By John Marino
Special to The Washington Post

VIEQUES, Puerto Rico, July 28 – Sunday's vote on whether the U.S. Navy should immediately stop bombing on this Puerto Rican island won't bind the federal
government to abide by its results, and critics contend it contains unrealistic options.

But most residents here are enthusiastic about going to the polls, the first time they will be able to electorally express their opinions about the Navy military training
they have lived with for 60 years.

"After years of being ignored, we are finally being listened to," said Yashei Rosario, 33, a merchant.

"The Navy has always acted like the landlord here. Now, the moment has come for them to reap what they have sown," she added.

The vote is the latest gambit by the government of Puerto Rican Gov. Sila Calderon to pressure the Bush administration for a quick Navy exit from Vieques. The
Bush administration has said it will order the Navy off the island by May 1, 2003.

In an address celebrating the anniversary of the island's status as a U.S. commonwealth, Calderon said Wednesday that Bush's decision "reaffirms the validity of the
pleas made by Puerto Ricans" over the Vieques issue, and she urged residents to vote in the referendum because its results will be noticed in Washington.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe, in a town meeting here Friday, told Vieques residents the same thing.

"You send a strong message on Sunday, and on Monday we will send a strong message to the White House," McAuliffe said. "Everyone here has to vote and you
have to get everyone you know to vote."

The vote is being criticized because it includes an option that calls for an immediate end to Navy bombing and the cleanup and return of land it owns here. A federally
sanctioned referendum slated for Nov. 6, which the Bush administration is seeking to cancel, only allows residents to vote off the Navy by May 1, 2003, or allow it
to remain indefinitely for a $50 million economic development commitment. The fact that Sunday's vote does not mention the Navy's economic commitments is also
being criticized.

But even critics are calling for Vieques residents to participate. Two strong Navy allies, Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Rep. James V. Hansen (R-Utah), told
Vieques residents in a column published in local newspapers last week that a vote against the Navy would lead to Puerto Rico's independence from the United
States.

Navy officials, meanwhile, have begun spending $40 million authorized by Congress on social and economic development projects on Vieques. In recent days, they
have begun accepting applications for $25,000 grants to start up or expand businesses and paying $100 a day to local fishermen when they can't work because of
maneuvers.

Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Katherine Goode denied the programs were timed to coincide with the referendum, saying the projects are going forward now because
the Pentagon has only recently released funding for them.

"All we can do is try and be the best neighbor possible," she said. "Monday is not going to be any different than today."

There are 5,893 registered voters in Vieques, and participation is expected to be high, given residents' passions about the issue.

Two days before the vote, Juana Rivera, 55, a teacher and local statehood leader, was pasting up pro-Navy posters along one of the island's main streets. The
poster featured a photo of Cuban leader Fidel Castro and read, "Fidel Castro asks you to vote for Option 2," which calls for the immediate cessation of Navy
bombing.

"Everyone makes mistakes, and we should all be given the opportunity to correct them," Rivera said.

Rivera also charged that the anti-Navy movement is rife with supporters of Puerto Rican independence and socialism, and predicted an end to federal social spending
programs for Puerto Rico should the Navy be asked to leave.

"I don't want Fidel Castro here," he said.

But that message does not appear to be resonating.

"This is not a separatist movement but a movement of the people," said food vendor Jimmy Soto, 44, adding that statehood, commonwealth and independence
supporters have all called for an end to Navy bombing.

"There will be a big celebration here Sunday," Soto predicted. "The Navy will finally know how we feel about them."

Virginia Navarro, 68, was one of hundreds of residents who attended an anti-Navy rally in the main square of Isabel Segundo, the island's main settlement.

"In the old days, you were careful not to complain about the Navy or else you would be called a communist, but David's death woke us up," Navarro said.

She was referring to the April 1999 death of civilian security guard David Sanes Rodriguez in a botched Navy bombing run, which sparked a drive across Puerto
Rico to end Navy training here.

"The importance of the referendum is that only Vieques residents will vote, and the whole world will know how we feel," she said. "We've contributed for 60 years to
national defense, but enough is enough. We just want peace."

                                               © 2001