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Para ver esta página en español, oprima aquí. Congress To Evaluate Option Of Separating Vieques From P.R.Governor Announces Withdrawal Of Police Squad From ViequesHispanic Caucus Requests U.S. Navy Missions In Vieques Cease NowGovernor Reneged, Admiral ChargesVieques Loss: Steep Cost In Combat ReadinessCalderon Requests 10-Year Economic Plan***** Congress To Evaluate Option Of Separating Vieques From P.R. February 15, 2001 SAN JUAN (AP) - The U.S. House Resources Committee, with jurisdiction over island affairs, will investigate whether Vieques can be separated from the rest of Puerto Rico so that the U.S. Navy can resume their live-fire practices there, according to published reports. "We will do a basic investigation to determine whether the separation is possible," said Bill Johnson, legislative aide to Rep. James Hansen, Republican of Utah, who presides over the panel. Hansen is in favor of the Navy resuming its live-fire practices in Vieques, and "we will find all the possible options to achieve it." John Killian, constitutional expert for the Congressional Research Service, said although in theory Congress can separate Vieques from Puerto Rico, this type of action is improbable. "Despite the status of the Commonwealth, Puerto Rico is a territory, and supposedly Congress has the right to redraw the lines of its territories," he said. In related news, Hansen said he would terminate the Vieques agreement if the island's government does not carry out the necessary efforts so that the Navy can conduct practices in Vieques in March, according to published reports. "There has to be a strict compliance with the law. If the Puerto Rico government does not uphold its part, Hansen will consider that the agreement is broken and will block the payment of any dollar," Johnson said. Then the agreement will have to be renegotiated, and in this occasion, it will be in the hands of Congress and not the White House, he said. ***** Governor Announces Withdrawal Of Police Squad From Vieques February 15, 2001 SAN JUAN (AP) - Gov. Sila Calderon on Thursday announced the withdrawal of the Riot Squad deployed outside the U.S. Navy's bombing range in Vieques to guard against problems with anti-Navy protesters. The police squad's members were gradually ordered to leave their posts outside the fence of the Navy's Camp Garcia until none were left this week, said Police Superintendent Pierre Vivoni. He said two regular police officers will now guard the entrance to Camp Garcia. ***** Hispanic Caucus Requests U.S. Navy Missions In Vieques Cease Now February 14, 2001 Washington - A dozen Hispanic Democratic congressmen - led by Puerto Rican members of the U.S. Congress - requested on Wednesday that the U.S. Navy immediately halt its training activities on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques. In a letter to be released Thursday and sent to every U.S. Congressional office, the Hispanic legislators argue that the Navy's bombing practices on Vieques, which have occurred for more than 60 years, raise serious health and safety concerns for the island's inhabitants. The letter is a joint effort from Puerto Rico's Resident Commissioner in Washington, Anibal Acevedo Vila, and U.S. Democratic Congressmen - all of Puerto Rican origin - Jose Serrano and Nydia Velazquez of New York and Luis Gutierrez of Illinois. The initiative also has the support of other members of the Hispanic Caucus in Congress, including Robert Menendez of New Jersey, Ciro Rodriguez and Charlie Gonzalez of Texas, Ed Pastor of Arizona, and Hilda Solis and Grace Napolitano of California. ***** Governor Reneged, Admiral Charges By Charles Aldinger February 14, 2001 WASHINGTON - Admiral Robert Natter, commander of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, accused Puerto Rico 's new Gov. Sila Calderon of turning her back on a compromise agreement with Washington over naval training on the island of Vieques and said training would go on next month. "She obviously is investigating every means to shut us down," Natter said of Calderon's rejection of further practice by aircraft carriers at a Navy firing range on Vieques. "We fully intend to continue exercising there.... We intend to do it," Natter told reporters in an interview when asked if the carrier USS Enterprise battle group would undergo training off Vieques in March as planned. "Ultimately, it's an issue between our national government and the commonwealth government. Hopefully it will be resolved quickly and it will be resolved peacefully," he said. Calderon, sworn in last month, has refused to support an accord which ended a year-long standoff between federal authorities and protesters who camped out on the range after a civilian security guard was killed in April 1999 during a botched bombing run. "As you well know we had an agreement resulting in two presidential directives that would have allowed us operating time and room to get this thing resolved," Natter told reporters on Tuesday. "And the governor has chosen to walk away from that." Calderon made a series of campaign pledges that Navy officials said appeared to break the accord. Those included the removal of the Puerto Rican Police Riot Squad from the front gate of the Navy's Camp Garcia on Vieques and the toughening of local noise regulations to ban Navy ship-to-shore shelling. Puerto Rico's Resident Commissioner Anibal Acevedo Vila said that Adm. Natter's comments did not surprise him, and he added that they represent an attempt to weaken the consensus in Puerto Rico in favor of the withdrawal of the U.S. Navy from Vieques. "This will not be decided by the Navy, but by the White House or other government branches," he maintained. ***** Navy Could Get By Without Vieques February 13, 2001 WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. Navy could get by without using Vieques, which has the only bombing range available to Atlantic Fleet carrier battle groups, but at a steep cost in combat readiness, according to Adm. Robert Natter, commander of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet.. Natter said he recently sent a report to the Pentagon regarding Vieques training. "Basically, what it says that if we were to lose Vieques, we will not be an incompetent Navy," he said. "We will not be as ready, as capable a force as we would be with Vieques - no doubt about it." ***** Governor Requests 10-Year Manufacturing Development Plan By Marialba Martinez February 13, 2001 The Department of Economic Development and Commerce (DEDC) will prepare a 10-year economic development initiative for Puerto Rico's manufacturing industry with the assistance of former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul Volker, announced Gov. Sila Calderon on Tuesday. "The creation of a 10-year economic development plan will help the government be proactive, instead of reactive, to the changing economic times. It will take about six months to put together this long-term initiative, which will improve the tax benefits of companies operating under either Sections 936 or 30A, or as Controlled Foreign Corporations under Section 901," said Calderon.
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