Re: Peaceful Vieques
Years ago (1969 -71) a friend and I used to travel to Puerto Rico each winter. We didn't have drivers licenses so we'd take "publicos" (station wagons that loaded up a circus-full of passengers and took 'em where they wanted to go for 25 cents) or buses. We mostly hung out at Rincon but one time we headed east, looking for good snorkeling spots, and ended up on Vieques. We asked for the beach and, probably because of our gringo looks and shaggy hair, were directed to the dividing line between the Naval bombardment area and the rest of the island, where a demonstration was going on (this was 30+ years before the Rev. Bacon showed up, Miker -he's an ally come lately). We had come to camp on the beach and dive but we also hung out with the protesters for a few days since there wasn't much else happening. It was quite the scene, with your usual peace activists on one side of a huge cyclone fence and blue jump-suited Federal marshalls on the other, rifles at the ready. Twice a day a helicopter with its cargo bay open would swarm low and film all of us protestors. My friend and I went back to snorkeling but I've always been intrigued with the idea that, somewhere in Washington, there were (are?) films of two dangerous, fifteen-year-old communists from Greenwich Connecticut who travelled all the way to Vieques to stir up trouble. The Navy's gone now, I think (where we expect our forces to train is another issue) and from what I hear from my sailing friends, the place is quite peaceful.The slighly larger island of Culebra is nearby and that, too is a pretty spot. But, without the demonstrators, I suspect that the nightlife is non-existent.