U.S. Navy starts last round of bomb runs on island

VIEQUES, Puerto Rico -- Fighter jets soared over Vieques dropping inert bombs Monday in what the Navy says will be its final round of nearly six decades of training exercises on the Puerto Rican island.

F-18s began dropping inert 25-pound bombs on a firing range shortly after authorities detained five protesters who broke through a Navy fence in an attempt to thwart the maneuvers.

One man shouted "Peace for Vieques!" as guards handcuffed him and led him away.

Luis Angel Torres of the pro-independence Socialist Workers Movement warned that three other protesters were hiding on Navy lands and would try to put themselves near the line of fire.

"The light can be seen at the end of the tunnel," he said. "The people's struggle has forced them out."

The exercises have been sharply criticized by leaders and activists of the U.S. territory since off-target bombs killed a civilian guard in 1999. Since then, the Navy has stopped using live ammunition and has turned to nonexplosive bombs and shells.

The Navy announced last week that it will abandon Vieques in May and move training to other bombing ranges in Florida and elsewhere on the U.S. mainland. The Navy says it also could close nearby Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, one of Puerto Rico's largest employers with some 4,800 employees and an estimated yearly contribution of $300 million to the economy.

"If they abandon Vieques and Roosevelt Roads, it will destroy the economy," said pro-Navy activist Luis Sanchez, who set up a small encampment topped with U.S. flags just outside the Navy's fences.

At a larger, established anti-Navy camp just paces away, about 30 demonstrators joined hands and prayed, saying they hope the Navy honors its pledge to leave this year.

For the military, the training assumed particular importance as the United States considers war with Iraq. About 8,000 sailors were participating in the exercises, many of them to prepare for deployment later this year to the Mediterranean.

Fighter jets bound for Vieques took off from the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, one of 10 ships involved in training that could last up to a month.

More than two-thirds of Vieques voters supported a proposal to halt the bombing immediately in a nonbinding referendum in 2001.

Opponents say the bombing has stunted the island's economy, poisoned the environment and harmed the health of the island's 9,100 residents, all of which the Navy denies.

Protest leader Robert Rabin said the bombs were leaving toxins in the environment. "It would immoral of us to allow that to continue without attempting to stop it," he said.

More than 1,000 protesters have been arrested over the years for trespassing on Navy lands. Some have served prison terms of up to six months.

Activists say they will now turn their attention to pressing for a thorough cleanup of the Navy lands, which comprise one-third of the island. Following a cleanup, the Navy is to turn over the 14,000 acres to the U.S. Department of the Interior.

The military held its first training on Vieques in 1947 and has used its range on the island's eastern tip ever since to train sailors for conflicts from Korea to Afghanistan. The bombing range is some 10 miles from the nearest homes.

The Navy has long said the island east of Puerto Rico is uniquely suited to simultaneous mock assaults by sea, land and air, and that replacing it would require several locations.