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Vieques Island, Puerto Rico, 18 February (ENI)—Prayers and hymns, rather than the sound of US Navy aircraft launching test missiles, have in recent months dominated the US Navy bombing range on this small Caribbean island east of Puerto Rico.

The prayers and hymns come from two camps set up by Puerto Rican Christians who are risking arrest for breaking the Navy's ban which forbids civilian entry to the bombing range. The protesters - including union members, political activists and students who have set up 12 other camps - are demanding that the Navy vacate the island. Six decades ago the Navy took over two-thirds of the island which it has since used for its military exercises.

The bombing range has long been a cause of friction for the 9000 residents of Vieques and for many Puerto Ricans, but opposition to it grew rapidly last April when a bomb went astray, killing a civilian security guard. Islanders and supporters from Puerto Rico moved onto the bombing range, establishing protest camps and forcing the Navy to cancel military maneuvers. For ten months, Vieques has been free of war games.

Protesters say they are not afraid of the consequences of their action. "It would make things even clearer for the Navy to drag us out of here," said Enrique Mercado, a Methodist pastor who is originally from Vieques. "The world would see that those who preach democracy are the first ones who squash it," he said, referring to the US government.

Mercado recently spent three days living in an "evangelical obedience camp", established on the bombing range early in November and sponsored by the Evangelical Council of Puerto Rico.

The Roman Catholic diocese of Caguas, of which Vieques is part, built the second church-sponsored camp early this month. It consists of two tents and a one-room wooden structure.

On 13 February Protestant and Catholic protesters met for a worship service in a small wooden chapel constructed on the bombing range. As participants hugged each other during the sign of peace at the end of the liturgy, a US Navy helicopter flew low overhead, videotaping the scene.

According to Feliciano Rodriguez, a Catholic priest in Caguas who is overseeing the Catholic protest, more than 300 people have asked to take part, but the diocese has only been able to accept a third of the requests. Participants are trained in non-violence and fully briefed on church teachings.

"Civil disobedience for us means discipline and training, or else it becomes simple protest," Rodriguez said. "People know we're there to pray and work for peace."

If the US government decided to try to regain control of the bombing range, Rodriguez said, the church-sponsored protesters would not resist arrest. More would arrive to take the place ofthose arrested, unless the navy prevented them from arriving by sea.

According to some reports, Catholic Bishop of Caguas, Alvaro Corrada del Rio, and the Archbishop of San Juan, Roberto Gonzalez, are ready to be arrested if the navy tries to remove protesters by force. Organisers from the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico are making plans to fly their bishop, Juan Vera, into Vieques in case other transportation links are cut.

Not all demonstrators will go quietly. Several Puerto Rican veterans of the Vietnam war are preparing to hide out on this small, mountainous island if the navy tries to remove all protesters. The war veterans have taken possession of two navy trucks which they use to transport building materials and food in the restricted zone.

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February (Web-only) 2000, Vol. 44