Civil Disobedience at Yankee Stadium
May 5, 2000

Photo AP

May 5, 2000 – Friday night at the Yankee Stadium, the Orioles visited the Yankees. After an easy catch at the centerfield that marked the first out of the 5th inning, seven Vieques’ activists dashed into the field carrying Puerto Rican flags and a “U.S. Navy out of Vieques” sign. In an act of civil disobedience, Carmen Ana Dávila, Juan Antonio Casañas, Ruben Ortiz, Elliot Monteverde, Miguel Marrero, Hector Rosario, and Freddie Marrero where able to interrupt the game to bring attention and to condemn the Federal Raid of the Vieques encampments of Civil Disobedience that took place on the previous day.

Photo AP

They entered from different points and were successful in getting into the diamond and to the fields. Security reacted quickly and all of them were taken out of the field and put into arrest. Dávila ran swiftly on the fields and gave a Puerto Rican flag to Ricky Ledee and a Vieques T-Shirt to Bernie Williams. Fans shouted and clapped in support of the group and their cause.

All of them were charged with trespassing and spent 27 hours under police custody. A Judge, on Sunday May 7 at 12:20 A.M., released the 7 of them and set June 9 as court date. It was after 22 hours that they were allowed to make use of their right to a phone call.

Photo AP

The group was in good spirits as they left the court in company of a group of Vieques’ supporters that had participated in an event of solidarity throughout the evening as they waited for their release. A short ceremony then took place in front of the court with chants of “Vieques Sí, Marina No” and brief messages.

All Vieques' supporters are invited to join to the group for their hearing date on June 9. If found guilty and convicted, the protestors could face a maximum of 3 months in jail and $5,000 fine. Please join us at 9 A.M. (Friday, June 9, 2000) at the Criminal Court in the Bronx, located on 161st Street between Sherman and Sheridan Avenues. [Take B, D or 4 train to 161st Street-Yankee Stadium. Take Bus 6 to Sherman Avenue. Bus 1 stops at 161st and Grand Concourse. Bus 32 stops at 161st and Morris.] Bring pro-Vieques T-shirts and placards to show your support inside and outside the courtroom. 

In solidarity with the people of Vieques and Puerto Rico, a group of Puerto Ricans are carrying an act of resistance tonight, Friday, 05/05/00, during a game at the Yankee Stadium in response to the illegal and immoral military practices by the US Navy in the island-municipality of Vieques, PR.

Carmen A. Davila
Elliot Monteverde-Torres
Miguel Marrero Bermudez
Juan Casañas
Hector Rosario
Rubén Ortiz
Freddie L. Marrero

Mensaje solidario desde la Isla Nena
de Ismael Guadalupe Ortiz - 4 de Septiembre de 2000 

Hector:

He recibido tu comunicacion donde me comunicas del caso de l@s companer@s que se vera pronto. Aunque en distitos momentos te he verbalizado la importancia de todas las acciones que ustedes han estado desarrollando por alla, nuevamente quiero extenderle a ti y a tod@s l@s mas sinceras muestras de solidaridad. El hecho de que todavia este caso se mantenga en las cortes es muestra de el compromiso inquebrantable de que esta lucha no parara hasta que logremos nuestra meta y nuestros objetivos: desmilitarizacion ,devolucion de nuestras tierras, descontaminacion y desarrollo de Vieques.

Para poder llegar a esas metas se necesita darle continuidad a acciones en todos los rincones. Hay que mantener la moral de la lucha bien en alto como la han mantenido siempre ustedes. Asi que a l@s compaNer@s que pronto le haran frente a los tribunales sepan que su cotribucion no sera en vano y que formara parte de ese cumulo de acciones que nos llevaran a la victoria.

ADELANTE QUE EL TRIUNFO SERA NUESTRO.

 Ismael 

* * *

Mensaje enviado por Bob Rabin

Estimado Héctor y demás compañer@s de la Acción Yankee Stadium por la Paz de Vieques:

A nombre del Comité Pro Rescate y Desarrollo de Vieques, expresamos nuestro sincero sentimiento de solidaridad y agradecimiento por sus esfuerzos y sacrificios en pro de la paz de nuestro pueblo - que es su pueblo.

Durante décadas el pueblo viequenses resiste la presencia genocida de la Marina de Guerra de EU aquí, con distintos niveles de militancia y organización. A raiz de la muerte de David Sanes a manos del bombardeo de la Marina el 19 de abril de 1999, esta lucha ha recibido una inyección exagerada de apoyo y solidaridad.

La acción de desobediencia civil en Yankee Stadium ayudó a enfocar la atención de la prensa y de mucha gente sobre los arrestos del 4 de mayo y sobre la lucha por la Paz de Vieques.

Ustedes ocuparán siempre un lugar especial en el corazón colectivo en este rincón del archipiélago puertorriqueños que se llama, VIEQUES.

PAZ PARA VIEQUES

Robert Rabin - CPRDV

Vieques - 4 de septiembre de 2000

Reflections on Non-violence: The Vieques Experience
by Hector Rosario GR, Guest Columnist
Published in The Dartmouth Online - Wednesday, May 24, 2000


A few hours in jail can change a person's life. It definitely changed mine.

The day of the arrest was May 5, 2000. Just a day before approximately 300 U.S. Marshals and FBI agents removed most of the women and men from the island of Vieques off the east coast of Puerto Rico. Some of these people had been living there in tents and wooden structures for over a year, taking up residence there shortly after a 500-pound warhead went one and a half miles
off target and killed civilian David Sanes in April 19 of last year. Their presence, as well as demonstrations in many cities and towns, is an attempt to get the U.S. Navy out of Vieques while reclaiming the land expropriated in 1941 by the federal government.

The place of the arrest was Yankee Stadium during the Yankees-Orioles game. After an easy catch in centerfield that marked the first out of the fifth inning, six of my friends and I dashed onto the field carrying Puerto Rican flags and a sign reading "U.S. Navy Out of Vieques." We were able to interrupt the game and to publicly condemn the federal government's raid of the civil disobedience encampments. We were dragged off the field by over 20 security guards and rushed to the NYPD station at the stadium. We were put under arrest (which we did not resist) and had to go through the usual procedure criminals undergo.

During our 27-hour stay in jail, we were transported to six different cells and were denied our right to make a phone call until 22 hours had elapsed. But I'm not writing to complain about the less-than-human treatment we received in a six-by-eight-foot cell with a filthy toilet bowl (all that space for three men), or how hard it was to get water or the impossibility for a friend we met there to get his HIV-medication. My purpose is to share with you my thoughts and reflections about the non-violent struggle to free Vieques -- thoughts that came to mind in those moments of silence when we were not singing salsa music that upset the guards but delighted other detainees. The guards could not understand why we were joyous, and joyous we were. Not to be in jail, but to be there because of our commitment to peace and justice in Vieques.

While in jail, I gained a new perspective on the non-violent struggle and its consequences. I had time to re-evaluate my strategies and thoughts. I finally understood the most important quality of the non-violent warrior: willingness to die but not to kill. Non-violent warriors are not afraid to die, neither are they afraid to kill. It is not fear that draws them away from killing the opponent but the understanding that if they win non-violently, they will not have fostered feelings of hatred and resentment which would haunt them in time. In a violent struggle, the violence of each side goads the other to greater violence. Furthermore, each side uses the violence of the other side to justify its own violence. A nonviolent struggle, on the other hand, does not encourage the violence of the opponent.

To understand the non-violent struggle, it is imperative that we deconstruct some widespread myths about non-violence. As Mark Shepard put it in his 1990 Annual Gandhi Lecture for the International Association of Gandhian Studies, "Gandhi's nonviolent action was not an evasive strategy nor a defensive one. Gandhi was always on the offensive. He believed in confronting his opponents aggressively, in such a way that they could not avoid dealing with him." He added that, "Gandhi steadfastly avoided violence toward his opponents. [However,] he did not avoid violence toward himself or his followers". This is the gist of the struggle, to be confrontational but non-violent and civic.

The non-violent struggle demands superior discipline, because an enemy that is prompt to use violence will look for ways of creating a scenario that is favorable to him/her, i.e., a violent confrontation. In Puerto Rico, even the two armed revolutionary parties, the EPB (Ejército Popular Boricua) and the PRTP (Partido Revolucionario de Trabajadores Puertorriqueños), the two branches of what is known as Los Macheteros, have vowed to adhere to non-violent methods. This is an important step in our struggle for self-determination, since those who oppose us are forced to abandon their usual position that we are a group of terrorists. For the sake of fairness though, I must assert that the traditional methods that Los Macheteros have employed are legitimate means to fight colonialism and oppression.

Let me present an outline of how Shepard believes the non-violent struggle works: activists break a law ­ politely; public leader(s) have them arrested, tried and put in prison; activists accept it; members of the public are impressed by the protest, hence public sympathy is aroused for the protesters and their cause; members of the public put pressure on public leader(s) to negotiate with activists; as cycles of civil disobedience recur, public pressure grows stronger; finally, public leader(s) give in to pressure from their constituency and negotiate with activists.

The non-violent struggle might seem naive and romantic to some experienced warriors, but I urge them to fully experiment with it and compare the results to those obtained through violent means. This approach works whether you wish to abolish the current political system or whether you want to reform it; whether you want to work from outside of the system or from inside; whether you want to create an independent nation or to fight for civil rights. It is up to the people in any given struggle to define their goals and actively pursue them. In the Vieques experience, our first goal is to get the U.S. Navy out of Vieques, then fight for the demilitarization of Puerto Rico and finally to obtain independence for our nation. This we shall attain through non-violent means.

In the News: Some excerpts from news articles

Newsday:
Almost as shocking was the sight of six fans who rushed onto the field after Hernandez was lifted and replaced by Jason Grimsley in the fifth. After Grimsley retired Ripken on a fly ball to centerfield, six fans carrying Puerto Rican flags sprinted onto the field and briefly delayed the game as security scrambled to rein them in. Unlike the occasional random idiot, however, this was an organized protest of the United States' use of Vieques Island-an area off the coast of Puerto Rico-as a bombing range, which has been an ongoing conflict between the U.S. Navy and inhabitants of that island.

Associated Press:
The Yankees-Orioles game was interrupted briefly Friday night when eight protesters angered by the arrest of protesters on Vieques Island near Puerto Rico ran onto the field at Yankee Stadium. With one out in the top of the fifth inning, the protesters simultaneously jumped onto the field from behind home plate, down the left-field line and right-field lines and waved Puerto Rican flags. Security guards ran out and tackled them and escorted them from the field. One of the protesters ran to Yankees center fielder Bernie Williams -- a native of Puerto Rico -- and tried to hand him an unidentified object.

The Village Voice:
When eight protesters ran on the Yankee Stadium field Friday night in a demonstration against the continued U.S. military presence on Puerto Rico's Vieques Island, the fans loved it. Of course, they love it when anyone runs on the field (the standard response is a loud cheer, followed by boos when security catches up, and then cheers again, when the guards inevitably pummel the tresspassers). But the Stadium crowd really seemed to get what was going on in the highly choreographed action (protesters came from all corners of the park, holding flags and placards, and handing native Puerto Rican Bernie Williams a T-shirt). Though broadcasters John Sterling and Michael Kay predictably ripped the demonstrators, in the bleachers—home of baseball's most multiculti crowd—they were chanting "Puer-to Ri-co [clap-clap, clap-clap-clap]." . . .

The Washington Post:
Eight protesters briefly stopped a baseball game between the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles in Yankee Stadium on May 5. The protesters charged into the field during the fifth inning and waved Puerto Rican flags; one ran to Yankee center fielder Bernie Williams--a native of Puerto Rico--and handed him a T- shirt. More than 20 ushers removed the protesters from the field; Yankees management said the activists might be arrested and charged.