Puerto Rico reaches deal with Navy to resume training exercises

CNN
January 31, 2000

Puerto Rico reaches deal with Navy to resume training exercises

                  SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- Puerto Rico has reached a deal with the
                  U.S. Navy that could resolve a bitter dispute over the future of a Navy
                  training ground on Vieques island, a top official said Monday.

                  Chief of staff Angel Morey told reporters the deal "could include" a
                  referendum by residents of Vieques on whether they want the Navy to
                  resume live-fire bombing exercises on the range.

                  Morey refused to elaborate before he entered a meeting with Gov. Pedro
                  Rossello, other than to say the agreement had been approved by the White
                  House and Pentagon.

Rossello was to provide details during his annual state of Puerto Rico speech
late Monday, aides said.

Morey, who met with federal officials in Washington last week, said the
agreement "is a solution to the impasse over Vieques."

But he added that "it is difficult to solve the problem because on the one
hand is national security and on the other the legitimate rights of the people."

                  Washington has been trying to defuse a political battle that started when a
                  U.S. Marine Corps jet dropped two bombs off-target on April 19, killing a
                  civilian security guard in the Vieques training ground.

                  The guard's death touched off demonstrations against the U.S. Navy, which
                  owns two-thirds of Vieques. Protesters have camped out in the bombing
                  range to prevent exercises, and Rossello has demanded that the military
                  leave.

The Navy insists that Vieques is a vital live-fire training ground and is
essential to national security.

The Senate Armed Services Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on
the controversy Tuesday.

                  Only last week, Rossello had rejected a Pentagon offer to hand over some
                  of the land on Vieques if Puerto Rico allowed the Navy to continue military
                  exercises with dummy bombs, Rossello's aides said.

                  They said the deal called for a referendum among Vieques' 9,400 residents
                  on whether the Navy should be allowed to resume bombing with live
                  explosives.

                  Under that proposal, if residents approved resumed live bombing, the
                  Department of Defense would ask Congress for a $40 million economic aid
                  package for the island. If they disapproved, the deal would require the
                  military to leave Vieques by March 2005.