The April 19, 1999 misfiring of two 500-pound bombs from a U.S. FA-18 jet over the Navy's live-fire range on Vieques killed one and injured four residents, causing wide-spread public denunciations in Puerto Rico of the Navy's heavy-handed treatment of the people of Vieques. This was the final straw for the people of Puerto Rico. The Navy has abused its occupation of Vieques for fifty-nine years. The terrain is strewn with unexploded ordinance and there is a disproportionate high rate of cancer among the civilian population living close to the range (plus 29%). By the Navy's own admission, it has abrogated agreements made in its 1983 Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Puerto Rico, has reneged on monetary obligations and has brushed aside concerns expressed by the local population.

The resultant Puerto Rican protest has caused a stand-off between the island's government and federal authorities. The Navy argues for continued use of the base on different terms while Puerto Rico wants operations to terminate. Some in Congress have reacted to Puerto Rico's position with a call for retaliation. Senator James M. Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) warns that closure of the Roosevelt Roads Naval Base may result from Puerto Rico's refusal to bend to the Navy's will on Vieques. This is no way to be treating people who have served valiantly in the defense of our country. Over 200,000 Puerto Ricans have proudly worn the uniform of our country and four have received the Congressional Medal of Honor for the bravery.

This conflict is but a symptom of a deep-rooted disease festering in Puerto Rico's political body, one that the U.S. Congress has recognized for almost a century but has failed to cure. The 3.9 million American citizens of Puerto Rico have no effective way to make their voices heard in this stalemate. The sad fact is that, after a century in its relationship with our nation, Puerto Rico is effectively a colony of the United States with no Constitutional means to seek redress from the government for injuries suffered. They lack the congressional representation that any one of the 50 states of the Union could call upon in such a conflict. If it were an independent country, some treaty between sovereign powers would govern the U.S. Navy's use of the base. In either of these hypothetical cases, the Navy's cavalier attitude towards its agreements would not be tolerated and corrective action would have been taken long before the tragic event of last April.

In 1998, our organizations joined with other Hispanic civil rights groups to form the Hispanic Coalition for Puerto Rican Self-Determination. Its purpose is to demand that the Congress provide a mechanism for the people of Puerto Rico to choose a permanent political status. The 105th Congress failed to provide a process authorizing a plebiscite in Puerto Rico that offered congressionally-approved status options. In our view, that failure was an abrogation of legislative responsibility and a breach of faith, not only with the American citizens of Puerto Rico, but also with the 34 million members of the U.S. Hispanic Community.

We call upon Congress to treat the disease and stop its denunciation of the patient by passing legislation that would provide for genuine self determination for the U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico.

1 Rick Dovalina is the National President of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the largest and oldest Hispanic civil rights organization in the United States. Francisco Ivarra is the National Commader of the American G.I. Forum, the largest Hispanic veterans organization in the United States. They're organizations are part of the Hispanic Coalition for Puerto Rican Self-Determination, an alliance of leading Hispanic civil rights and civic organizations.