Presentation to the Inter Agency Work Group created by Law 153 to Create a Special Economic Development Zone on the Island Municipalities of Vieques and Culebra The Committee the Rescue and Development of Vieques (CRDV) was created in 1993 to organize the community efforts to end the military presence, work for environmental clean up, return of our lands and sustainable development on a Free Vieques. Although efforts over the past four years concentrated on stopping the bombing, we focussed great attention during this decade on the topic of social and economic development. We assert that peace is much more than the cessation of bombing. Since early in the 1990's, we worked with specialists from universities in Puerto Rico, the US and at the United Nations. We developed projects of inviestigation and community education with the help of people at the UPR, Tufts University (Boston), Massachussetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Columbia University (NY) and the UN based group, Economists Allied for Arms Reduction, among others. These efforts were directed toward finding mechanisms to avoid and/or fight speculation, keep lands rescued from the Navy in the hands of the Viequenses and assure a development that would respect the environment, cultural and natural resources and benefit - principally - the people of Vieques and the next generations. Shortly after the death of David Sanes in April of 1999, we created an advisory group of Puerto Rican experts in solidarity and interested in the development of a Vieques liberated from the US Navy. In July of 1999, we officially announced the creation of the Professional and Technical Group in Support of Sustainable Development on Vieques (GATP). From 1999 to the present, the GATP has consistently consulted with the CRDV and other Vieques groups to help us articulate a community vision of the future we all desire. The GATP helped us make sure the proposal would receive attention simultaneously with these past four years of intense protest. In February of this year, the GATP produced a 300 page document titled, Guidelines for the Sustainable Development of Vieques, with a diagnosis of Vieques' reality and a series of recommendations based upon constant dialogue held - and continuing - between the GATP and our community. We promote eco-tourism projects on a scale appropriate to our geography. The creation of investigation centers related to archaeology, marine biology, Vieques history and its unique relations with the Lesser Antilles, will stimulate the economy with demands for housing, transport and food that will result from these projects. Housing units built on the roofs and in backyards of our people; small inns in Viequense hands; restaurants and cooperative programs of transport, agriculture and fishing integrated into this process, are part of the future scene of a Vieques by and the Viequenses. The establishment of an International Center Military Decontamination in Vieques, would open enormous possibilities to facilitate environmental clean up. This type of project would allow us to learn from other communities that confront military toxic problems, learn about diverse technologies tested elsewhere and to share our experiences - positive and negative - thereby contributing to the international struggle demilitarization and decontamination: the movement world peace. This center will attract large numbers of scientists, technical experts, government officials and community leaders who will contribute to our economy with their presence here. We demand an active participation of our community in the clean up process, as observers and workers, in addition to the transfer of related technologies to avoid dependence on foreign scientists and companies. We visualize the decontamination process as an integral part of the reconstruction of our economy that was beseiged and strangled for so many years by the US Navy. To aviod speculation with our lands that belong by natural right to our people and future generations, we suggest the creation of a mechanism to insure community control over the lands. We investigae the possible establishment of a Vieques Community Land Trust, that would keep the lands in the hands of our people ever. That way we could lease appropriate spaces housing, agriculture, tourism and other social uses and conserve those fragile ecosystems that for six decades have been the target of military destruction. We will not permit "wheeling and dealing" nor the corruption that en many other parts of Puerto Rico have resulted in the displacement of local populations and the ''takeover'' of resources by eign economic interests. We will not permit the ''Culebranization'' of Vieques. Nor do we want to see our island converted into another St. Croix. On both islands, the communities have lost control over their natural resources, their lands and their destiny. The best guarantee sustainable socio-economic development that responds to the needs of the people is ample and genuine community participation in all the processes planning and decision making about use of our lands. Theree, we reiterate our demands included in a recent letter to the legislative presidents in San Juan: ". that the Development Commission of the CRDV, comprised of representatives of diverse sectors from our community, have participation in the Consultative Group (to be created according to Article 4 of Law 153, approved on 10 August, 2002). Also, we energetically recommend that the Guidelines Sustainable Development produced by the GATP, become part of Public Policy of the Government of Puerto Rico, related to social and economic development of our island municipality. We also suggest that the GATP m part of the Consultative Group." We also seek from the Mayor, Honorable Damaso Serrano, active and genuine citizen participation in the discussions and determinations about future use of our lands and economic planning in this post Navy era. We are confident that our mayor recognizes that it is the duty and the right of the Viequenses to participate fully in these processes. We must help the mayor resist and reject inappropriate interventions of party and ecomonic- political interests eign to our struggle who now hope to take advantage of the sacrifices of so many people over many years. We used peacefull civil disobedience very effectively against the most powerful military ce in history. And we will use peacefull civil disobedience and all peacefull means at our disposal - if deemed necessary - to regain control of our lands still in federal hands, achieve the environmental clean up our people demand and need to offer our children and grandchildren a healthy place to live and a just economic and social development controlled by our community. We hope to create a democratic framework in this stage of the struggle for peace on Vieques and become a model of sustainable, community development. However, our long experience in struggle warns us of the difficulties ahead. We know that we cannot place complete trust in the politicians - because history does not allow it! But we are committed to work with all those who truly believe in peace for Vieques and in the marvellous possibilites that this corner of the Puerto Rican archipelago represent for the future of the Puerto Rican nation. * Robert Rabin, for the CRDV Committee the Rescue and Development of Vieques Vieques, Puerto Rico 13 June, 2003