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Para ver esta página en español, oprima aquí. Navy Evaluates Texas Range ReplacementInhofe Warns BushCalderon- England Meeting Fails To Quiet SkepticsJackson Denounces BombingU.N. OK’s Vieques Resolution***** Navy Evaluates Land In Texas To Replace Vieques Range June 25, 2001 CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) - A piece of land in South Texas is one of the places the U.S. Navy is evaluating to replace Vieques' target range, according to the Internet edition of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Three years ago, the Navy compiled information through local authorities on places in South Texas that could be used for a bombing range and an amphibious landing training area. The exact place would be near Kingsville, according to Dick Messbager, executive director of the Greater Kingsville Economic Development Council Messbarger said an additional advantage to the land is more than a hundred miles of undeveloped coastline and open airspace. ***** Inhofe Warns Bush On Referendum June 25, 2001 OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - President Bush's stance on several issues, including the suspension of Navy bombing exercises in Puerto Rico , could cost him the support of conservatives, U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe said. "There's a propensity - his daddy did the same thing - to get elected and move to the left," said Inhofe, R-Okla. "If he does, he's going to lose the conservative base, which is the base that does the work in the trenches, and he won't get re-elected in 2004." After Bush's decision to end bombing on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques by 2003, Inhofe wrote an open letter to military personnel pledging to block the action. Inhofe said he helped draft a law to set up a referendum in Puerto Rico on the bombing to prevent former President Clinton from stopping the training exercises. "I never thought I'd have to use it on a Republican president," he said. ***** Calderon's Announcement Fails To Bring Satisfaction By Proviana Colon Diaz June 24, 2001 VIEQUES - Gov. Sila Calderon's late Friday announcement of the "reestablishment of conversations with the U.S. Navy" failed to bring any satisfaction among many of the municipality residents who are in favor of the immediate return of the land. For Robert Rabin of the Justice and Peace Camp and the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques, the announcement failed to bring anything new. "The announcement has no meaning. It is just a mere reaffirmation of the information we already knew," Rabin said. Calderon met with England on Friday afternoon at La Fortaleza from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in private as requested by him. Following the meeting, Calderon convoked the press to informed them of the meeting where the "reestablishment of conversations with the Navy" had been set. However, the military practices scheduled to conclude at the end of the month will continue. ***** Navy Secretary And Governor Hold Unannounced Meeting June 23, 2001 San Juan - U.S. Navy Secretary Gordon England met for 90 minutes Friday with Puerto Rican Gov. Sila Calderon in a meeting not announced to the media where they discussed the future of military maneuvers on the island municipality of Vieques . According to the governor, England reaffirmed that the United States would abandon Vieques in 2003, but would continue its military exercises on the island for the next few months while it locates an alternative site for its maneuvers. England said that he would notify the U.S. Congress next week of his decision to suspend the Vieques referendum, to allow residents on the island municipality to decide on the U.S. military maneuvers, scheduled for Nov. 6. The White House ordered the Navy to draft a bill canceling the referendum and setting a definitive date for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vieques , slated for May 2003. Calderon said that her "one-on-one" meeting with England "shows that the talks between my government and the U.S. government have resumed." In Puerto Rico , England visited Navy installations at the Roosevelt Roads Base in Ceiba and in Vieques. ***** Jackson Denounces Vieques Bombing June 23, 2001 VIEQUES, Puerto Rico (AP) -- The Rev. Jesse Jackson denounced the Navy's bombing of its prized Vieques firing range as the arrogant act of a colonizer, and the treatment of detained protesters as an effort to break their spirit. Jackson said Saturday that he was lobbying Attorney General John Ashcroft for a meeting to air complaints that the U.S. government is trying to intimidate detainees, including his wife, Jacqueline, with excessive jail terms, fines and cruel treatment. `To bomb Vieques is a colonial act,'' he said, and ``arrogant.'' ***** U.N. Approves Vieques Resolution June 22, 2001 UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- A U.N. committee adopted a Cuban-backed resolution Thursday calling on the United States to expedite independence for Puerto Rico and order an immediate end to U.S. military exercises on the tiny island of Vieques. The resolution, which is not legally binding, was approved without a vote by the 24-member special committee on decolonization issues. It calls on the U.S. government ``to assume its responsibility of expediting a process that will allow the Puerto Rican people to fully exercise their inalienable right to self-determination and independence.'' The resolution also urged the U.S. government ``to order the immediate halt of its armed forces' military drills and maneuvers on Vieques Island.'' It calls on the U.S. government ``to assume its responsibility of expediting a process that will allow the Puerto Rican people to fully exercise their inalienable right to self-determination and independence.'' The resolution also urged the U.S. government ``to order the immediate halt of its armed forces' military drills and maneuvers on Vieques Island.'' It calls for the United States to ``return the occupied land to the people of Puerto Rico, halt the persecution, incarcerations, arrests and harassment of peaceful demonstrators, immediately release all persons incarcerated in this connection ... and decontaminate the impact areas'' in the Vieques bombing range.
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