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CNN Live At Daybreak

Vieques Protests Expected to Resume Today

Aired June 18, 2001 - 08:07   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, police are on alert in Puerto Rico. They are ready for a day of protest on Vieques Island. That's where the U.S. bombing exercises are scheduled to resume this morning.

And CNN's Bill Delaney joins us there live -- Bill.

BILL DELANEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, thank you, Colleen.

Outside of a brief sun shower that lasted about 10 minutes ago and sent people scurrying here, not much going on. A very small police presence, very light police presence, very light presence of protesters at the moment, no more than 20 or 30 or so. They still say protests will develop over the day here. But at the moment, it's quite quiet.

Now, it's around 8:00 in the morning Eastern time here on Vieques Island. That's around the time we expect the bombing runs, the controversial bombing runs that this is all about, to start -- the Navy telling us they will start sometime this morning, not getting more specific than that.

Where that happens, Colleen, is just down the road behind me. You're looking down past the entry gate to Camp Garcia. If you look at those mountains in the distance, well, about eight or nine miles down beyond those mountains is where this bombing range is, where jets from the USS Theodore Roosevelt will begin dropping dummy munitions sometime this morning and continue until, we expect, about 11:00 tonight.

Those bombing runs will continue throughout the week, Monday through Friday. That's what this controversy is all about -- the F- 14's, F-18's and EA-6B Prowlers coming off the USS Theodore Roosevelt possibly starting, as I say, right about now. And, as I say, right about now the protests have not developed. That may happen later this morning -- certainly no sense of tension in the air here, nothing to lead us to expect at this point anything like the demonstrations we saw at the end of April when 180 people were arrested here.

At the same time, protesters tell us they are far from satisfied by the Bush administration's plan to get out of Vieques in two years. They still say: Get out now -- back to you, Colleen.

MCEDWARDS: All right, Bill, and just remind us what specific kind of damage do the opponents say the training exercise have done on the island?

DELANEY: Well, most of the core centers around that 3 percent of this 33,000-acre island where there has been a bombing range. The Navy has been practicing exercises here for some 60 years leaving behind a lot of munitions. The residents of the island of Vieques and people beyond it, environmental lawyers in the United States as well, say that it's polluted the water; it's created a 10 percent higher cancer rate here on the island.

People also allege greater heart disease here on the island, all blamed on the Navy's presence here for the past 60 years -- Colleen.

MCEDWARDS: CNN's Bill Delaney on Vieques, thanks.

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