Title: Disciples Leader Visits Disputed Puerto Rico Bombing Range
Date: April 5, 2000
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: news@cm.disciples.org
00a-13
INDIANAPOLIS (DNS) -- The General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) surveyed a Puerto Rican protest movement in a visit to the island of Vieques March 27.
At the invitation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Puerto Rico, the Rev. Richard L. Hamm joined a delegation that visited civil disobedience encampments on a U.S. Navy bombing target range. The Navy has used the eastern third of the island as a bombing range since the 1940s. It also owns the western third of the island.
Puerto Ricans have objected to the range for years. But the April 1999 death of David Sanes Rodriguez, a civilian security guard, magnified the scope and intensity of the protest. After Rodriguez was killed and four were injured by an errant bomb, civil disobedients occupied the target range in at least eight locations, forcing the Navy to suspend its exercises there. In February, an estimated 100,000 persons marched in San Juan in protest of the Navy's continued presence on Vieques.
In January, President Clinton issued an executive order calling for a 2001 referendum on the future of Navy training on the island. If Vieques voters decide against the bombing range, the Navy would continue training up to 90 days a year there until May, 2003 before permanently pulling out. Live ammunition would be replaced by non-explosive "inert" practice bombs. Protestors, however, want the Navy out of Vieques immediately. "Not one more bullet, not one more bomb in Vieques," their slogan says. Currently, the Navy plans to resume training in May.
Traveling from San Juan by church bus, ferry, and finally in a local fisherman's craft, Hamm waded ashore on the east end of Vieques. There he visited encampments sponsored by the Puerto Rico Council of Churches and the Roman Catholic church.
"I think first of all it was an opportunity to express solidarity with Disciples in Puerto Rico who feel very strongly about this issue. It was an opportunity to be with them in a partnership role," Hamm said.
The GMP considers the Vieques struggle of interest to all Americans. "This is really an internal matter of the United States - - Puerto Rico is a U.S.- related commonwealth whose people are U.S. citizens. Certainly if bomb practice was being done within a matter of a couple of miles of 10,000 people anywhere in the 50 states it would be appropriate for U.S. church leaders to speak out," he said.
Hamm invited members of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to become educated on the Vieques issue, to communicate their feelings to members of Congress, and to pray for the people of Puerto Rico, especially the nearly 10,000 who live on the island.
The group that visited the island included Hamm; Danny and Maurica Thompson, Homeland Ministries; David Vargas, Common Global Ministries; Felix Ortiz, Common Global Ministries missionary; Rafael Ortiz, lay observer; Estaban Gonzalez, moderator, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Puerto Rico; Fernando Barbosa, associate pastor for education, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Puerto Rico; pastors Osvaldo del Bray and Eliezer Alvarez; Elizabeth Alvarez, a lawyer representing the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Puerto Rico; and Jose Negron of the Puerto Rico Port Authority.
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