Why Vieques Bombing Range Dispute Reignited

Selling Puerto Ricans on the idea of independence from the U.S. may be an uphill battle for that territory's nationalists, but rallying them against the U.S. Navy for using their homeland as target practice may be a lot easier. And that could be a problem for the Clinton administration and its candidates come November. The Navy on Monday moved three ships into position off the Navy's gunnery range on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques, amid reports of an imminent federal raid to evict protesters squatting on the Camp Garcia range. President Clinton ordered the facility reopened in January, after concluding a deal with Puerto Rico's governor, Pedro Rosello, in which Washington promised $40 million in exchange for the right to conduct operations using dummy bombs this spring and agreed to abide by a referendum held sometime in the next two years. The island's 9,000 residents would be given an extra $50 million in aid if they vote to allow the resumption of live ammunition exercises.

The Camp Garcia base, built on land expropriated from locals some 50 years ago and considered vital by the military, became the focus of nationalist protest after a security guard was killed by a stray bomb last year. But Clinton's bombing-for-cash deal with the local political establishment appears to have left more nationalist-minded Puerto Ricans unimpressed, creating the current standoff. The protesters may not be able to stop the Navy from resuming its bombing exercises, but they're hoping the spectacle of federal agents dragging off passive resisters will make the political cost of removing them prohibitive to the Clinton administration. Local politicians are warning that arrests at Vieques will trigger protests in the Puerto Rican diaspora in New York, Florida and Chicago, and one warned that "this is going to be worse than Miami for the Clinton administration." Paging Vice President Gore....