4 protesters held for allegedly throwing Molotov cocktails at Navy vehicle on Vieques
News/Current Events Breaking News News Keywords: VIEQUES, PUERTO RICO, TERRORIST ATTACK ON NAVY, MARXIST SCUM
Source: The San Juan Star Published: Thursday, August 9, 2001 Author: By Laura Albertelli
Posted on 08/09/2001 22:05:01 PDT by 4Freedom
Four masked anti-Navy activists - two women and two men - were arrested by local police Wednesday in the Mount Carmelo area of Vieques after allegedly throwing four Molotov cocktails at a Navy military convoy.
Police Superintendent Pierre Vivoni said the four may face "severe criminal charges." including attempted arson, violation of the Explosives Law, and hiding one's identity during the commission of a crime.
At press time, the four suspects were at the District Attorney's Office in Fajardo waiting to be charged in court.
Police identified the suspects as Juan Ramon Rodriguez Santiago, a 29-year-old Bayamon resident; Armando Felix Ramos, a 26-year-old Vieques resident; Myrna Cuzman Vega, an 18-year-old University of Puerto Rico student; and Wilmary Rodriguez Santos, 19, a Sacred Heart University student, "I don't know exactly what we will charge them with, since some of the witnesses haven't been able to make it to Fajardo yet. But what Vivoni said makes sense . . . maybe not attempted arson, but attempting to do damage to property," said case prosecutor Laura Hernandez at press time.
Vivoni dubbed the incident as something that goes far beyond "peaceful acts of civil disobedience." He said, "these are criminal acts that can lead to someone's death and cannot be condoned under any circumstances."
Vivoni was called back to the tiny island from a meeting in St. Thomas to deal with the situation.
According to Vivoni, the four were spotted by a police patrol car throwing bottles filled with flammable material against a Navy military vehicle a few feet inside Camp Garcia gates. The youths were allegedly throwing the bottles from a cement platform overlooking Federal land.
"The patrol car stopped to check what was going on because they saw smoke. Three agents saw them throw bottles at a Navy vehicle that was driving by. The Explosives Unit confirmed the bottles were what is known as Molotov cocktails," Vivoni said.
The superintendent added that four other bottles "prepared to be thrown" were found near the cement structure where the incident occurred around 10:30 a.m.
The two girls were arrested on the spot. The other two, who attempted to run away after they saw the police car, were nabbed later, he said.
"Violating the Explosives Law can lead to maximum sentences of 20 to 30 years in jail," Hernandez said.
Anti-Navy protest leader Ismael Guadalupe said he doesn't support such violent acts on behalf of activists struggling to get the Navy out of Vieques. However, he said, "this is a predictable reaction from desperate people who don't have alternatives to fight back against those who attack them."
If you believe it was "evil" for Clinton to pardon the terrorists that attempted to murder members of congress, how "evil" was it of Bush and Rove to not even prosecute these 4 Puerto Rican terrorists for attempting to murder enlisted, active duty, U.S. Navy personnel on the island of Vieques in 2001?
I imagine such decisions are made by local prosecutors, not by the President and his direct staff. Likely there wasn't enough evidence to obtain a conviction. Since this was in 2001, and since President Bush, unlike President Clinton, did not replace all federal prosecutors at the beginning of his administration, this decision was most probably made by a Clinton appointee.
Of course there's no follow up at the link posted, so how are we to know what the final charges and dispositions were?