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News & Letters, June 2001
Movement to liberate Vieques unbowed
New York--In late May, New Yorkers protested the outrageous federal jail
sentences imposed on four prominent local figures for having demonstrated
at the Vieques naval base in Puerto Rico. Black and Brown New Yorkers came
together to demand the release of the "Vieques 4" and an end to the
continued use of the island of Vieques for bombing practice. Thousands of
Puerto Ricans and their supporters have engaged in civil disobedience in
Vieques over the past few years.
Rev. Al Sharpton, a Black civil rights activist who recently announced he
is running for president in 2004, received the most jail time: 90 days.
Three Bronx politicians--City Councilman Adolfo Carrion Jr., State
Assemblyman Jose Rivera, and Roberto Ramirez, a former state
legislator--each received 40 days. Sharpton got extra time because of a
prior federal conviction for civil disobedience.
More than 200 demonstrators turned out May 26 to demand the release of the
four. They gathered at the federal detention center in Brooklyn, where the
four were sent to serve their sentences. It was the first of a series of
demonstrations that will be held daily until they are released.
On May 31, the U.S. Court of Appeals denied a motion to free them on bail
pending their appeal and indicating the sentences are not likely to be
reversed. The four have begun a liquid-only hunger strike which all but
Carrion are continuing as we go to press. They vow to continue until they
are released.
Many protesters emphasized that the demonstrations represented a new stage
of solidarity between Black and Brown New Yorkers. People were incensed
that Sharpton's incarceration
came immediately after he announced his run for president. One protester
suggested the Bush administration encouraged the long sentences. Flora
Edwards, the lead attorney for the four in their appeal, claimed they were
denied the right to a fair trial because they were denied time to prepare
and the right to present all their evidence and witnesses.
Norman Siegel, former head of the New York City Civil Liberties Union, said
the sentences, if allowed to stand, could have a chilling effect on other
non-violent protests. Katherine Sharpton addressed the crowd with a message
from her husband that the demonstrations should stay focused on ending the
naval bombing of Vieques.
At a rally the day after the May 23 sentencing, at the Federal Building in
Manhattan, local politicians, family members of the jailed men and radical
activists joined voices to sing "We Shall Overcome" and to shout "Fuera de
Vieques" and "Free the Vieques 4!"
The destruction of Vieques is so unpopular here that even our Republican
governor had to oppose it. At the rally, one Puerto Rican woman said
optimistically, "The situation is now so bad that Bush has to come out
against bombing Vieques as well." Another woman said no, Bush and his
attorney general are behind these sentences.
The latter appears to be the case. That very day in Georgia, another
federal court imposed long sentences on demonstrators against the U.S.
army's infamous School of the Americas at Fort Benning. The school trains
Latin American military officers to assassinate and destabilize popular
movements.
Twenty-six activists had been convicted two days earlier for demonstrating
at the Army base last fall. Sentences ranged from probation to one year in
jail. They were among 3,600 who took part in an annual protest demanding
the closure of the school.
All 3,600 stepped onto the base, but the 26 committed their act in defiance
of previous "ban-and-bar letters" that banned them from the base for five
years due to prior arrests there. "We lock up peacemakers and give money
and medals to warmakers," said Frida Berrigan of the War Resisters League
about the sentences. "What's wrong with that picture?"
--Anne and Malik
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