June 20, 2000,
NEW YORK CITY – President Clinton should exercise his authority as Commander-in-Chief
and block the resumption of bombing tests on Puerto Rico’s Vieques island, National
Council of Churches General Secretary Bob Edgar said today, disturbed at reports that the
tests would resume June 21.
The Rev. Dr.
Edgar led a six-member delegation to Puerto Rico June 1-3.
The delegation brought back to a June 12 meeting with White House staff a
request from Puerto Rico’s church leaders for a meeting with President Clinton about
Vieques.
“The
President has met with Puerto Rico’s governor and with the Marines, but he has not
talked with Puerto Rico’s spiritual leaders, who are the moral authority and who have
the trust of the people,” Dr. Edgar reported.
“Puerto
Rico’s mainline and evangelical Protestant, Roman Catholic and Pentecostal church
leaders have joined forces in an unprecedented ecumenical coalition against continued use
of Vieques for U.S. military exercises,” he said.
“Their message is unanimous: ‘Not one more bomb in Vieques.’”
Dr. Edgar said
the delegation was impressed by the “depth of the Vieques people’s commitment to
non-violent protest for peace, including their willingness to enter the bombing range in
acts of civil disobedience that have continued, even after the May 4 eviction of
protestors.”
Puerto Rico’s
church leaders also have declared “immoral” the terms of a proposed plebiscite
– agreed upon by the government of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Navy and President Clinton
-- offering the people of Vieques a choice between two alternatives – for U.S.
military exercises on Vieques to continue for three more years, or to continue
indefinitely. No “option” is
offered for an immediate cessation of the bombing.
“As people of faith, we deplore
the resumption of bombing,” Dr. Edgar said. “It
is clearly against the will of the people, an unconscionable violation of the civil and
human rights of citizens of a free and democratic society.”
-end-
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