FBI arrest Vieques leader, Nilda Medina

by: Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques

Puerto Rico: Shortly before 5AM on 25 June, five FBI agents entered the home of Nilda Medina and Robert Rabin, members of the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques (CRDV) with a warrant to arrest Medina, acusing her of violation of Title 18 of the Federal Code for "damage to property". Teodoro Lebron was the agent in charge of the operation that included members of the Puerto Rican police. The arrest order was signed by Magistrate Aida Delgado and Special Agent of the FBI, Carlos Rodríguez.

Members of the CRDV and the Vieques community denounced the arrest as an abuse against a woman who has been a example of this struggle for peace and made great efforts over the past four years to maintain the nonviolent nature of the struggle that gained the respect of people throughout the world.

The arrest comes just four days after FBI agents entered the CRDV centre at the Peace and Justice Camp in Vieques, with a search warrant to find "maps, photos, phone and address lists or other materials as evidence of the commission of a crime."

Nilda Medina is recognised as one of the principal leaders of the Vieques struggle during more than two decades and is a founding member of the CRDV. During actions of civil disobedience, Medina was arrested on 4 May, 2000 and again in June of that year when she participated in the first brigade to return to the bombing zone after the "removal" of the civil disobedience camps from the military area.

Spokespersons for the CRDV also denounce the arrest of others in Vieques and in the main island that could take place today and emphasised that the group continues its plan to hold a People's Assembly on 26 June in the Count Mirasol Fort on Vieques to discuss strategies for this new phase of the struggle for decontamination, return of the lands to the people and sustainable development.

Contact
Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques
PO Box 1424 Vieques, Puerto Rico 00765 (+1 787 741 0716; fax 741 0358; email bieke@prdigital.com; http://www.prorescatevieques.org

Source: CRDV