By Caryle Murphy
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 8, 2000
A United Methodist lay missionary opposed to the U.S. Navy's use of a bombing range on Vieques has been on a hunger strike for six weeks and says he will continue his protest until President Clinton meets with Puerto Rican activists seeking an immediate end to the test bombing.
Andres Thomas Conteris, 39, calls attention to his hunger protest each weekday with a vigil outside the White House from 6:30 to 8 p.m. He said yesterday that he has lost 35 pounds since July 25, when he began drinking only nutritious liquids. On Aug. 14, he went to a more stringent fast, taking only water.
The District resident said religious and other community leaders from Vieques, an island off the Puerto Rican coast, want to meet Clinton "so they can tell him face to face what impact the bombing is having on their communities and congregations."
He cited such problems as higher cancer rates, environmental damage and frightened children.
Conteris, who is a member of Fellowship of Reconciliation, a faith-based group seeking the "demilitarization" of Puerto Rico, doesn't support a compromise on the target range reached in January by the Clinton administration and Puerto Rican Gov. Pedro Rossello.
Under the agreement, Vieques' 9,500 residents will vote next year in a referendum that offers them a choice: Ban the Navy's use of the range after May 1, 2003, or allow the range's use to continue, with live bombs, in exchange for $50 million in new federal aid.
The U.S. military is now using only non-exploding bombs in its training and is limiting exercises to 90 days a year. Also, Congress has appropriated $40 million for health and environmental projects on Vieques and is considering transferring part of the Navy's land to local ownership.
But Conteris calls Rossello "a traitor" for accepting the deal, and he said he and other activists "want the bombing to stop now."
Jeffrey Farrow, co-chair of the White House Interagency Working Group on Puerto Rico, said Clinton "has met the concerns of the people of Vieques to the fullest extent possible . . . while fulfilling his responsibility to ensure the necessary training for our young men and women in uniform."
The agreement, Farrow added, has been endorsed by Puerto Rico's legislature and Vieques' mayor.
The Navy, which has used the Vieques range for five decades, says it is the only place where its Atlantic Fleet can hold simultaneous land, air and sea exercises using live bombs.
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