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Para ver esta página en español, oprima aquí. Pataki, Politics And BombingNavy Informs Puerto Rico That It Intends To Resume Exercises On ViequesBishop On Rodriguez's BeatificationCongressmen Ask Bush To Revoke AgreementNo Link Between Exercises And DiseaseFederal Fund Allocations To Be IncreasedPataki Tours Vieques, Rebuffs Ramirez***** Pataki, Politics And Bombing Vieques By JOYCE PURNICK April 12, 2001 Let's get this straight, just to clarify. George E. Pataki of Peekskill, N.Y., whose state did not vote for George W. Bush, who couldn't get his own candidate elected to the United States Senate last year, who is no military expert — isn't even a veteran, having been rejected by the Army for bad eyesight — is going to persuade the Bush administration to put an end to 60 years of bombing exercises on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques? Or maybe the governor is convinced that Vieques is of critical strategic importance to New York? Must be one or the other — or both — given the governor's trip to Puerto Rico this week on your dime. Never mind that Vieques's fate will invariably be decided through a balancing of military needs and political imperatives. This is one complex and sensitive issue. On one side is the Navy, which maintains that there is no other location on the East Coast for its training exercises. On the other are people in Puerto Rico bitterly opposed to the bombing on Vieques, where protests have turned violent. The exercises have been suspended since December, and the new governor of Puerto Rico, Sila M. Calderón, wants them permanently ended. She has threatened to abrogate an agreement with Washington calling for a binding referendum next November by the people of Vieques. It was into this cauldron of politics and emotion that Mr. Pataki flew this week, to the delight of his host, Ms. Calderón, and the dismay of the Navy's supporters. Miriam Ramirez, a Republican senator in Puerto Rico who was thwarted in her attempt to see Mr. Pataki, accused him of playing politics. "He already had a position before he came down, so why did he have to come?" she asked over the phone yesterday. "He apparently thinks getting votes in the Bronx is more important than the safety of our young men and women." There's no question Mr. Pataki has made friends among the 1.3 million New Yorkers of Puerto Rican descent, in the time-worn tradition of candidates from New York who visit Israel or Ireland or the Dominican Republic in election season. Whatever Vieques's future, "Nobody will be able to say he didn't try," as a credulous television reporter smilingly said of the governor, who joins a growing list of incumbents who are maximizing their advantage by openly using government resources for politics — particularly in the year before their re-election campaigns. ***** Navy Informs Puerto Rico That It Intends To Resume Exercises On Vieques April 12, 2001 SAN JUAN - The U.S. Navy has notified the Puerto Rican government that it plans to resume training exercises on the small island of Vieques as early as April 27. The exercises would be on Vieques ' eastern tip, according to a letter from the Navy received Thursday by Puerto Rico 's secretary of state. Puerto Rican Gov. Sila Calderon called the Navy's announcement "offensive and unacceptable." She said it was wrong to send the statement to the predominantly Christian people of the island during Holy Week. The Navy's letter, signed by Capt. S.K. Shegrud, said that only non-explosive ordnance will be used in the training, as required by directives from former U.S. President Bill Clinton. ***** Bishop Emphasizes Importance Of Rodriguez's Beatification April 12, 2001 SAN JUAN (AP) - San Juan Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez Nieves emphasized that the beatification of Puerto Rican layman Carlos Manuel Rodriguez Santiago "is the most important event" that Puerto Rico has lived. He said the life example of Rodriguez Santiago should be emulated by all Puerto Ricans because of their national identity. The archbishop said this marks a historic milestone that places Puerto Rico as the first Caribbean island to have a beatified layman. The first Latin American to be beatified was Juan Diego, who had visions of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Pope John Paul II signed a decree recognizing that God, through Rodriguez Santiago, worked a miracle when he healed a lady from lung cancer in 1981, Gonzalez Nieves said. For Rodriguez Santiago's beatification ceremony, scheduled for April 29 at the Saint Peter Plaza in Rome, between 2,000 and 2,500 pilgrims from the island will travel to see the ceremony, and other Puerto Rican groups from New York, Cleveland, Florida, and Philadelphia have also confirmed their assistance, the archbishop said. ***** Congressmen Ask Bush To Revoke Vieques Agreement April 11, 2001 SAN JUAN (AP) - Congressmen Bob Stump (R-Ariz) and James Hansen (R-Utah) urged President George W. Bush to renegotiate the Vieques agreement because of Gov. Sila Calderon's failure to comply, according to published reports. Stump and Hansen, chairmen of the House Armed Services and Resources Committees, respectively, expressed confidence in a letter sent to the president that "with the firm leadership of this administration, we will be able to rewrite the agreement this year." The Republican congressmen pointed out that since the governor has not guaranteed the firing range's security and has not facilitated the U.S. Navy training exercises in Vieques, "these circumstances exempt the federal government from the agreement." They also expressed that both the Puerto Rican House and Senate approved resolutions rejecting the agreement reached on January 2000 and the proposed referendum. ***** Johns Hopkins: No Link Between Exercises And Disease April 11, 2001 SAN JUAN (AP) - An independent review by the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health has found no evidence to link vibroacoustic disease symptoms on Vieques to noise from the U.S. Navy exercises, according to published reports. "Within the constraint of the data available, no inference can be made as to the role of noise from naval gunfire in producing echocardiographic abnormalities" in Vieques, the study states. The data in the vibroacoustic tests done on Vieques in December and February were "presented inconsistently and are an insufficient basis for reaching a conclusion that Vieques residents have pericardial thickening or other heart abnormalities," according to the Johns Hopkins findings. The tests, conducted by the Ponce School of Medicine, found a high rate among Vieques residents of an abnormal thickening around the heart, a condition associated with the vibroacoustic disease. ***** Federal Fund Allocations To Be Increased April 10, 2001 SAN JUAN (AP) - President George W. Bush recommended that vital federal programs for Puerto Rico remain at their present level or should be increased due to adjustments to the cost of living in fiscal year 2002. However, the first budget Bush proposed to Congress does not include special initiatives for Puerto Rico, such as the industrial incentive package and the amendment to Section 956, as in past budgets, according to published reports. Bush recommended a $40 million increase for the Nutritional Assistance Program (PAN by its Spanish acronym) for a total of $1.34 billion in the 2002 fiscal year. He also proposed $75 million for the Urban Train project, the third highest allocation among 83 projects where he proposed allocations. In education, the island will receive $1.16 billion, a $48 million increase over the current budget. ***** Pataki Tours Vieques, Rebuffs Ramirez By James C. Mckinley Jr. April 10, 2001 Gov. George E. Pataki, accompanied by Gov. Sila M. Calderon, toured the island of Vieques in Puerto Rico yesterday to press his campaign to stop the Navy's bombing exercises there. Mr. Pataki has no official authority over whether the bombing continues. Still, he has been using his influence with President Bush, a fellow Republican, to urge a halt to the practice. Mr. Pataki's visit is also smart politics. There are 1.3 million Puerto Rican voters in New York, most of them Democrats, and many feel passionately that the Navy should leave the island. By standing with them, Mr. Pataki stands a good chance of winning some of their votes, Puerto Rican leaders say. Mr. Pataki and Ms. Calderón held a news conference in a community center in Vieques, while demonstrators for and against the naval base clashed outside. Mr. Pataki declined to meet with a prominent Puerto Rican senator, Miriam Ramirez, who was leading the pro- Navy demonstration and is active in the Republican Party. Senator Ramirez said the police roughed her up and denied her entry to the hall. "I came out here trying to get Governor Pataki to meet with a Republican," Senator Ramirez said, referring to herself. "He's courting the Democratic vote with Hispanics in New York, but he's turning his back on Republicans."
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