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PuertoRicoWOW News Service

Misla Holds Calderon Responsible For House Committee Decision

By Proviana Colon Diaz

August 3, 2001
Copyright © 2001 PuertoRicoWOW News Service. All Rights Reserved.

New Progressive Party (NPP) House Minority Leader Edison Misla Aldarondo held Gov. Sila Calderon responsible Thursday for the U.S. House Armed Forces Committee's decision to eliminate the November federal referendum on the future of the U.S. Navy in Vieques.

His statements came hours after he said he believe the referendum would not be eliminated. Now that the committee has recommended the continuation of military practices in Vieques until an alternative site is found, Misla Aldarondo said the new criteria is more strict that the one previously agreed to by former President Bill Clinton and former Gov. Pedro Rossello, whose accord is contained in the federal law enabling the November referendum.

However, he said the committee's actions are but a consequence of Calderon's "anti-American actions and of confrontation with the Navy."

"They [the Calderon administration] played with fire and they inevitably burned themselves. What is sad is that the impact of their decisions negatively impacts not only Vieques, but all Puerto Ricans," Misla Aldarondo said.

Furthermore, the former House speaker and National committeeman of the Puerto Rico Republican Party said Sunday's "misleading" local referendum, in which the residents of Vieques voted in favor of option No. 2 seeking the immediate and permanent cease of military exercises, was "totally devoid of reality."

The government's actions, according to Misla Aldarondo, will not help them achieve their goal, but rather make them responsible for the amendment to the law that proposes the elimination of a date for the Navy's departure from Vieques.

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