By Canute James. Financial
Times. Published: May 30 2001 19:28GMT | Last Updated: May 30 2001 19:55GMT
In her increasingly intense but so far futile effort to get the US navy to
leave the islet of Vieques, Puerto Rico's governor Sila Calderón has
sought and received support from many quarters.
But she has rejected the latest offer of help: from Cuba's president, Fidel
Castro.
"Fidel Castro's dictatorship has violated the human rights of the Cuban
people," she said after Mr Castro indicated he would help in the fight to
end the US navy's war games on Vieques, a ward of Puerto Rico. "The Vieques
cause is firmly based on the principles of liberty and democracy, and Castro's
regime is a communist dictatorship."
The US navy has used Vieques for training exercises with live ammunition for
60 years. Two years ago an errant bomb killed a civilian. Since then Puerto
Ricans have been demanding that the navy leave the islet, which has a population
of 9,500 people.
The US navy owns nearly two-thirds of the islet, located eight miles off
Puerto Rico's east coast. Residents of Vieques have claimed that in addition to
the dangers from the war games, the activities harm the environment, destroy
marine life, stunt economic development and may be linked to an above-normal
cancer rate on the island.
The US defence department and the navy say Vieques is irreplaceable, and
that its use for live weapons training is critical to US national security.
Mr Castro's support for Vieques was made at the weekend during a
demonstration at Havana's Revolution Square at which Fernando Martin of Puerto
Rico's independence party appeared.
"The governor's concern is that Mr Castro's attempted involvement could
derail the effort to get the navy to leave Vieques," an aide to Mrs Calderón
said on Wednesday.
"She does not want this kind of high profile support from a source
which generates heated emotions in the US. Mr Castro's support will give heavy
ammunition to those who say the navy should stay in Vieques."
The administration of the US territory - which has a quasi-colonial "commonwealth"
relationship with the US - has found more acceptable support for the Vieques
cause. Among those arrested for trespassing on the navy's property were Robert
F. Kennedy Jr, an environmental lawyer, Edward James Olmos, the actor, Luis
Gutierrez, an Illinois congressman, and Dennis Rivera, a New York labour leader.
Al Sharpton, a controversial New York activist, who announced after his arrest
that he plans to seek the US presidency in 2004, was jailed last week for 90
days for trespassing.
The issue of Cuban support is sure to be raised next week when Ricardo
Alarcon, president of Cuba's parliament, visits Puerto Rico to attend a meeting
of pro-independence Puerto Rican organisations.
But Damaso Serrano, mayor of Vieques, welcomes support regardless of the
source. "The US and Cuba are not at war. The only one who has killed people
in Vieques is the navy, not the Cubans," he said. | 