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Este informe no está disponible en español. EDITORIALTHE SALT LAKE TRIBUNEFriendly FireMAY 8, 2000 Forgive Al Gore and Hillary Rodham Clinton if they feel as if they've walked in on Act II of the same bad play. Less than two weeks after the Clinton administration infuriated one Latino voting bloc by seizing Elian Gonzalez from the heart of Cuban America, it incensed an even larger one Thursday by removing protesters from a U.S. Navy bombing ground on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques . That the protesters had illegally occupied property belonging to the U.S. government was of smaller consideration to the vice president and first lady than the million or so Puerto Rican immigrant votes they hope to gain this fall. So they sided with Puerto Ricans against the U.S. Navy, much like Gore bucked the Justice Department by backing Miami's Cuban-Americans in the Elian case. While the Navy will resume bombing Vieques as early as next week, Gore and Hillary Clinton are already under fire. Their position, like that of the protesters, defies logic. The standoff should have ended in January when the United States and Puerto Rico signed an agreement to allow Vieques to vote early next year on whether the Navy should pull out. In the meantime, the Navy would fire only duds, give up one side of the island and pay $40 million to improve the lives of the 9,300 civilians. But the protesters, who blame the Navy for health problems and damage to the environment, refused to leave and demanded an immediate referendum. So the agreement, and the referendum, was on hold. The Navy has owned Vieques since 1941. It is under no legal obligation to pull out and, considering the island's strategic importance, probably should not have agreed to put its fate in the hands of a hostile electorate. But a deal is a deal, and now that the base has been secured, Vieques can pocket the $40 million and move toward the referendum the demonstrators have been clamoring for. So why did the protesters drag this out and why did Gore and Hillary Clinton take the political risk of supporting such an intractable position? This November, when the standoff is but a memory in Vieques and a Republican campaign issue in mainland America, the vice president and the first lady might be asking themselves the same questions.
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