c. 1999 Religion News Service

VIEQUES, Puerto Rico _ Churches in Puerto Rico have stepped into the middle of a swirling firestorm over the U.S. Navy’s use of this small island where sailors, Marines and aviators stage”live fire”exercises.”In this moment, the government, the social groups, the whole church community support that the Navy go out, leave the island,”says Bishop Juan Vera of the Methodist Church in Puerto Rico.

It is an old dispute but in recent months has taken on new urgency.

The Navy began buying land on Vieques in 1942 and now controls two-thirds of the island, using the western third as an ammunition dump and the eastern sector as a firing range. Nine thousand people live in between.

Residents have complained for years about the noise of military exercises carried on for 180 days a year. They also worry about damage to the environment and economic development.

Then, on April 19, a Marine pilot mistakenly dropped two bombs on an observation post inside the firing range, killing 35-year-old David Sanes Rodriguez.

Rodriguez worked for the Navy as a civilian security guard. His death has turned him into a martyr.”The kindling was abundant and was dry but the spark was not there,”said Fernando Martin, Vice President of Puerto Rico’s Independence Party.”I think the tragic and unfortunate death of this young man sort of served as the catalyst for this pent-up sentiment, the sense that the U.S. Navy had abused Puerto Rico, that the United States did not respect the will of the Puerto Rican people.” Protesters began camping on the beaches inside the firing range almost immediately and, more than five months later, they remain there, effectively suspending all of the Navy’s training exercises.

In the picturesque little village of Esperanza, on Vieques’ south shore, residents and tourists walking near the beach see everything from spray-painted graffiti, to elaborate street art, to expensive T-shirts all shouting out some variation of the general theme”Fuera Marina Vieques!”_ The Navy out of Vieques!”The island is a beautiful island and for us it’s holy land, it’s the land of God,”Vera said.”For us it’s very bad management of these resources continuously to practice for war, practice to kill.” The Roman Catholic Church, still the largest and most influential in Puerto Rico, has also joined the campaign of opposition.

During a recent visit to New York City, Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez Nieves of San Juan, called the Navy’s use of Vieques”an offense against the principles for which the United States wishes to stand.” Church leaders in Puerto Rico are doing more than simply preaching about the issue.

Late last month, representatives of several Protestant denominations agreed to conduct”liturgical acts”in a chapel built by the protesters camping on Navy land. Juan Vera called the chapel”our camp.””We also want people to understand that our presence there is to give moral and spiritual support to the protesters and has nothing to do with politics,”he said.

Vera may have been anxious to disassociate his church from politics because the Puerto Rican Independence Party has seized a high-profile role in the dispute.

Ruben Berrios, the party’s president, has spent the past five months camping on the beach on the Navy’s firing range.

Berrios believes the rising popular opposition to the Navy on Vieques could eventually convince Puerto Ricans of the need for independence from the United States.”The core of this whole issue is U.S. colonialism,”Berrios says.”We’re striking a blow at the heart of colonialism and we’re very happy to do that. That is what this is all about, struggling to command our own destiny,”he added.

Perhaps recognizing that the Vieques issue is inextricably tangled up in the explosive forces of history, colonialism and nationalism, the U.S. Navy has taken a conciliatory position throughout the latest controversy.”The Navy is not going to embark on any exercises while there are protesters on the range,”said Lt. Cmdr. Mark McDonald, a spokesman for the Atlantic Fleet in Norfolk, Va.”We’re very concerned with the livelihood of any individuals and we’re not going to conduct any unsafe operations,”McDonald said.

However, the Navy insists that Vieques is the only spot in the Atlantic where all of its forces can simultaneously train, including sailors firing from ships, Marines storming beaches, planes dropping bombs. Officers say training is vital when personnel serve on active duty in places such as the Persian Gulf and the seas near Kosovo.

The Navy also defends its safety record on Vieques, pointing out the firing range is located eight miles from the closest populated area.

Still, on Puerto Rico over the past five months, the campers on the Navy’s land have found themselves transformed into heroic figures. Each weekend, visitors join them from the main island of Puerto Rico, bringing food, water and phone cards.”I learned my civil disobedience lessons from Dr. Martin Luther King when I was a student at Yale and Georgetown,”Berrios recalled with a chuckle.”I’m sure many people in the United States today identify this as one of the struggles they can fully appreciate and side with because it’s in the best American tradition.” Another American tradition is political compromise, and President Clinton has appointed a panel to study the Vieques controversy in hopes of finding an agreement acceptable to the people of Puerto Rico and the needs of the Navy.

But, on an issue that sparks such deep emotion and such wide popular support among Puerto Ricans, finding compromise might be an impossible task. DEA END MELCHIORRE