Welcome to BASE21

Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques
PO Box 1424 Vieques, Puerto Rico 00765
Telefax (787) 741-1717 E mail:bieke@prdigital.com

10 November, 2001

Report from the Vieques Peace and Justice Camp

In these times of war, it is our responsibility to struggle harder
for peace--peace in Vieques, peace in the US, peace in Afghanistan,
peace for the world. In Vieques we have lived war during six
decades. We know the horrible sounds of military aircraft, bombs
exploding, war ships cannon fire. Our family members die from the
toxic components of the projectiles and other tools of war more
frequently that in the rest of the Puerto Rico archipelago. We don't
want any more war in Vieques--we don't want any more war, period!

The terrorist attacks of September are among the most barbarous acts
of our times. We denounce those acts with all the energy of our
hearts. But we cannot, even for an instant, succumb to the hawkish
rhetoric of the militarists of the US or the Taliban, who embrace
violence--from their different perspectives--as a method to resolve
conflict. We scream out for peace, peace and more peace.

Peace for Vieques is synonymous with the cessation of all military
activity, the decontamination of our lands, water and air, the return
of our territory and sustainable, healthy development in a Free
Vieques. In this direction we march.

In September, the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques
(CRDV), called for all community organizations of the struggle to
begin a process of dialogues to unite efforts to become more
effective in this battle for justice and peace. Saturday, 3
November, we held the third meeting of this series, with the
participation of the Vieques Women's Alliance, the Vieques Youth
United, the Catholic and Methodist Churches, the Horsemen for Peace,
Mount Carmelo, Luisa Guadalupe Camp, Millivy Camp, Peace and Justice
Camp, the Municipal Government, among others.

Seeking to improve the coordination of our work and share human and
material resources, the meetings have offered the leadership of our
struggle an important opportunity to converse face to face and to
share our hopes, concerns, ideas and constructive critiques, thereby
strengthening the base of this heroic battle for Vieques. We now
prepare for a meeting with the solidarity organizations from the main
island of Puerto Rico, to extend this process of dialogue about the
struggle.

The evening of 3 November, we celebrated a special vigil at the Peace
and Justice Camp, with the presence of a Delegation from the Okinawa
Peace Network. Yoshikazu Makish, (architect), Shinya Oshiro (singer)
and Higashioma Takuma (fisherman), through translation from Japanese to English to Spanish, spoke and sang about the struggle of their people and the solidarity between Vieques and Okinawa as a source of
spiritual and material strength in our work for peace. They
presented visuals of the US military presence in Okinawa and the
struggle for demilitarization - many similarities to our situation. Sheila Velez, from the Puerto Rican Bar Association, coordinated the
group's visit to Puerto Rico and the two days with us on Vieques.

As part of the efforts to internationalize the struggle, six
Viequenses traveled to Okinawa and other parts of Japan in the past
year and a half, and our Myrna (CRDV), leaves soon for that
country to participate in the Japan Peace Conference. Ismael
Guadalupe (CRDV) leaves this week for California and later travels to
Cuba to bring the issue of Vieques to a series of international
forum. At the end of November, Nilda Medina, also of the CRDV, will
travel to the Pacific island of Guam, together with Wanda, of
the Caribbean Project for Peace and Justice, where they will
represent the Vieques struggle at an international meeting of
indigenous women.

And we are preparing for the next civil disobedience actions and to
continue the wide range of strategies we have used over the years--educational work in Vieques, dissemination of the Vieques case in the
rest of Puerto Rico, in the US and in other countries; lobbying in
Washington, the United Nations and in other international settings. On Thursday, 8 November, Jorge and Josie Pantojas, of the
Coordinating Group All Puerto Rico with Vieques, offered a workshop
on civil disobedience for the Program for Peace on Vieques that the
CRDV transmits on Channel 28, Vieques television. People interested
in participating in the civil disobedience workshops can call the
Committee to check the calendar of activities. Next week we hope to
have on the program the ex president of the Puerto Rico Bar
Association, Eduardo Villanueva and lawyer Sheila Velez, to speak on
possible implications for our struggle of recently approved anti
terrorist laws.

On Saturday, 10 November, a delegation from the Technical and
Professional Group in Support of Sustainable Development on Vieques
(TPGV) will be in Vieques to meet with the Vice Mayor and other
members of the Mayor's working group. The TPGV is made up of
environmental scientists, lawyers, economists, planners, architects,
sociologists, health experts, engineers, geographers, among others,
that have produced two volumes of guidelines about the development of
a Free Vieques. The TPGV grew out of an initiative of the CRDV in
July, 1999, and in these two years has attracted the active
participation of the Vieques Women's Alliance and the Vieques Youth
United. The principal goal of this process is to help guarantee that
a Vieques freed from the Navy is a Vieques for the Viequenses and
other Puerto Ricans and not for speculators and developers. A very
important aspect of the work of this Support Group is the discussion
and creation of mechanisms to promote genuine community participation
in land use planning for the lands already rescued from the Navy and
lands that will be rescued.

We work hard on the protest but we also concentrate efforts on the
proposal of a future Vieques that will offer a dignified, just and
peaceful existence for our people. We are enormously thankful for
these great efforts by all the members of this marvelous team that
includes many of Puerto Rico's most highly respected experts in the
area of social and economic development. Our struggle has been and
continues to be a model of peaceful struggle against militarism. We also hope to be a model of sustainable development in the context
of community self-determination.