FARROW DECLARED PERSONA NON GRATA

Jeffrey Farrow, co-chair of the "White House Interagency Working Group on Puerto Rico", said today that: "Puerto Rico can get out of the presidential directives on Vieques whenever it wants.  And I challenge Puerto Ricans to break the directives so that they then see how the Navy will bomb however it wants, as often as it wants, wherever it wants, so that they see how they're not going to get even a bit of federal land, and that Vieques will be chaos."  El Nuevo Día newspaper, Oct. 4, 2000.
(http://endi.zonai.com/locales/html/p8b03m10.asp)

The Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques issued the following press release on Farrow and his statements:

Comité Pro Rescate y Desarrollo de Vieques
Apartado 1424 Vieques, Puerto Rico 00765
(787) 741-0716 Email: bieke@coqui.net

October 4, 2000
JEFFREY FARROW DECLARED PERSONA NON GRATA IN VIEQUES

Viequense leaders described the statements by Jeffrey Farrow challenging the people of Puerto Rico to break the Presidential Directives on Vieques as "a crass manifestation of the arrogance of the Navy and its lackeys". Spokespersons for the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques (CRDV) stated that Farrow's comments "come from someone who wants to act like a bully and who thinks his superiority complex gives him license to violate the rights of others."

"We don't want him here in Vieques.  We consider Jeffrey Farrow an agent of the Navy and persona non grata in our island," said Robert Rabin, CRDV spokesperson.

Rabin added that: "Jeffrey Farrow is the person who, last year at a meeting in the White House, told Vieques Mayor Manuela Santiago that the Navy was prepared to offer $80 million if she allowed it to remain in Vieques.  Jeffrey Farrow is the person who, last year at another meeting in the White House, tried unsuccessfully to convince Congressmen Luis Gutierrez and Jose Serrano, and Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, to drop their demands that Clinton order the Navy out of Vieques in exchange for having Clinton resume talks on the political status of Puerto Rico. Jeffrey Farrow is the person who recently, during the Democratic National Convention, tried to shut down those delegates that were shouting 'Peace for Vieques!' and tried to block their 'Peace for Vieques' signs from the TV cameras.  Jeffrey Farrow is the person who is not satisfied with having contributed to the resumption of bombing in our island, and comes with insults and threats.  Jeffrey Farrow has acted and continues to act against the people of Vieques."

Nilda Medina, leader of the CRDV, stated that the Vieques community considers Farrow to be persona non grata, given his consistent support of the continuation of bombing in Vieques.  "Farrow and Governor Rosselló have become the principal aides to the Navy and the principal enemies of the people of Vieques.  Their arrogance and their personal interests make them insensitive to the suffering of our people.  Each day that goes by, with or without bombing, the carcinogenic toxics in the bombing area reach the civilian sector as they are transported by the winds that blow from east to west -from the bombing range to the civilian sector," stated Medina.

Regarding the "chaos" that Farrow predicts for Vieques if the presidential directives are broken, Rabin said that that chaos has been the status which has prevailed in Vieques for the last 60 years since the Navy arrived in Vieques.  The expropriation of three quarters of the island for military purposes, the contamination, the high cancer rate, the high unemployment, the forced migration, the poor transportation and health services, are evidence of the chaos brought about by the Navy in this island, said Rabin.

Contact: Yvette Yolanda Martínez 787-741-0716