Hey there,
First some good news and then a bunch of rumors.
The year anniversary of peace in Vieques has passed and to celebrate the
Marines have announced that they are canceling yet another planned war games.
This is the third time that war games have been called off. Somehow the
indispensable Vieques that cannot be replaced has been replaced again just fine.
The anniversary was marked by activities in Vieques and here in San Juan. In
Vieques there was a march from the beach camps through the base to the camp at
the gates. This is the first time that the Marines have allowed protesters to
do this. Here in San Juan, the municipal baseball stadium was turned into the
All The Family With Vieques day. Clowns sang songs about getting rid of the
marines, kids painted self portraits with slogans for peace, artisans sold
t-shirts, vendors sold piņa coladas "leaded and unleaded", theater and music.
A very sweet event.Speaking of theater, the Vieques version of Romeo and
Juliet has been touring the island lately. She's the daughter of a Marine
admiral and he's a fisherman's son (or vice versa, I'm not sure) And we can't
forget the rap video. There are actually at least four vieques music videos
that I've seen.
Now some rumors: THEY'RE COMING TO ARREST THEM ALL TOMORROW. Well, who knows.
As you can remember from the first one of these messages I sent out there have
been rumors of immanent arrest for months. But two war ships have left the
States with 1,000 Marines to dislodge the protesters. And the PR governor says
its coming soon. Will they call it off as they supposedly did a few weeks ago
when the PR government backed out? Like I said, who knows. The protesters
recognize the constant leaking of rumors by the Pentagon as a way to fuck with
them. Psychological warfare is the more appropriate term I suppose. Meanwhile
the camps keep on going. This morning's paper had a picture of a few bishops
smiling in a boat going off to the camps. And the Independence Party is
holding a strategy meeting this weekend on the beach with hundreds of party
members. Their candidate for governor, Ruben Berrios, still hasn't left the
beach since May 8th. Whenever they interview him about immanent arrest there
is a sense that he can't wait. And Bobby Kennedy Jr came out to denounce the
environmental damage. Oh, and a huge turtle showed up too. One of those 600
pound sea turtles came up on the beach at one of the camps. With a year of no
bombing there are signs of wildlife and plant life returning some. The turtles united...
The group that runs the camp at the gates has asked for people to send
disposable cameras with flashes so that when the arrests happen they can be
documented well. (I suppose they wouldn't mind a check either) Their address is:
Comite Pro Rescate y Desarollo de Vieques
Apartado 1424
Vieques, PR 00765
Hope you are all well, dave