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Para ver esta página en español, oprima aquí. July 25th Celebration & Section 956's Campaign Costs Reach $600KHundreds Protest At White HouseNavy Studies Training OptionsLebron Gets 60 DaysBurgos: Vote For Option 2Bill To Amend Section 956 Filed In CongressCalderon Won't Campaign For Referendum***** July 25th Celebration And Section 956's Campaign Costs Reach $600,000 By Proviana Colon Diaz July 19, 2001 The Commonwealth campaign in favor of amending U.S. Internal Revenue Code Section 956 went up a notch Thursday when Secretary of State Ferdinand Mercado announced that the 49th anniversary of the Commonwealth Constitution will be dedicated to that effort. Dubbed "Commonwealth: The Force of Puerto Rico," the July 25 celebration is estimated to cost $300,000 in public funds. That is added to the $300,000 that already have been invested in an advertising campaign on Section 956, for a total of $600,000 so far, according to government officials. The investment comes at a time when the government has argued that it faces a fiscal crisis inherited from the previous administration, which forced Gov. Sila Calderon's government to trim 4% of the budget allocated to government agencies for fiscal year 2002. When asked about recent statements by Commonwealth Comptroller Manuel Diaz Saldaña that he will closely monitor the use of public funds for celebrations, Mercado said there are no "extravagant" expenses in the celebration. ***** Hundreds Protest For Vieques At White House July 19, 2001 WASHINGTON (AP) - At least 1,000 people convened Thursday in front of the White House to ask the immediate withdrawal of the U.S. Navy from Vieques, where it has held military practices for more than 50 years. The protest was organized by Rev. Jesse Jackson and his Rainbow-PUSH Coalition and it slowly progressed from a dozen members of the U.S. House of Representatives into a demonstration of solidarity with Vieques. Jackson first met with participants in front of the U.S. Department of Justice and moved on to the White House in a caravan of buses. "Let's keep hope alive," said Jackson. "We still have a lot to do for the Navy to leave Vieques." ***** US Navy Studies Vieques Training Options July 19, 2001 WASHINGTON (AP)--A group of military experts led by two retired general officers will develop a list of alternatives to Puerto Rico 's Vieques island as a training range for U.S. naval forces, the Pentagon announced Thursday. The study group will operate on the assumption that the Navy will abandon its Vieques training range in May 2003, officials said. The study is expected to present its conclusions by spring 2002, they said. The study will be done under the auspices of the Center for Naval Analyses, a federally funded research center that specializes in Navy and Marine Corps issues. The center named retired Adm. Leighton Smith and retired Marine Corps Gen. Charles Wilhelm to lead the study team. They will review potential training facilities, sites and methods to find "effective alternatives" to Vieques , a Pentagon statement said. They also will estimate costs, assess potential environmental concerns and develop a time line for moving the training from Vieques , officials said. ***** Lolita Lebron Sentenced To 60 Days In Jail July 19, 2001 SAN JUAN (AP) - U.S. Magistrate Aida Delgado sentenced nationalist leader Lolita Lebron to 60 days in jail for trespassing on U.S. Navy restricted area on Vieques. Lebron has already served 23 days in jail since her arrest on June 26, which means that now she must serve 37 additional days. ***** NPP Sen. Norma Burgos Urges Viequenses To Vote For Option 2 July 18, 2001 SAN JUAN (AP) - New Progressive Party (NPP) Sen. Norma Burgos urged Vieques residents to vote for option No. 2 on the ballot in the July 29 referendum. Option 2 includes the recommendation of the Vieques Commission presided over by Burgos during former Gov. Pedro Rossello's administration for the immediate and permanent halt of all military exercises of the U.S. Navy on Vieques. The NPP legislator made her statements over the phone from prison, where she is serving a 60-day sentence imposed by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Hector Laffitte on July 6 for trespassing on Navy land to demand the end of military exercises on the island municipality. Burgos also criticized Popular Democratic Party (PDP) Rep. Jorge De Castro Font and NPP Sen. Miriam Ramirez de Ferrer for advocating for the third option, which calls for the permanence of the Navy on Vieques and the continuance of military bombings with live ammunition. ***** Bill To Amend Section 956 Filed In Congress By PuertoRicoWOW News Service July 18, 2001 Gov. Sila Calderon announced Wednesday that a bill was filed in Congress to amend Section 956 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code (IRC), according to a prepared statement. The legislation was filed by U.S. Reps. Philip Crane (R-Ill.) and Charles Rangel (D-NY), the two highest ranking members of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee that oversees the bill, and by Resident Commissioner Anibal Acevedo Vila. "Today's event is part of an immediate strategy for Puerto Rico, because it allows us to compete as an equal with countries where companies that were previously on the island have chosen to go to after the elimination of the incentives of Section 936 and 30A," said Calderon. According to the statement, the filing of the bill marks the beginning of a legislative process aimed at increasing the island's competitiveness for economic investments, developments and for more job creation. ***** Calderon Won't Campaign For Vieques Referendum By Proviana Colon Diaz July 17, 2001 Gov. Sila Calderon on Tuesday said the Popular Democratic Party (PDP), which she heads, will not campaign in favor of any particular option in the July 29 referendum on the presence of the U.S. Navy in Vieques. Calderon has said her preference, and the PDP's official position, is for the immediate halt of military practices and the departure of the Navy from Vieques. This is the No. 2 option of the referendum ballot. "We, as an institution, will not be participating in the issues relevant to the referendum. This is not a political issue and I urge all political leaders to refrain from turning it into such," Calderon said. Still, Calderon said all those who on a personal basis wish to campaign for a particular option, might do so. This allows Senate President Antonio Fas Alzamora to campaign for the No. 2 column as he has already expressed he will do, and Rep. Jorge De Castro Font to campaign in favor of the permanent stay of the military forces in Vieques.
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