The protest may prove decisive in the struggle to end the use of Vieques as a bombing range by the U.S. Navy, which seized two-thirds of the island 60 years ago. A lengthy struggle by the people of Vieques to win back control of their island has seen dramatic advances since a civilian security guard was killed by a stray bomb last April. Since then, protestors have camped out on the bombing range, preventing the Navy from resuming operations.
The march, during which participants will walk through San Juan in silence while carrying white flags, is sponsored by a coalition of Catholic and Protestant church leaders, and has won endorsements in recent days from a wide spectrum of political and civic leaders here.
On February 16, independence leader Ruben Berrios, a Puerto Rican senator currently camped out on the bombing range, urged his followers to participate in the march. "Fortunately for our people, our religious leaders–Catholics, Evangelicals, and Protestants–have lifted up the banner of dignity demanding that not one more shot be fired on Vieques," Berrios declared in a message videotaped a remote Vieques beach.
According to Juan Vera, bishop of the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico and one of the march's sponsors, the wide variety of participants will reflect how the struggle over Vieques has changed.
"It's a totally new movement," Vera said. "I've supported the struggle of the people of Vieques since the seventies, part of a larger nonviolent struggle against militarism in Puerto Rico. In the past, these were causes that were championed mostly by a few environmentalists and political parties on the left. But today, it's the entire people of Puerto Rico, people of all political parties, of all the churches, of all ideologies, who have come together in a grand consensus."
The idea for the march arose after Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Rossello made a deal with the Clinton administration that would allow the Navy to resume bombing Vieques. Rossello had promised last year that "not one more bomb" would fall on Vieques, but the governor apparently succumbed to U.S. pressures and changed his mind.
Angered by what many considered to be a sellout by Rossello, church leaders planned the march to make it clear they want peace on the 21-mile long island. "The last word on Vieques has not yet been spoken," said Hector Soto, a Methodist pastor in San Juan who has helped coordinate the involvement of church people in civil disobedience inside the navy's bombing range on Vieques.
Angered by plans for the march, Rossello struck back at church leaders on February 9, calling Puerto Rican Christians to practice "religious disobedience" and ignore the appeals of their church leaders to oppose the U.S. Navy.
"Church leaders have stepped out of their environment, they've exceeded their authority and are assuming roles in our democratic society that are delegated through popular vote," said Rossello. "None of them have been elected by the people. Therefore, none of the faithful have to follow their orders in affairs like this which correspond to the entire society and not just to the church."
According to Roberto Gonzalez, the Roman Catholic archbishop of San Juan, Rossello's comments were "a strategy to destabilize the public consensus in favor of the human rights of the Viequenses. As a consequence, the Navy gains time in its attempt to retain the island of Vieques as a zone for military experimentation." Gonzalez reiterated his position that any political deal which allows continued bombing of Vieques was "immoral."
Rossello's opposition to the church-sponsored march may have backfired. Even many leaders in his own political party have announced they will participate.
According to Feliciano Rodriguez, a priest in the Catholic diocese of Caguas who coordinates Catholic civil disobedience inside the Vieques bombing range, the U.S. government will be closely watching how many people turn out for the march.
"If it's big turnout, then I think the Navy will start looking for alternatives and we'll see the resumption of negotiations about the future of Vieques," Rodriguez said. "If not many people show up, then we may see the people in the resistance camps get arrested very soon."
Whatever the turnout, the march highlights how Puerto Rican churches have become the most important component in the campaign to rid Vieques of the Navy.
"The participation of the churches in this struggle is fundamental, and makes clear that this is not just a political issue, but rather a violation of human rights, an abuse of the people and environment of Vieques by the Navy," said Robert Rabin, a member of the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques.
Director of a museum housed in an old Spanish fort on Vieques, Rabin said islanders "are very happy that the church is finally taking an important position. For years we've received important manifestations of solidarity from many different church organizations in Puerto Rico, the United States, and elsewhere. We have a drawerful of resolutions from different ecumenical and religious organizations, dating from the seventies until now. But this is a very different moment. It's not just resolutions, but people from the churches coming to Vieques willing to work at ground level, to stay in the resistance camps."
The two church-sponsored resistance camps "are right now the most important weapon that the people of Vieques have against the military plans to resume bombing. If it had not been for those two camps being set up, the Navy might have already come in and arrested the small number of other people," Rabin said. "Yet there are now Catholic priests and Methodist and Baptist ministers, men and women, out there on the bombing range. That has created a very difficult situation for the U.S. government and Navy. It's going to be very difficult for [U.S. Attorney General] Janet Reno to sign an order for the arrest of a bishop or archbishop."
Not all church leaders are lining up against the Navy. Gustavo Filpi, president of the International Council of Independent Christian Churches, claimed in San Juan that the role of the churches "is to pray, to cry out to God for this to be resolved in peace. That's the role of the church, not to walk around with little white flags, nor dress up politicians in church robes."
Here on Vieques, however, appreciation for the churches' new role runs deep among those putting their lives on the line to bring peace to the island. Ismael Guadalupe, a longtime leader of the resistance movement on Vieques, claimed the "participation of new sectors of the population, especially the churches, has allowed us to break down the wall of lies. Now the people are hearing what we've been saying for a long time, and realizing it's true, no matter how many times they called us communists or crazy people. Sooner or later the truth has to triumph, and today on Vieques the truth is winning."