Although she was born on the Caribbean island of Vieques 57 years ago, Cristina Vázquez never knew what most of her 21-mile-long island looked like. The United States Navy seized two- thirds of Vieques in 1941 for weapons storage and as a practice ground for making war. At the same time, the Navy restricted the island's residents to a narrow strip of land in the middle of the island. The residents were prohibited from venturing far.

A retired schoolteacher, Vázquez is a lifelong Methodist and a delegate to her annual conference. During her visit to Yayí Beach, she took part in an ecumenical worship service held to dedicate a small chapel perched between the bombing range and the turquoise blue waters of the Caribbean Sea. The chapel was built by protesters as a symbol of their commitment to reclaim their island from the US Navy. Vázquez broke the law as she joined some 300 other worshipers there to pray that the island of Vieques could be made a peaceful place once more.

"Tomorrow they may tear down this chapel, but our struggle for life will go on," declared Catholic priest Hilario Sánchez during the sermon. "We in the church are clear: the Navy must leave Vieques!"

A Protest Movement Begins

Led by the island's fishers, the Vieques resistance movement drew worldwide attention in the 1970s. But the 1979 arrest of 21 activists--13 of whom were jailed for months in US federal prisons--left the movement without direction. Except for sporadic conflicts between Vieques fishers and the Navy, the movement has lain dormant for the last two decades.

Then, on April 19, 1999, a Navy F-18 fighter plane dropped two 500-pound bombs almost a mile off target and killed David Sanes, a Vieques resident who worked as a civilian security guard in the Navy-controlled zone. Four others were injured. The Navy apologized, but the death of Sanes quickly revitalized the movement to free the island from military control. Within days, protesters set up several campsites inside the bombing range, defying the Navy to arrest them. Naval officials at first promised prompt expulsion. But they backed off as the people of Vieques--spreading the news via the Internet--gained more and more adherents to their cause, including church leaders from across the ecumenical spectrum.

"It's no longer just a cause for independence activists but for all Puerto Ricans. Even the Catholic archbishop and the people who want statehood now want the Navy off Vieques," said Pablo Connelly, a Vieques Methodist.

Connelly and his six-year old son Urayoan were arrested in the restricted zone on May 25 while taking food and ice to protesters camped out on the bombing range. The two were held for seven hours and then released. Urayoan wasn't charged, but Pablo Connelly faces a US Federal Court appearance that could cost him six months in jail. He's not afraid. "There's no sacrifice too big in defending the life and health of my children," Connelly said. "I would prefer to have healthy children who are fatherless than to live in a situation where we are all sick."

Support From the Church

"In the past we suffered a lack of support from several sectors, including the churches," observed Ismael Guadalupe, president of the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques and one of the activists imprisoned in 1979. "Today the churches and the labor unions are taking on our struggle as their own. They'll be with us if the Navy comes to remove us from our island."

Among those supporting the struggle on Vieques is the Methodist bishop of Puerto Rico, Juan Vera. In May, Vera convinced his colleagues in the United Methodist Council of Bishops to approve a resolution reaffirming their earlier demand that the Navy "cease its military activities, repair whatever damages it has caused, and transfer all the land that is currently occupied to the government of Puerto Rico." [Puerto Rico is a US commonwealth.]

Such spiritual support for the people of Vieques isn't appreciated by all in the church. In early May, Wenseslao Marrero, the Methodist pastor in Isabel Segunda, received phone calls from two Navy chaplains–one on Vieques, one in Florida–asking him to convince the protesters to leave the Navy-controlled zone. "I told them that would go against my principles," Marrero said. "Both told me that the land where the protesters are camped out is property of the Navy. I told them that Vieques belongs to the people of Puerto Rico."

"We're not going to permit the US Army or Navy to use chaplains to silence the cry of a people who demand an end to war," the Methodist bishop, Juan Vera, said.

Catholic leaders have also weighed in on the side of the islanders. The archbishop of San Juan, Roberto González, called the Navy's activities on Vieques "immoral." Alvaro Corrada del Río, the bishop of Caguas, whose diocese includes Vieques, suggested that, if the Navy resumed using live ammunition on Vieques, the church would encourage massive civil disobedience.

Wanting the Navy To Go

Vázquez also cites moral reasons for wanting the Navy to go. "I'm a Christian," she says, "so I have to be opposed to the Navy's bringing people to Vieques so that they can learn better ways to kill other people."

The island's dismal economic situation also generates popular opposition to the Navy. Seventy percent of the island's population lives below the poverty line. Job opportunities declined further this year with the closing of a General Electric assembly plant. Most islanders believe that recovering the Navy-controlled portions of their island will lead to new economic growth, particularly as a result of tourism.

By contrast, Pedro Ayala, a Methodist who works as a firefighter for the Navy, predicts that "if the Navy leaves, the Puerto Rican government and foreign speculators will grab all the land and invest in tourism. The jobs will go to people from outside the island," Ayala continues, "since Viequenses haven't had the preparation to get the good jobs." He is also bothered by the church's prominence in the protests. "If Christians want the Navy to leave, we should go to the gate of the Navy sector and pray there until the Navy decides to go," he says. "It's a sin for leaders of the church to provide spiritual refreshment to protesters who are breaking the law."

Waiting for his date in court, Connelly disagrees. "God is always on the side of truth and life, and God is present with us in this struggle," he declares.

Vázquez is convinced that the participation of active Christians is the key to the protest movement's success. "If we Christians can join together," Vázquez says, "we can achieve more than all the political parties could if they joined forces."

Living in a "War Zone"

Puerto Rico is supposed to be a hospitable spot for the military. The commonwealth has 150,000 veterans. Having done military service is usually a source of pride. Military recruiters in Puerto Rico regularly outperform their colleagues on the US mainland.

Yet the Navy's impact on Vieques is changing attitudes. On February 19 of this year, a Marine jet fired 263 rounds of depleted uranium at Vieques, a violation of environmental laws and of the military's own regulations. After denying the incident for weeks, on May 28 the Navy finally admitted what Robert Nelson, its spokesperson in Puerto Rico, termed "an error." Nelson said a special team sent to Vieques to investigate the incident could recover only 57 of the shells. "I no longer can trust the information that they give me," said Puerto Rico's Secretary of State Norma Burgos, coordinator of a special government commission set up in May to study the Navy's presence on Vieques.

On June 11, the Clinton Administration announced that it was calling a temporary halt to live-fire exercises on Vieques, while a four-member Navy committee studied the issue further. On Vieques--where fishers reported that turtles have begun laying eggs on remote beaches for the first time in decades--this announcement appeased no one. "It's a false issue to distinguish between live fire and other military activities," said Connelly. "If a three-thousand pound bomb hits my house, it does not matter if it explodes or not. We've lived in a war zone all our lives, and we're tired of it. The Navy simply has to go."