5/2/2003 News media contact: Tim Tanton · (615) 742-5470 · Nashville, Tenn.
By United Methodist News Service
Protesters
Eliezer Burgos (left) and Michael Cortes carry Puerto Rican flags to a
worship service at a makeshift chapel on a U.S. Navy practice range in
Vieques, Puerto Rico, in this 1999 file photograph. Cortes is a U.S.
Navy veteran. Methodist leaders are applauding the withdrawal of the
U.S. Navy from the island, which was announced May 1. A UMNS photo by
Mike DuBose. Photo number 03-163, Accompanies UMNS #259, 5/2/03
No Long Caption Available for this Story
United
Methodist Bishop Charlene Kammerer of the Charlotte (N.C.) Area ties a
white ribbon to the fence outside Camp Garcia in Vieques, Puerto Rico,
to protest the U.S. Navy's use of the land for training with live
ammunition in this 1999 file photograph Methodist leaders are applauding
the withdrawal of the U.S. Navy from the island, which was announced
May 1. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose. Photo number 03-164, Accompanies
UMNS #259, 5/2/03
No Long Caption Available for this Story
Bishop
Juan Vera Mendez of the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico inspects the
remains of a U.S. Navy attack jet used for target practice on the island
of Vieques, Puerto Rico, in this 1999 file photograph. Methodist
leaders are applauding the withdrawal of the U.S. Navy from the island,
which was announced May 1. This is a very special day for me and for
the people of Vieques and Puerto Rico, Mendez told members of the
United Methodist Council of Bishops, meeting in Addison, Texas. A UMNS
photo by Mike DuBose. Photo number 03-162, Accompanies UMNS #259, 5/2/03
No Long Caption Available for this Story
Methodist leaders are applauding the withdrawal of the U.S. Navy from the Puerto Rican island of Vieques.
"This
is a very special day for me and for the people of Vieques and Puerto
Rico," Bishop Juan Vera Mendez of the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico
told members of the United Methodist Council of Bishops. "This morning
(May 1), at 12:01 a.m., 64 years of struggles, fear, suffering and
domination on Vieques have ended."
Vera, whose joyful comments
drew strong applause during the council's semiannual meeting in Addison,
Texas, called the withdrawal "a celebration of the triumph of just
peace over the power of military might."
For the Rev. German
Acevedo-Delgado, a United Methodist Board of Global Ministries executive
who was detained in a federal prison for five days in 2001 after being
arrested in a protest on Vieques, the occasion of the withdrawal was "a
great day" for all of Puerto Rico. "I'm not physically in Vieques, but
my heart is there with the people who at this hour are rejoicing and
celebrating," he told United Methodist News Service.
Although the
Navy had conducted bombing exercises on Vieques for decades, opposition
to that practice grew steadily after a civilian was killed in 1999.
Concerns also have been raised about the environmental damage and health
risks attributed to the bombing.
Religious representatives were
among the frequent protesters on the island. In October 2001, for
example, Acevedo-Delgado and the Rev. Lucy Rosario-Medina, a Methodist
pastor on Vieques, were found guilty of trespassing at the Navy's Camp
Garcia during a protest. Both received a year's probation and
Rosario-Medina also was sentenced to five days in jail and 150 hours of
community work.
The United Methodist General Conference, the
church's top legislative body, has been on record as opposing the Navy's
use of the island for bombing practice since 1980. Opposition also has
been voiced by the denomination's Board of Global Ministries, Board of
Church and Society and Council of Bishops, as well as the Methodist
Church of Puerto Rico.
Vera, who spoke to the 2000 General
Conference after being arrested during a protest on Vieques, expressed
his gratitude to the Council of Bishops for its support on that issue.
In
June 1999, the Council of Bishops sent a three-person delegation to
Vieques at Vera's request. One participant was Bishop Charlene Kammerer
of Charlotte, N.C. Her son, Christopher, happened to be serving on a
ship in the aircraft carrier battle group that was practicing in the
area two months earlier when two bombs from a Navy jet went astray,
killing David Sanes, an island resident and civilian security guard.
When
the delegation visited Vieques, Kammerer expressed the conflict she
felt between her love for her son and the fact that a military group
brought harm "to any of God's people" but stressed she believed "God
sent me here."
On May 1, she led the Council of Bishops in giving
thanks to God and praying that the U.S. government will keep its
promises to return the land, restore it and clean up toxins left by
military activity.
The Rev. Robert Edgar, a United Methodist
pastor and chief executive of the National Council of Churches, visited
the island as part of an NCC delegation in 2000 and calls the Navy's
withdrawal long overdue. "The people of Vieques have suffered and I hope
the United States doesn't forget the cleanup of that area," he added.
Acevedo-Delgado
noted that faith played a role in the outcome on Vieques. "Three years
ago, a friend was telling me that it was impossible to stop the mighty
U.S. Navy from doing their military maneuvers in Vieques," he said.
"Faith and the commitment to justice is a wonderful thing. You join
other people even when you know that all the odds are against you. This
is a victory of all the people who in one way or the other supported the
struggle for peace in Vieques."
But he pointed out that the
Vieques dilemma is far from over. "The people still face the hard work
of pushing the U.S. government to free the land and the water from the
toxic pollutants, including depleted uranium shells, and the hundreds of
unexploded bombs," he explained.
Still on the agenda, he added,
is the return of the Navy land to the people of Puerto Rico and
conversion of its use for sustainable development purposes. The Navy
turned over its 15,000 acres of land on eastern Vieques to the U.S.
Department of Interior, according to the Associated Press.
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