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. Of the twenty-one detained, six were residents of the U.S. Virgin Island (USVI) of St. Croix. The six St. Croix Residents, who would later be known as the "St. Croix Crusaders," had been part of a delegation of roughly two dozen St. Croix residents that had traveled to Vieques to participate in the protest. At least one of the Crucian Crusaders, Jose Pereira, was originally from Vieques. Though some would argue St. Croix residents with Puerto Rican and/or Viequense heritage were motivated by their connections to Vieques, this protest allows us to nuance whom and when people are labeled and/or identify as Crucian, Puerto Rican, Viequense, Crucian Rican, or otherwise. I turn to the anti-Navy May 19th protest to highlight how St. Croix residents/Crucians of varied backgrounds, alongside other protesters, embodied solidarity on May 19, 1979 under U.S. colonialism. May 19, 1979 allows us to glean the complex relationships between colonial subjects and their diasporas.
Footage and Experiences During and After May 19, 1979:
The documentary below demonstrates the Virgin Islander presence on May 19th, Viequenses' lived experience under US Navy rule, the Navy's perspective, and the anti-Navy resistance coalitions that began intervening in the 1970s.
Vieques: The Island and Its People (1982)
Annotations
01:05 - 01:46
Rear Admiral Arthur Knoizen states there are no restrictions on Vieques' development in the "area that the people live in." As Carlos Zenón sates, the Navy owned 26,000 of Vieques' 33,000 acres, leaving Viequenses with a very small area to live in. Moreover, the Navy's presence presented many dangers and impediments to Viequense autonomy over their own land and futures as both Carlos Zenón and Orlando Cruz, alongside many other perspectives in the documentary, demonstrate.
06:22 - 06:50
This clip describes the devastating expropriations of Viequense land by the US Navy that began in the 1940s. Notably, among the places the Navy relocated or instigated the relocation of Viequenses was to St. Croix and other parts of the US Virgin Islands.
09:47 - 10:22
The presence of the Navy, as Ismael Guadalupe describes, impeded Viequense educational and professional attainment. This is part of what fomented the emigration of Viequenses. Among the places Viequenses have emigrated to is the USVI. This clip showcases how emigration does not exist in a vacuum; in particular, how it manifests under U.S. colonial rule between its territories.
13:07 - 13:26
La Cruzada Pro Rescate de Vieques, or the Crusade to Save Vieques, was formed by fishermen, grassroot organizations, teachers, and other community members in response to the Navy's presence.
13:27 - 14:20
The United Nations Decolonization Committee held hearings on the Navy's adverse impacts on Vieques.
14:21 - 14:56
As this United Nations Decolonization Committee hearing on Vieques illustrates, protests against the Navy led by Viequense fishermen in the 1970s began to gain attention and traction. This clip also shows the legal limitations faced by the Viequense community in their efforts to challenge and oust the Navy.
16:43 - 17:02
This clip shows footage from the May 19, 1979 encampment in Vieques, where 21 people, including 6 St. Croix residents, were arrested. Although the documentary does not explicitly mention Virgin Islanders, multiple USVI flags are seen planted on the beach, waving in the background. What does it mean for people from the USVI, with and without direct ties to Vieques or Puerto Rico, to show up and stand up for Vieques? Why is there no mention of them?
17:03 - 17:15
Angel Rodriguez Cristobal was found dead in his Tallahassee prison cell while serving a 6 month prison sentence for his involvement in the encampment on May 19th. As seen in this clip, Angel Rodriguez Cristobal resisted arrest along with several other protesters. This is what the New York Times would later describe as a "wild melee." Who is the actual wild melee? The protesters or the policemen and military forces they represent? For more on Angel's death, refer to minutes 21 to 23 in the documentary.
18:40 - 19:30
Bishop Antulio Parrilla describes his participation on May 19th and what happened during their collective act of resistance, solidarity, and protest.
19:30 - 20:08
Bishop Antulio Parrilla narrates how the police selectively arrested people who were not from Vieques in order to frame the protest as an outside agitation. Here it is important to ponder how these policemen identified who and who was not an outsider. What did this mean to enforcing divisions between the different islands that compose the Puerto Rican archipelago? What did this mean for enforcing boundaries between the USVI, the continental US, and Puerto Rico? Bishop Parrilla does not mention Virgin Islanders, but as the Crucians' arrest and the USVI flags show, they were there that day.
23:07 - 23:44
The attack by Puerto Rican pro-independence groups on a US Navy bus traveling in Puerto Rico in December 1979 was a response to the killing of Angel Rodriguez Cristobal and two more Puerto Rican young men at Cerro Maravilla in 1978. The documentary, however, does not mention that among the two killed during the ambush was one resident of St. Thomas, 20 year old Emil White. Another Virgin Islander, 20 year old Monique Ritter, resident of St. Croix, was critically injured during the attack. The US military enlists many territorial residents in its forces, often preying on precarious economic conditions (caused and/or excacerbated precisely by US imperialism) with the promise of stability. Though the US military exploits its members and those members, including territorial subjects, also help uphold the US empire, important for the scope of this project is the question of how to contemplate the tensions and nuances inherent in the fight for freedom. I am interested in the question of what it means for Puerto Rican independence groups to have harmed and killed Virgin Islanders in their struggle for their righteous cause. How does colonialism not only impact colonial subjects, but also how Virgin Islanders and Puerto Ricans relate to each other in their struggles for autonomy in whatever form it may take?
24:10 - 24:58
In this clip, Bishop Parrilla talks about the attack on the bus having secured the safety of the 10 members of the Vieques 21 that were imprisoned. Thelast 6 of the 10 imprisoned were on his flight from San Juan to New York. Among the last 6 were 2 residents of the island of St. Croix, who chose imprisonment in defiance of US jurisdiction for their participation on May 19th.
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.
Vieques, 60 Años de Lucha
Annotations
09:03 - 09:14
Although Viequense resistance had been present since formal Navy arrival in the 1940s, an organized civil disobedience led by the Vieques Fishermen Association began in 1978. The anti-Navy protest held on Manuelqui, also known as Blue Beach, was part of this growing movement.
09:19 - 09:38
The speaker in the video, Emilia, mentions that military police did not want to arrest Viequenses. Although she does not mention the Crucian present specifically, a delegation of roughly two dozen Crucians had traveled from St. Croix to participate in the protest. Emilia herself was arrested on May 19th and was part of the Vieques 21.
09:53 - 09:59
Monseñor Parilla, whose full name was Antulio Parrilla Bonilla, was a bishop from the main island of Puerto Rico who was arrested for his participation in the May 19th protest.
10:00 - 10:33
Isabel Rosado Morales, a Puerto Rican nationalist, was 71 when she participated in the May 19th protest. By 1979, she had already served over 12 years of prison time for her involvement in the Puerto Rican nationalist movement. She was arrested, and later released, on May 19th. A photo of Isabel Rosado Morales being carried by three policemen and one police woman made the front page of the New York Times and spurred indignation at the treatment she had received.
11:58 - 12:56
Angel Rodriguez Cristobal was from the main island of Puerto Rico, a member of the Puerto Rican Socialist League, farmer, father, and husband. The speaker, Wilfredo Vélez describes Angel's participation on May 19th. Angel was sentenced to 6 months in prison for protesting on May 19th. He was found dead in his Florida jail cell in November, 1979. Official reports stated he committed suicide. Many, including Wilfredo, did not believe he committed suicide. Conflicting reports from inmates in the same Tallahassee prison as Angel put into question his death. To this day, many believe he was murdered. The Vieques Fisherman Association honored Angel by erecting a statue in his memory in Vieques. The statue remains there today.
The St. Croix Crusaders' Experience After Arrest
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 St. Croix residents 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 St. Croix residents' 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] They 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 their rights had been violated. According to a report aired on a Puerto Rican 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] The St. Croix Avis reported that five of the six St. Croix Crusaders served jail time, and the other was sentenced to one year of probation. [11] However, other newspaper reports indicate two St. Croix residents served prison sentences after refusing to pay their fines in protest of U.S. jurisdiction and Navy occupation. The four remaining St. Croix Crusaders were on probation and required to pay fines.
The Aftermath of Protest and Solidarity Under Colonialism and Coloniality
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 St. Croix residents' 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. Today, Ángel continues to be commemorated in Vieques. A monument in Ángel's honor keeps watch over Esperanza (Figure 2).
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. Finally, the diasporic and heritage backgrounds of those coming from St. Croix, whether Viequense, Puerto Rican, or not, were weaponized by the US government. As the documentaries above show us, migration, diaspora, and self-identification do not exist in a vacuum. While exchange between St. Croix and Vieques long precedes colonialism, the protest on May 19th also demonstrates the multiple layers of diasporic connection, intra-colonial relations, and how empire intervenes or influences them.
Transcription of Ángel's monument:
Español (original):
La Asociación de Pescadores de Vieques, Inc. honra la memoria de:
Ángel Rodríguez Cristóbal
1946 - 1979
“Cuando se lucha por algo justo, no hay que temerle a nada.”
Ángel Rodríguez Cristóbal, nació el 2 de abril de 1946 en Ciales, Puerto Rico. A los 18 años de edad ingresó al ejército de Estados Unidos. Estuvo activo durante tres años en el campo de batalla, donde conoció la injusticia cometida contra el pueblo de Vietnam.
Tras su regreso a Puerto Rico, se desempeñó como agricultor en el barrio Pozas de Ciales. Se involucró en los movimientos sociales y políticos de su pueblo. En el 1972, ingresó al partido independentista puertorriqueño.
Mas tarde, en el 1974, se unió a la liga socialista puertorriqueña. Su militancia lo llevó, en el año 1978, a integrarse con los pescadores viequenses en su lucha contra la presencia de la marina de guerra de los Estados Unidos en Vieques.
Fue arrestado el 19 de mayo de 1979, junto a otros 20 manifestantes de un grupo de 200 personas que realizaban un acto religioso de resistencia pacífica en una playa de la zona ocupada por la marina de guerra. Un juez federal, lacayo de la marina, lo sentenció a 6 meses de cárcel en la prisión de Tallahassee, Florida. El 11 de Noviembre de 1979 fue asesinado en una celda de aislamiento.
Héroe y mártir, luchador incansable de la patria.
“...Al ser asesinado entra al panteón de los inmortales, cuya muerte define una situación en la historia de Puerto Rico.”
- Juan Antonio Corretjer
Barrio Esperanza Vieques, Puerto Rico
18 de febrero de 2001
English translation:
The Vieques Fishermen's Association, Inc. honors the memory of:
Ángel Rodríguez Cristóbal
1946 - 1979
“When you fight for something just, you have nothing to fear.”
Ángel Rodríguez Cristóbal was born on April 2, 1946 in Ciales, Puerto Rico. At the age of 18, he joined the United States Army. He served for three years on the battlefield, where he witnessed the injustice committed against the people of Vietnam.
Upon his return to Puerto Rico, he worked as a farmer in the Pozas neighborhood of Ciales. He became involved in the social and political movements of his community. In 1972, he joined the Puerto Rican Independence Party.
Later, in 1974, he joined the Puerto Rican Socialist League. His activism led him, in 1978, to join the Vieques fishermen in their struggle against the presence of the United States Navy in Vieques.
He was arrested on May 19, 1979, along with 20 other protesters from a group of 200 people who were holding a religious service of nonviolent resistance on a beach in an area occupied by the Navy. A federal judge, a lackey of the Navy, sentenced him to six months in prison in Tallahassee, Florida. On November 11, 1979, he was murdered in solitary confinement.
A hero and martyr, a tireless fighter for his homeland.
“...By being murdered, he enters the pantheon of immortals, whose death defines a moment in the history of Puerto Rico.”
- Juan Antonio Corretjer
Barrio Esperanza, Vieques, Puerto Rico
February 18, 2001
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.