Invited by the country's religious leaders to take to the streets in favor of peace, more than 100,000 Puerto Ricans waved white flags and walked in silence through the streets of San Juan on February 21 to demand an end to the U.S. Navy bombing of the tiny Caribbean island of Vieques.
"I'm very satisfied and happy, this was a beautiful and extraordinary event," said Juan Vera, bishop of the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico.
While San Juan police officials estimated the march drew at least 85,000 people, march organizers claimed more than 150,000 participated.
The march was organized three weeks ago by Vera and other religious leaders upset by a plan designed by the Clinton administration and Puerto Rico's Governor Pedro Rossello. That plan would permit a referendum for the 9,400 residents of Vieques, in which they would choose between allowing the Navy to continue bombing, or limit further bombing to three years. Church leaders were upset by the absence of an option that would cancel all further bombing, and by the fact that the referendum wouldn't be held until months after the Navy was allowed to resume bombing.
When religious leaders called for Puerto Ricans to take to the streets to reject the Clinton-Rossello deal, the governor called on church members to practice "religious disobedience" and stay at home.
In the wake of the massive turnout for the march, religious leaders were estatic.
"This is the largest public demonstration we've had in the history of our country. It sends a clear message to President Clinton that political decisions are not written in stone and can thus be changed. We want him to reconsider his decision and not renew bombing on Vieques, whether with live munitions or inert bombs. We don't want one more bomb to fall on Vieques," declared Vera.
The Methodist bishop, who headed the march along with two Roman Catholic bishops and almost a dozen leaders of Protestant and evangelical denominations, said the march marked"a new moment" for ecumenism in Puerto Rico.
"For the first time in our country, all religious sectors have come together. We're Catholics, Pentecostals, evangelicals, Protestants, all united in an embrace of solidarity, all wanting as Christians to defend life, all demanding peace for Vieques," Vera said.
According to a leader of the Disciples of Christ, the struggle for Vieques "is building a new ecumenical unity. Never before have we had such a wide consensus among churches in Puerto Rico. The struggle for peace on Vieques offered the churches a kairos moment, and they've responded well. We've arrived at a new stage of church history in Puerto Rico, and a new moment of consensus within the broader society. We're a country very divided by political issues because we have yet to resolve our colonial status. But Vieques has made it possible to break down those walls and work for peace," said Eunice Santana, a former president of the World Council of Churches and director of the Caribbean Institute for Ecumenical Action and Training.
Vieques has been used by the U.S. military as a bombing range and weapons storage area for six decades. In recent months, the long struggle to drive the Navy off Vieques has gained new strength, and 14 civil disobedience camps have been set up inside the Navy-controlled areas of Vieques. Two of those camps are sponsored by church groups.
Despite the massive turnout for Monday's march, U.S. political leaders pretended to not notice.
"We work in a society where elected representatives make the decisions," declared Jeffrey Farrow, a White House official who heads an interagency task force on Puerto Rico.
A spokesperson for Rossello said the governor paid no attention to the demonstration and concentrated on other government business.
"If they're paying attention, this march was a good way to take the pulse of the people of Puerto Rico," Santana declared. "The march was a concrete act demonstrating the will of the people of Puerto Rico."
Encouraged by the massive turnout, religious leaders said they would meet February 22 to consider future actions.
"The group will responsibly study the next steps to take in order to achieve peace on Vieques," said the Roman Catholic archbishop of San Juan, Roberto Gonzalez. "This is a great moment of hope. We've managed to demonstrate the great consensus that lives in the heart of the Puerto Rican people, a consensus that there be justice and peace on Vieques.