May 3–10, 2001

news

Isle Bile

Local activists want the U.S. to end its bombing of Vieques.

by Walidah Imarisha

As U.S. bombs started dropping April 27 on a small island off Puerto Rico, people in Philadelphia sat down in the streets and prayed for change while preparing to struggle.

About 120 people gathered on Broad and Cherry with signs, microphones and children. They chanted interchangeably in Spanish and English: "Vieques si, La Marina, no!" "Vieques yes, the Navy, no!" They held a prayer meeting, conducted entirely in Spanish, in the middle of the street, right in front of the military recruiting center there.

The U.S. Navy uses Vieques — a small, 32-mile-long island — as a naval base and testing ground. The 9,000 civilian inhabitants of the island are sandwiched in between the base and the testing range, which comprise two-thirds of the island. For 180 days out of the year for the past 60 years, the people of Vieques have lived next to a war zone.

The Committee for Vieques here in Philadelphia was formed by organizations and people who want to stop the bombing of Vieques and want "marina fuerte vieques" (Navy out of Vieques).

City Councilman Angel Ortiz, who was arrested a year ago at a demonstration against the Vieques bombings, says of the renewed bombings, "It’s abusive. It’s really running counter to the wishes of 99 percent of the Puerto Rican nation. What they’re saying is the U.S. Navy gets its way, period. ‘We are powerful, and we can do what we want to.’"

Vieques supporters say that the bomb testing is destroying the natural environment as well as the health of the people. The Navy has admitted to using uranium-tipped bombs as well as napalm on the island.

"Vieques is the clearest issue of colonialism in this country," says Luis Sanabria, a member of the group Centro Corretjer. He calls this situation a "David and Goliath" fight, and says, "They say that they [people of Vieques] are U.S. citizens, but the Navy does not consider them U.S. citizens because if they did, they wouldn’t bomb them. They don’t bomb Martha’s Vineyard, and it’s ideal. But I think the Kennedys would be a little pissed off."

Danny Polanco of the Philly organization Taller Puertorriqueno is also an artist who uses his painting to educate about these issues. "People have to understand why we are making noise and pulling out the Puerto Rican flag. We feel we are not free until the issue of Vieques and the issue of Puerto Rico is resolved."

To connect the struggle of Vieques to the struggle for Puerto Rican independence, organizers are planning a gallery exhibit at Latino Renaissance Gallery this Friday, May 4. Rafael Cancel Miranda, considered by many in the independence movement to be among the longest held U.S. political prisoners, will speak.

Saturday there will be a Fiesta del Pueblo (People’s Party) in Tioga with music, food and entertainment, including a clown from Puerto Rico who uses humor to teach about Puerto Rican history.

"The fact that the U.S. disregards 10,000 of its own citizens in the island of Vieques," says Yasmin Hernandez, former youth director of Taller, "is indicative of its lack of respect for Puerto Rico. Independence would enable Puerto Rico to break out of its 500 year cycle of being governed, controlled and exploited."

Rafael Cancel Miranda will speak May 4 at 7:30 p.m. at the Latino Renaissance Gallery, 433 W. Girard Ave., 215-763-2610. Fiesta del Pueblo will take place May 5 at 11 a.m. at 3400 N. 7th St.