UNITED NATIONS�After 28-years the United Nations Special Committee on De-Colonization agreed that the people of Puerto Rico have the right to self-determination.

The Special Committee passed a resolution July 12 asking the UN General Assembly to urge the United States to leave Puerto Rico and end bombing practice runs on the island of Vieques.

The U.S. territory�s political status and U.S. practice bombings were the main themes during July 12 meeting, as the committee heard from petitioners. The U.S. Navy has used Vieques as a training ground for pilots for 40 years.

Juan Maria Bras of Causa Comun Independenista said, the United States� continued military exercises on Vieques show raw force prevails over what is right. "The Navy must end the bombing immediately and leave Vieques forever," he said.

With the 1998 death of a civilian Navy employee during a bombing run, an occupation by Puerto Rican lawmakers and activists, and charges of environmental pollution and health hazards caused by bombing runs, Vieques has united diverse elements in the Puerto Rican community and driven home the need for self determination.

The Special Committee�s resolution was sponsored by Cuba, and for the first time asks the General Assembly to defend the rights of the Puerto Rican people.

"It is a great honor and a pleasure to lead this effort," said Rafael Dausa Cespedes, deputy permanent representative of Cuba to the United Nations, in an interview with The Final Call, following the session.

In his speech to the Special Committee, Mr. Cespedes said the history of Cuba and Puerto Rico is very similar. Both suffered under Spanish colonial rule and both have endured military intervention by the United States, he said.

Wilma Reveron, of Comite Puerto Rico en la ONU, told demonstrators gathered in front of the world body headquarters for an all-day vigil that "the people of Puerto Rico had no legal recourse, except through the UN."

Inside the United Nations, and outside, activists declared U.S. action in Vieques a blatant violation of basic human rights.

There were also accusations that women on the island have been victims of abuse and rape at the hands of U.S. military personnel. "Their men were forced by circumstances to leave and kept away by shame and fear," said Olga Mardach Miguel of Women for Peace and Justice for Vieques.

"With little medical care available on the island, women had to leave to give birth, thus making the population appear to be decreasing and bolstering the argument that they were not a large factor in Vieques� future," she testified.

But, while all petitioners agreed that the United States Navy should stop the bombing exercises on the Puerto Rican island, there were varied opinions on the issue of whether there should be independence.

Jose Adames, Al Frente and Wilfreda Santiago-Valiente of the United Statehooders Organization of New York, Inc. said statehood was the solution to many problems, including Vieques.

"Whether it is statehood or independence, the real fact is that the Puerto Rican people are now aware that they must take up their own cause," noted Min. Muhammad Abdullah Muhammad, national Latino representative for the Nation of Islam.

For activists like Carlito Rovira, of the Working Group On Puerto Rico, the Special Committee means the U.S. government can no longer dismiss the issue of self-determination, nor decide the island nation�s future.

"The ultimate struggle for liberation will not, however, be achieved in the United Nations, but in the streets of Puerto Rico. The issue of what happens in Puerto Rico is part of the larger battle against imperialism," he said.

�Saeed Shabazz