May 19, 1979 - The Vieques 21 and Crucian Crusaders

On Saturday, May 19, 1979, over 150 fishermen, students, religious leaders, elders, and other civilians staged an encampment on a beach in Vieques, Puerto Rico (P.R.) to protest the United States (U.S.) Navy and its use of the beach for bombardment exercises. As protesters congregated for prayer, military police arrived by land, sea, and air. Twenty-one people were arrested and transported to the Roosevelt Roads Naval Base in the southeastern part of the main island of P.R. Those arrested later became known as the “Vieques 21.” My attention turns to one group of detainees in particular, however. Of the twenty-one detained, six were residents of the U.S. Virgin Island (USVI) of St. Croix. The six Crucians, who would later be known as the "Crucian Crusaders," had been part of a delegation of roughly two dozen Crucians that had traveled to Vieques to participate in the protest. I turn to the anti-Navy May 19th protest to highlight how Crucians, alongside many other protesters, embodied solidarity on May 19, 1979.

Although the video below does not present a Crucian perspective of the events on May 19th, it does include perspectives from Puerto Rican members of the Vieques 21 that allow us to imagine what happened during the protest and the embodied solidarity Crucians might have performed.

After arrest, the Vieques 21 were charged with trespassing on federal property and all “reportedly refused to give their word that they would not return to Vieques.” [1]  While the other fifteen arrested “were released on their own recognizance or on non-secured $500 bonds,” the Crucians were required to post a $1,000 cash bail “without any apparent explanation.” [2]  Once the money for the Crucians was raised, their lawyer tried to post bail but could not locate the clerk. The Crucians’ lawyer “then went to the clerk’s home, but the clerk refused to accept the bail until an official court mandamus was presented. But even shortly thereafter when [the lawyer] produced the necessary document, he was told that hearing on the bail request had to be conducted and was scheduled for 2 p.m. that afternoon.” [3]  The Crucians did not return to St. Croix until Monday—two days after being arrested (Figure 1). The Crucians’ attorney filed a suit against the San Juan magistrate and clerks, citing Crucian rights had been violated. “According to a report on the incident heard on Puerto Rican station Channel 2’s evening newscast, the strange legal proceedings may have been a ‘pressure tactic’ used to persuade Crucians to stay out of the Vieques matter.” [4]  Despite these tactics, a spokesman for the Committee to Rescue Vieques assured that more St. Croix residents would be joining the Vieques protests that week. One of the Crucian Crusaders, upon his return, stated that when the judge released them “he imposed an additional condition that they not leave St. Croix until their scheduled appearance in court in San Juan next month” and the group had to report weekly to federal marshals in St. Croix. [5]  Despite these orders, one of the Crucian Crusaders declared: “I will go back if Vieques needs me.” [6]

The trials and sentencing of the Vieques 21 took several months, concluding in November 1979. Wilfredo Vélez, one of the ministers arrested and president of the Committee of the Vieques 21, stated the tribunal rejected the group’s petition to be sentenced together. Despite the arrest happening at the same time and place for everyone, the Vieques 21 were prosecuted individually, a tactic Vélez claimed was expended to exhaust the group. [7]  Although some of the Vieques 21 chose to not present a defense during their trials as a refusal of culpability and U.S. imperialism, those who did present a defense deployed a range of arguments. Defending arguments included: no signage on the beach that stated it was federal property and, regardless, beaches were public property in P.R.; referencing of United Nations (U.N.) resolutions that questioned the presence of the Navy; and the discriminatory nature of the accusations given police had selectively arrested non-Viequenses. [8]

In the end, eleven of the Vieques 21 served prison sentences [9]  of up to six months and all were transferred to prisons outside of P.R., including prisons in the continental U.S. and St. Croix. [10]  Five of the six St. Croix Crusaders served jail time, and the other was sentenced to one year of probation. [11]

It is imperative to underscore the level of coordination the May 19th anti-Navy protest entailed by all parties involved. The choreographed use of space, place, and bodies performed resistance in conscious, coordinated, and collective ways. Focusing on Crucian involvement, their participation embodied a refusal of the colonial borderlands the U.S. empire and coloniality create. Crucian participation required flying from St. Croix to Vieques, then sailing into the Navy’s zone, and then building an encampment. The encampment and ecumenical prayer performed a reclaiming of Viequense land in a literal sense and, for those who prayed, a holy sanctioning of their anti-Navy struggle. Aware of the dangers, Crucians chose to defy the scripts U.S. law and discourses imposed. Later, when the Crucian Crusaders were arrested and prosecuted, they continued to embody solidarity for the anti-Navy Viequense movement.

Performing solidarity is not to be romanticized. Under empire, solidarity often comes at a high price—one Ángel Rodríguez Cristóbal paid with his life. On November 11, 1979, Ángel Rodríguez Cristóbal, a main islander Puerto Rican and one of the Vieques 21, was found dead in his Florida jail cell as he served a six-month sentence for his participation on May 19th. [12] Official prison and government accounts proclaimed his death a suicide. Many believed, and still believe, Ángel was murdered (Figure 2). In the video above, Wilfredo Vélez, one of the Christian ministers arrested on May 19th, remembered Ángel with tears in his eyes. Today, Ángel continues to be commemorated in Vieques. A monument in Ángel's honor keeps watch over Vieques (Figure 3).

All those involved on May 19th performed solidarity under empire. I have highlighted Crucian involvement in an effort to show the trans-Caribbean and intra-colonial solidarity that was simultaneously embodied, disrupting colonial divisions between Puerto Ricans and US Virgin Islanders.

Transcription of Ángel's monument:

Notes

[1]  “St. Croix Residents Filing Suit Against San Juan Magistrate: $5,000 Cash Bail Reported Refused,” The St. Croix Avis, May 22, 1979, https://dloc.com/es/AA00083639/12504/images.

[2]  Ibid.

[3]  Ibid.

[4]  Ibid.

[5]  Associated Press, “Protesters Return, Barcelo Blasts U.S.,” The St. Croix Avis, May 23, 1979, https://dloc.com/es/AA00083639/12505/images.

[6]  Ibid.

[7]  Wilfredo Velez, “Editorial.”

[8]  Ramón Rodríguez and Victor González Orta, “Juez Federal Torruella Sentencia Parrilla a Un Año En Probatoria,” El Mundo, August 24, 1979.

[9]  Wilfredo Velez, “Editorial.”  

[10]  Bruce Stockwell, “Jailed Protester: Vieques Issue Will Not Be Decided in Courts,” The St. Croix Avis, November 30, 1979, https://dloc.com/es/AA00083639/12658/images.

[11]  “V.I. En 1979 - El Año En Repaso,” The St. Croix Avis, December 31, 1979, https://dloc.com/es/AA00083639/12683/images/2.

[12]  Alejandro Molina, “November 12, 1979, Chicago IL Event Commemorating the Assassination of Angel Rodríguez Cristobal,” Puerto Rican Cultural Center, February 19, 2023, https://prcc-chgo.org/2023/02/19/november-12-1979-chicago-il-event-commemorating-the-assassination-of-angel-rodriguez-cristobal/. Other sources also state date of death as November 10th, such as in the New Movement in Solidarity with Puerto Rican Independence’s bulletin from 1980.