilfredo Estrada Adorno, president of the Bible Society and Bishop Alvaro Corrada del Rio who heads the Catholic dioceses of Caguas, which includes Vieques.

The Popular Democratic Party (PPD) and the Independence Party (PIP) as well as different religious, labor, civic and other organizations supported the march. The silent march allowed only white flags representing peace and the Puerto Rican flag in a show of solidarity and unity across political, ideological and religious lines.

Marakiani Olivera a young girl from Vieques read a statement demanding peace for the children of Vieques. The overwhelming response to the call of the religious leaders was in spite of many attempts by the ruling annexationist New Progressive Party (PNP) leadership to prevent it from taking place.

Gov. Rossello called upon the faithful to disobey their religious leaders and stay home. Former governor and current delegate to the U.S. Congress, Resident Commissioner Carlos Romero Barcelo called the nation's religious leaders "super separatists" in an effort to derail the march.

Some political observers likened his attacks to McCarthyism. PNP gubernatorial candidate Carlos Pesquera used the same tactic when he declared that the march would cause the United States to unilaterally grant Puerto Rico independence.

Another voice added to try to stop the march according to Puerto Rican activists was Jeffrey Farrow, co-chair of the White House's Puerto Rico Task Force. Farrow said that it didn't matter what Puerto Ricans did because the agreement would stand.

Archbishop Gonzalez Nieves told the press that the march, which had as its main slogan, "Navy out of Vieques - Not one more shot," demonstrated that there still existed a consensus among Puerto Ricans that was opposed to the agreement reached by the governor with the Clinton administration.

Bishop Corrada del Rio has set up a camp in the firing zone in Vieques. He called this act of civil disobedience an act of "Christian obedience." This encampment joins the other camps of national resistance established by the Independence Party, Vieques Fishermen's Association, Puerto Rican Federation of Teachers and others. In the United States there were various activities in support of the people of Vieques.

On Feb. 17 hundreds of people held a demonstration in front of the White House less than an hour after President Bill Clinton held a press conference in which he said that the decision on Vieques was "reasonable." A number of Vieques leaders representing fishermen, teachers, women and the churches took part in the demonstration and other activities in Washington, DC. The Cambridge, Mass. City Council passed a resolution demanding that the Navy leave Vieques.