Religious community, others take stand on Vieques

WASHINGTON (UMNS) - United Methodist bishops and other leaders are urging President Clinton to stop the U.S. Navy's use of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques as a bombing practice range.

The letter was faxed to Clinton at the White House on June 28.  It was signed by Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Buddhists, Muslims and others, and prepared by the ecumenical Fellowship of Reconciliation, which has 70 chapters in the United States.  The letter was sent on the same day that Clinton met with the heads of the Puerto Rican political parties and interested members of Congress about the status of Puerto Rico.

Although the subject of Vieques was not on the White House agenda for this "summit on Puerto Rico," some members of the delegation said they would raise it.

The letter writers, saying they were speaking out of "anguish and grief," decried reports that the U.S. Navy had fired heavy ordnance into an area where protesters were known to be demonstrating.  The bombing practice had resumed June 25, after a long period when the target range was occupied by protesters practicing civil disobedience.

Demonstrations and protests have increased since the accidental death of a civilian guard in April 1999 during one of the training exercises.

"The protesters' presence in the impact area on Sunday was not a surprise," the letter said.  "Groups had announced their intention to enter the area, and had done so during the previous days.  It is unconscionable that the Navy should fire ordnance into the impact area while people are present there."

The letter called on the president to issue an executive order for the Navy to leave Vieques, in keeping with "the basic consensus of people in Vieques and all sectors of Puerto Rican civil society."  Surveys and reports were mentioned, including a door-to-door poll conducted by the Catholic Church, in which 88.5 percent of the people of Vieques favored immediate removal of the Navy.

"We understand that you have discussed the Vieques controversy with Department of Defense and other federal officials, yet not with the people most affected by the Navy's presence in Vieques," the letter writers said.   "Therefore, we believe that a meeting with representatives of Vieques and with Puerto Rican religious leaders is an essential component for any democratic resolution of this problem."

United Methodists who signed the document included the Rev. Thomas White Wolf Fassett, staff head of the denomination's Board of Church and Society, and the Rev. Bob Edgar, chief executive of the National Council of Churches in Christ in the U.S.A.

United Methodist bishops who signed were Kenneth L. Carder, Nashville Area; Ernest S. Lyght, New York Area; Joel N. Martinez, Nebraska Area; Marshall L. "Jack" Meadors Jr., Mississippi Area; J. Lawrence McCleskey, Columbia (S.C.) Area; and Sharon Zimmerman Rader, Wisconsin Area.

Others who signed included Bishop Juan Vera, of the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico; Susan Shank Mix, president of Church Women United; Aryamani Rodriguez, secretary of UNICEF New York; George Vickers, executive director, Washington Office on Latin America; and Bob Schwartz, executive director, Disarm Education Fund.

The more than 100 signers also included:  Katherine Hoyt, national co-coordinator, Nicaragua Network; Grahame Russell, director, Rights Action; Carmelo Alvarez, dean of students, Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis: Mary Ann Lucking, Project coordinator, CORALations; and the Rev. Lester McGrath, professor of church history, Disciples of Christ.

Besides United Methodists, the Protestant signers included Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Baptists, Quakers, Unitarians and Lutherans.