From Vieques to the University of Puerto Rico: The

reposted from Portside - demilitarizing the Unviersity of Puerto Rico

Submitted to Portside February 4, 2004

It’s before dawn and already almost thirty students are
assembling to begin the takeover of an Army ROTC
building at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez
Campus. It’s been planned for weeks, with both legal
and professional advice. The morale is high and the
determination to oust the military program from their
campus is resolute. Harvard and Yale expelled their
programs in the sixties and they don’t have the
additional problem of being located in one of the few
remaining colonies of the world. But there they are,
following on the footsteps of their predecessors at the
University of Puerto Rico in Río Piedras, who also
attempted to oust the program, with the difference that
now their successors have resolved to complete the task
left unfinished in the sixties.

As soon as the ROTC officers open the heavy wooden
doors of the beautiful structure the Army occupies but
belongs to the UPR, the students swarm the building:
four do a sit-in inside the administrative office,
half-a-dozen paint anti-war and anti-ROTC murals on two
of the outside walls, while the rest hold the doors to
keep control of the main lobby. The officers are upset
but feel powerless in front of a group of highly
organized and disciplined nonviolent demonstrators. The
ROTC personnel are puzzled as to what to do in such
circumstances. They wish for a more favorable scenario
where they can employ their violent skills. What a
great disappointment.

Security officers come quickly to the scene but soon
realize, as expected, that the symbolic takeover is a
new tactic of the same group of students that has kept
a civil disobedience encampment for the past four
months at the foundations of an Air Force ROTC
structure being rebuilt. Certainly, the construction
there stopped and it will not be allowed to continue
until there is a commitment by the university
administration to return the building to the broader
college community. But back to the Army ROTC protest,
here they are again, quite a few students accompanied
by professors.

The day goes on and tensions rise. The cadets are angry
and aggressive but the students claim this as their
building, a building that was meant for the education
of a country not for the military training of its
citizens that will eventually participate in the
massacres of children and the destruction of
infrastructures in Iraq, Afghanistan, or any other
"pre-emptive" war. Not in our name. Not with our
resources. Not anymore!

At night, we hold a vigil and have an open-house for
the university community. We watch documentaries about
Iraq and the School of the Americas, while another
group fraternizes with music. It’s time to rejoice but
not much. We recall that while we taste a small
victory, Iraqis are resisting the occupation and many
of them are dying. Yes, many soldiers fighting in US
uniform, including over 3,000 from Puerto Rico, are
also dying. Even though they made that dreadful choice
and must be held accountable for it, we still have to
bear the pains of the families disrupted by death,
mutilation, and disease.

Morning comes and it’s time to pack and go…for now. We
declare a temporary victory: we took over the building,
reclaimed it as cultural patrimony, and left
peacefully. We will now face the consequences of our
actions, whatever those may be. The administration
seems clueless and feeble in front of our ingenuity and
resolve. What they don’t understand is that the
successful demilitarization campaign of Puerto Rico did
not end with Vieques. There’s still work to be done.

Civil disobedience and direct action protests will
continue until the demilitarization of the University
of Puerto Rico is attained. The encampment that
students have maintained since the beginning of the
fall semester at the former Air Force ROTC structure
stands proudly today as a symbol of dignity and
perseverance.

At the site, a small concrete lot, the students meet,
eat, sleep, and coordinate their next move. All
throughout, the students have braved everything from
hostile administration officials and security officers
to inclement weather and lack of basic needs like water
and electricity. But again, there’s still work to be
done.

We urge anti-war activists across the United States to
help us disseminate our message. We must fight the
insanity of war from every angle. This requires ending
all ROTC programs and their recruitment activities on
our college campuses.

Frente Universitario por la Desmilitarización y la
Educación (FUDE) fude_rum@hotmail.com (787) 969-049

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