Students Protest Naval Occupation of Vieques

A Harvard junior's campaign to end the U.S. Navy presence on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques continued yesterday with a rally and a discussion panel of academics.

Hans S. Perl-Matanzo '01, head of Peace for Vieques Now!, was the main speaker at yesterday's rally held in front of the Science Center.

Perl-Matanzo has been circulating a petition to end the Navy presence which currently has the signatures of over 300 students and 44 Harvard faculty, including names as prominent as Frankfurter Professor Law Alan M. Dershowitz and Warburg Professor of Economics Emeritus John Kenneth Galbraith.

Vieques is used by the Navy as a training ground for war games and practice bombing runs. Residents there have complained that the Navy presence hurts their economy and the environment.

At the rally, at which Perl-Matanzo spoke in both Spanish and English, the crowd chanted "Stop the bombing, Peace in Vieques," and, in Spanish, "Navy, go to hell!"

After the rally, Harvard's Bliss Professor of Latin American History, John Womack '59, and Gutman Professor of Latin American Affairs John H. Coatsworth spoke on the Vieques situation in the Science Center.

"After 53 years of continual bombing and raids, Vieques has more craters than the moon," Womack said.

Also present was Manuel Rodriguez-Orellana, professor at Inter-American Law School in Puerto Rico.

The three professors discussed this controversy's place in Puerto Rico's relations with the U.S. government. Puerto Rico's residents are U.S. citizens but cannot vote in presidential elections.

The professors accused the U.S.--which has said the Vieques site is crucial to continuing military preparedness--of perpetuating a colonial policy detrimental to Vieques' residents.

"Vieques is the metaphor for Peurto Rico--Peurto Rico does not hold any levers in the decision making process. It is the US government that makes decisions," Rodriquz-Orellana said. "The core of the issue is colonialism, which has already been established to be immoral and illegal."

"America, the first nation to struggle against colonialism and win now remains as the last bastion holding on to colonies," he added.

The professors suggested that the Navy use several uninhabited islands in the Mediterranean Sea as U.S. training bases.

Another highlight of the day's events was a visit from a student group from Dartmouth College, where a petition to pull the Navy out of Vieques is also being circulated.

"The rally gave us an opportunity to address the Harvard community and bring some awareness to the people here," said Hector Rossari, an active member of Dartmouth's Interractial Coalition for Social Change.