News and Document archive source
copyrighted material disclaimer at bottom of page
NewsMine coldwar-imperialism puerto-rico Viewing Item | Vieques activist released { October 7 2002 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2002/10/07/international1614EDT0694.DTLhttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2002/10/07/international1614EDT0694.DTL
Anti-Navy activist jailed for Vieques protests released after six months
Monday, October 7, 2002 ©2002 Associated Press
URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2002/10/07/international1614EDT0694.DTL
(10-07) 13:14 PDT SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) --
An activist jailed for six months for trespassing on a Navy bombing range in Vieques was released Monday, and said he would keep protesting the U.S. military presence on the Puerto Rican island.
Leaving the federal prison in San Juan, Robert Rabin said would enter the bombing range again to stop the Navy from dropping ordnance. The Navy has only dropped dummy bombs since 1999.
Jail "was a rich experience for my learning," Rabin said before returning to Vieques, where he has lived since 1980. "I was jailed for my fight in Vieques, and I leave even more committed to the fight in Vieques."
President Bush has said the Navy will leave the bombing range by May 2003. Gov. Sila Calderon and several U.S. lawmakers want the president to put the promise in writing.
Rabin, born in Boston, runs an art gallery in Vieques and helped lead a group opposed to the U.S. presence on the island. The group was created in the 1970s and gained widespread support in Puerto Rico after two errant bombs killed a civilian guard on the range in 1999.
The movement won world attention when protesters invaded the range and camped there for a year.
Bombing opponents claim the exercises pose a health threat, which the Navy denies.
The Navy, which owns about a third of the island, has used the bombing range for about 60 years to train its Atlantic fleet.
©2002 Associated Press
|
| Files Listed: 6 |
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been
specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material
available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political,
human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.
We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with
Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without
profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included
information for research and educational purposes. For more information,
go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use
copyrighted material from this site for purpose of your own that go beyond
'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
|