Navy ships bound for Puerto Rican island to clear protesters

April 28, 2000
Web posted at: 2:01 p.m. EDT (1801 GMT)

In this story: Bombing range closed more than a year Compromise in works for months RELATED STORIES, SITES

From CNN Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Two U.S. Navy ships are headed for a Puerto Rican island as part of an operation to remove demonstrators who oppose a military bombing range there.

The timing of the law enforcement operation, being staged in cooperation with the Justice Department, remains a closely guarded secret.

The amphibious assault ships USS Bataan and USS Nashville left their Norfolk, Virginia, port about 7 p.m. Thursday, according to Navy officials who would not disclose the ships' destination.

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Puerto Rico protests

Pentagon sources told CNN the ships were to pick up about 1,200 U.S. Marines at Morehead City, North Carolina, and take them to the waters surrounding the island of Vieques, home of a U.S. Navy bombing range.

Sources tell CNN that law enforcement officers also were to board the Navy ships at an undisclosed location.

Pentagon officials say the Marines will provide "backup and support" to several hundred U.S. marshals, FBI agents and Puerto Rican police. The Marines, however, will take no direct role in arresting or evicting the protesters, sources say.

"There will be law enforcement officers on the ships," confirmed one Pentagon official who did not want to be identified.

Other sources said the Marines would fly the "SWAT team" in at the "appropriate time."

Bombing range closed more than a year

One of two U.S. Navy ships heads for Vieques, Puerto Rico, as part of an operation to remove demonstrators, below, opposing the U.S. military bombing range

Protests have closed the Vieques training facility for more than a year, ever since an off-target bomb killed a civilian security guard who worked for the Navy on April 18, 1999.

Located in the Caribbean about six miles (9.6 kilometers) southeast of Puerto Rico, Vieques has about 8,600 inhabitants. The island is about five miles at its widest point.

Pentagon spokesman Rear. Adm. Craig Quigley refused Thursday to comment on the pending raid, saying only that it "would be a law enforcement operation with the Justice Department in the lead."

This week the U.S. Navy issued warnings to fishermen and other mariners to avoid the waters surrounding the bombing range on the east end of the island through this weekend.

But Thursday the Navy said the warnings were issued in error and said there are no military exercises scheduled for the waters around Vieques through May 7.

The warnings have increased speculation among island residents that federal authorities could be planning to take action soon.

Pentagon sources indicated the raid to clear the island could come anytime next week but emphasized it was a Justice Department decision.

CNN reported last week that the Justice Department's plans call for several hundred federal marshals and FBI agents to use force if necessary to clear the Vieques bombing range of demonstrators and return it to the control of the U.S. Navy.

Pentagon officials say the number of protesters varies between several dozen and about 300 depending on the day of the week and the weather.

Some are camped at the main gate at Camp Garcia, while others are at the "impact area" on the beach.

U.S. officials had been hoping to catch the protesters by surprise, in the middle of the night when their numbers are small, to minimize the potential for violence.

Compromise in works for months

In January, the Clinton administration reached a compromise with Puerto Rico's Gov. Pedro Rossello to resume military training exercises on Vieques.

The Pentagon said Rossello supports the compromise but would not say if he supports the use of force to clear the range.

The compromise allows the Navy to resume training for the next three years using only "inert" or dummy bombs, for no more than 90 days per year, and provides for a future referendum that would allow the Navy to resume live-fire exercises and stay more than three years.

In return, the United States will provide $40 million in economic development aid for the island, with an additional $50 million if the Navy is allowed resume using live ammunition.

The referendum could be held as early as August of this year and as late as February 2002, at the Navy's discretion.

Asked on Thursday if he supports the use of force to retake the range, Defense Secretary William Cohen said: "We support the agreement that was negotiated between the governor and U.S. officials, and we are hopeful that that agreement will be fully complied with. And ... we are very supportive of what the governor has done to date. He is committed to seeing to it that we resolve the situation in Vieques, and we expect that that will be the case."

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