CPTnet
May14, 2001
VIEQUES,PR: Delegation ends with pilgrimage in San Juan

On Sunday, May 6th, eight members of a week-long Christian Peacemaker Teams
(CPT) delegation to Vieques, Puerto Rico concluded their time with a
pilgrimage to centers of power on the main island. The purpose of the
pilgrimage was to reflect on the previous week's protest activities and to
call on God for an end to Navy abuses on Vieques.

During the week prior to the pilgrimage, four from the CPT group were
arrested for trespassing on Navy property at Camp Garcia on Vieques. Mark
Byler (Goshen IN), Brian Ladd (Boulder, CO), H.A. Penner (Akron, PA), and
Rich Williams (West New York, NJ) were charged with trespassing. The four
men spent a night in the federal prison at Guaynabo and then were released
on bail of $3000 each (of which the court required that only $450 each
actually be paid). Bail money was provided by the "Stop the Bombing of
Vieques" fund, established just the day before the arrest by New York labor
leader Dennis Rivera.

Stops on the CPTers' pilgrimage included the federal prison in Guaynabo,
where Byler, Ladd, Penner, and Williams were held. The group also visited
the U.S. District Courthouse, venue for the hearings, trials, and
arraignments of countless Vieques arrestees over the past week. "The prison
and courthouse are symbols of a system that says that those who stand up for
the health and future of their children and for the integrity of their land
are doing wrong," said Ladd. "We hope, pray, and act for the transformation
of that system."

Perhaps the most moving station on the pilgrimage was an Old San Juan
replica of a Vieques chapel that had been built by an ecumenical effort and
dedicated to the men, women and children who have suffered under the Navy's
presence for six decades. The original church building, situated on the Navy
range on Vieques, was dismantled by Navy officials several months ago.