VIEQUES, Puerto Rico – The Rev. Jesse Jackson denounced the Navy’s bombing at its prized Vieques firing range Saturday as the arrogant act of a colonizer and called the treatment of detained protesters an effort to break their spirit.
Mr. Jackson said Saturday that he was lobbying Attorney General John Ashcroft for a meeting to air complaints that the U.S. government is trying to intimidate detainees, including his wife, Jacqueline, with excessive jail terms, fines and cruel treatment.
“It’s gratifying to be here on Vieques, in Puerto Rico, where the people have met the challenge of those who try to break their spirit and have not given up,” Mr. Jackson said when he arrived for a day on the outlying island of this Spanish-speaking U.S. Caribbean territory.
“To bomb Vieques is a colonial act,” he said, and “arrogant.”
The Jacksons are the latest celebrities to embroil themselves in protests to force an immediate end to decades of bombing exercises that activists say have harmed the environment and islanders’ health.
The Navy says health studies on the island have been biased and unscientific.
More than 100 protesters were arrested in the last exercises in April and May. Since exercises resumed Monday, at least 55 trespassers have been arrested, including Mrs. Jackson, who was jailed Tuesday when she refused to pay $3,000 bail.
Protests have continued despite President Bush’s announcement this month that the Navy must withdraw from Vieques in two years.
