Bombings Puerto Rico

With inert U.S. Navy bombs falling on the Vieques bombing range, 100 activists headed for the island Monday to obstruct the exercise, the latest in a series of military operations that have come to dominate Puerto Rican politics. Guards arrested six demonstrators inside the Vieques training ground Monday during the largest military exercises here since a fatal bombing accident in 1999 sparked widespread protests.

A Puerto Rican senator was released from a federal detention center Saturday after serving a 40-day sentence for trespassing on military land to protest U.S. Navy bombing on the island of Vieques. Norma Burgos, who favors U.S. statehood for Puerto Rico, was greeted by dozens of well-wishers outside the detention center in suburban Guaynabo.

Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Rossello said in San Juan that he lauded President Clinton's offer to grant clemency to 16 members of an independence group involved in bombing attacks. But the prisoners' fellow activists were angered by conditions imposed by Clinton.

A federal judge in San Juan sentenced environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to 30 days in jail for trespassing while attempting to thwart Navy bombing exercises on Vieques island. Several other protesters were convicted along with Kennedy, including New York labor leader Dennis Rivera and Norma Burgos, a senator in Puerto Rico's legislature. "You should be a lawmaker, not a lawbreaker," Chief U.S. District Judge Hector Lafitte told Burgos, sentencing her to 40 days.

A Puerto Rican senator was released from a federal detention center Saturday after serving a 40-day sentence for trespassing on military land to protest U.S. Navy bombing on the island of Vieques. Norma Burgos, who favors U.S. statehood for Puerto Rico, was greeted by dozens of well-wishers outside the detention center in suburban Guaynabo.

Protesters and security forces braced for renewed demonstrations when Navy bombing exercises resume today on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques, despite President Bush's announcement last week that training will end by May 2003. On the eve of the practice, many Vieques residents spent the day at church or with their families. But murals and painted slogans were testimony to the simmering anger here.

The U.S. Navy urged Puerto Rican authorities to send out riot police to quell protests on Vieques that were increasingly hampering the Navy's efforts to conduct controversial military exercises on the island. Dozens more activists protesting the training on Vieques, a small island off the U.S. Caribbean territory, made their way onto Camp Garcia naval base. The protesters say the exercises damage Vieques residents' health and the environment.

President Clinton instructed Pentagon officials to develop alternatives to training exercises on Vieques in case Puerto Rico's voters decide the U.S. Navy should leave the island before a previously agreed 2003 departure. Voters could turn down a Nov. 6 referendum on whether the Navy should stay through May 2003. Clinton asked officials to report by March 9 on how Navy and Marine Corps training needs through May 2003 could be accomplished without exercises on Vieques.

Chanting "No to the Navy!" thousands of Puerto Ricans rallied in the capital Sunday to protest new U.S. military exercises on the outlying island of Vieques. Jets from the carrier Harry S. Truman began dropping dummy bombs Thursday, and ships will shell the island later this month. About 5,000 protesters marched peacefully in 90-degree heat outside Ft. Buchanan, an Army base in suburban San Juan. Organizers urged activists to redouble their yearlong effort to force out the Navy.

The U.S. Navy said it is ready to resume bombing on Puerto Rico's Vieques Island in the biggest exercise since a fatal accident prompted a yearlong occupation of the target range. Protesters vowed to block the exercises, and a general assembly of citizens was convened outside the gates to the range's Camp Garcia to discuss strategy. Protesters will be chosen to trespass on the range, but only after the bombing has begun, said activist Hector Pesquera.

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The U.S. Navy began a round of bombing practice Monday on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques despite protesters' efforts to infiltrate a bombing range and halt war games. The bombing, with dummy weapons, began on schedule about 2 p.m. EDT and was "going fine," Lt. Cmdr. Awilda Tereira said. Navy security officers arrested eight protesters on the bombing range before the exercises began. Nine more--including Jacqueline Jackson, wife of the Rev.

Protesters and security forces braced for renewed demonstrations when Navy bombing exercises resume today on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques, despite President Bush's announcement last week that training will end by May 2003. On the eve of the practice, many Vieques residents spent the day at church or with their families. But murals and painted slogans were testimony to the simmering anger here.

Robert Kennedy Jr. is set to appear in federal court July 6 in Puerto Rico on trespassing charges stemming from protests on Vieques island, an attorney for the environmentalist said. Former New York Gov. Mario M. Cuomo will be representing Kennedy and New York labor leader Dennis Rivera, said Scott Edwards, a lawyer for Kennedy's White Plains, N.Y.-based environmental group, Water Keeper Alliance. Kennedy and Rivera were among about 180 people arrested this year during protests against U.S.

Navy ships and fighter jets blasted a firing range with inert ammunition despite protests on Monday, the same day the Navy gave up more than a third of its land on this Puerto Rican island. The transfer of the 8,100 acres was part of an agreement reached last year between the White House and Puerto Rico as a compromise to quell rising tensions over the Navy's use of Vieques. "It represents a great opportunity for the Navy to demonstrate we are great neighbors on Vieques," said Lt.

The U.S. Navy urged Puerto Rican authorities to send out riot police to quell protests on Vieques that were increasingly hampering the Navy's efforts to conduct controversial military exercises on the island. Dozens more activists protesting the training on Vieques, a small island off the U.S. Caribbean territory, made their way onto Camp Garcia naval base. The protesters say the exercises damage Vieques residents' health and the environment.

Dozens of protesters plan to march through a small U.S. Navy base on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques today to urge an end to training missions on the bombing range there. More than 60 people have set up a temporary camp on a remote beach behind the base within the Navy's restricted area, said Nilda Medina, a spokeswoman for the protesters. Some activists were arrested in the same area during a 1979 anti-Navy protest.

Eleven people protesting the Navy's use of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques for bombing exercises were arrested after a banner was hung out of the crown of the Statue of Liberty. A spokesman for the U.S. Park Police said one person hung out of a window in the crown holding an object that police identified as either a flag or a banner. Police said charges had not yet been determined. The Navy has used two-thirds of the island for exercises since the 1940s.

Despite violent protests and reports of trespassers on the firing range, the U.S. Navy on Friday resumed its controversial bombing and shelling exercises on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques. The government of the American territory contends that the thunderous din from the training maneuvers threatens the health of Vieques' 9,400 inhabitants. But Thursday, a federal judge who ruled that no "irreparable harm" had been proved gave the Navy the green light to proceed.

President Clinton instructed Pentagon officials to develop alternatives to training exercises on Vieques in case Puerto Rico's voters decide the U.S. Navy should leave the island before a previously agreed 2003 departure. Voters could turn down a Nov. 6 referendum on whether the Navy should stay through May 2003. Clinton asked officials to report by March 9 on how Navy and Marine Corps training needs through May 2003 could be accomplished without exercises on Vieques.