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Para ver este documento en español, oprima aquí. THE ASSOCIATED PRESSVieques Training Can Resume But Larger Issues UnresolvedMay 5, 2000 SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- Its prized Atlantic base cleared of protesters, the U.S. Navy can temporarily resume the bombing exercises it considers critical to national defense. But underlying the dispute over Puerto Rico's Vieques Island is the unresolved issue of Puerto Rico's unusual ties to the United States. While most Puerto Ricans cherish their U.S. citizenship, they bask in a nationalism that turned a single fatality in Vieques last year into a major national security headache. Hundreds of federal agents reclaimed the Vieques base in a dawn sweep Thursday, removing 216 protesters who had occupied the bomb-strewn range. The Navy then announced new bombing exercises, which the protests had put on hold. However, many questions remain: -- Will Puerto Ricans accept resumed bombings, which the Pentagon says could come in two weeks? On Thursday, hundreds demonstrated outside a U.S. Army base in San Juan, there was a mass candlelight vigil in the Old Town, and more protests are expected. ``Obviously the fight isn't over,'' said Independence Party leader Ruben Berrios. -- Will the Navy succeed in repairing relations with Vieques' 9,400 inhabitants? If not, residents probably will vote in a planned binding referendum to expel the Navy by 2003. Few here believe the military's claims that only on Vieques can the Atlantic Fleet achieve preparedness for bombing and amphibious operations. -- If the Navy eventually leaves Vieques, will it scale down its presence in Puerto Rico? Officials suggest that without Vieques training to oversee they may shut down the 8,600-acre Roosevelt Roads compound -- one of the largest Navy bases, employing 2,500 civilians and injecting more than $300 million into the area's economy. -- Will there be a Hispanic backlash in the United States after the operation, so soon after the controversial raid on the Miami family of Elian Gonzalez? Officials took pains Thursday to apply the lessons learned there, carrying out a kinder, gentler action in which dialogue was preferred to force. And -- in the best tradition of civil disobedience -- protesters were as eager to avoid violence. -- Will the Clinton administration or its successor have the stomach for prolonged political battle over Vieques on the mainland? Support for the Vieques cause came this week from the U.S. National Council of Churches, the Geneva-based World Council of Churches, the Pastors for Peace human rights group from Chicago, newspaper editorials, Hillary Rodham Clinton and U.S. Congress members. Vieques "unites Puerto Ricans not only in Puerto Rico but throughout the 50 states,'' said U.S. Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., who was arrested Thursday at a protest in front of the White House. "It would definitely become a campaign issue.'' Serrano said a raid on Vieques should put Puerto Rico's status on the U.S. political agenda. "Look at the Cuban issue. You have two Florida senators demanding hearings'' into the Elian Gonzalez raid, he said. ``If Puerto Rico was a state, it would have two senators filibustering over Vieques.'' But it has only a single non-voting delegate. And many here and on the mainland believe this is as it should remain -- because after 102 years of U.S. rule, 83 years of U.S. citizenship and about half a century of the system called ``commonwealth,'' Puerto Ricans insist they comprise a distinct Latin American nation. This feeling grows stronger even as once-poor Puerto Rico becomes ever more outwardly similar to the United States -- with highways and megamalls, fast food chains and first-run U.S. movies. In recent years, local pride has been stoked by the broad successes of Puerto Ricans, both those born locally and on the mainland. That success is celebrated here more as an export than as a sign of integration. Singer Ricky Martin -- a booster of the Vieques cause -- asserted recently that Puerto Rico was its own country and that even after spending years in New York and Miami, ``I never felt American.'' Under commonwealth, it's an open question how many Puerto Ricans do. The 4 million islanders cannot vote for president, a minority speak English fluently and symbols of separateness like the Puerto Rican flag, anthem, Olympic team and Miss Universe entry are adored. At the same time, few conceive of giving up their U.S. citizenship, which allows them open access to the mainland, where millions of relatives live and where jobs are available. Washington also sends down about $13 billion a year, a figure that is nearly a third of the island's official gross domestic product. The result has been great indecision: a 1998 referendum on status was won by a ``none of the above'' option advocated by supporters of the status quo. U.S. statehood won 46 percent and independence 3 percent. Puerto Rican nationalism seemed to be driving much of the protest that erupted after a civilian guard was killed by stray bombs on Vieques 13 months ago. Berrios and other independence activists who spearheaded the movement have received tremendously sympathetic coverage, and demonstrations by tens of thousands for Vieques took on anti-American airs.
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