SanFranGate

Detained congressman, protesters complain of ill-treatment by Navy

IAN JAMES, Associated Press Writer

Tuesday, May 1, 2001

(05-01) 15:36 PDT SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico

(AP) -- Handcuffed and face-down on the rocky ground, Rep. Luis Gutierrez said he felt a knee in his back, heard a voice order him to ``stay there'' and felt sailors throw him some feet away.

After being released from a federal jail Tuesday, Gutierrez, D-Ill., said he and others protesting naval bombing exercises on the island of Vieques endured ``very inhumane'' treatment at the hands of U.S. Navy security officers

``The experience was very dehumanizing, degrading and harmful,'' Gutierrez told The Associated Press.

He was among at least 178 protesters detained since Thursday for intruding on the Navy training ground on Vieques. Gutierrez accused authorities of maltreatment, saying he and 35 others were seized Saturday, then taken to a small, roofless building that once served as a dog kennel.

Navy security officers then ordered them to kneel on the rocky ground. Gutierrez said he hesitated because he wanted to clear the rocks. But a sailor ``kicked my feet from under me, put me face-down,'' then sailors ``threw me a few feet,'' he said.

Gutierrez said his group spent the night on the concrete floor of a ``holding pen'' -- a place smelling of urine that islanders told him had been used for guard dogs. He said there was no roof to protect the group, which included an 81-year-old man, against the rain and chilly night air.

Navy officials disputed his account. They said Gutierrez was treated fairly and that the concrete building where he was held for one night has never been a kennel but is an old carpentry shop used lately for holding protesters.

A tarpaulin kept out rain, and the detainees had food and bathrooms, Navy Lt. Carlos Pinero said. The detainees were treated ``with dignity and respect,'' he said, calling Gutierrez's account as ``absolutely false.''

In addition, Gutierrez was never thrown, he said, even though ``Mr. Gutierrez was threatening my security personnel and harassing them. He became rude, obnoxious.''

Navy spokesman Lt. Jeff Gordon said Gutierrez had ``provoked an altercation with security ... He threatened security personnel to end their careers because he's a U.S. congressman.''

The Navy said three sailors were hit by rocks during the current protests and U.S. marshals said 16 of them were hit by rocks, ball bearings and nails hurled by protesters.

After posting the required $900 of the $3,000 bail on a charge of trespassing on federal land, Gutierrez boarded a flight Tuesday to Chicago, speaking briefly before boarding the plane.

It was the first time Gutierrez was arrested, though he had protested three times before at Vieques, including last May, when he was detained but not arrested. He said he suffered a bruised shoulder.

``I know that if Martin Luther King were alive, he would be here because this is a human rights issue,'' said the Rev. Al Sharpton, who was arrested with 12 others on Navy land Tuesday.

Puerto Rican Sen. Norma Burgos, the territory's former secretary of state, was considering suing for civil rights violations, lawyer Jorge Manuel Carmona Rodriguez said.

Burgos saw authorities spray pepper spray in the faces of detained demonstrators singing songs of protest. Their hands were bound with plastic handcuffs at the time, Carmona said. Burgos was released from detention Monday night.

Puerto Rico's Police Chief Pierre Vivoni also complained about the Navy's use of pepper spray on detainees.

Others criticized the treatment of Ruben Berrios, the distinguished 61-year-old head of the Puerto Rican Independence Party, who was put face-down with his hands bound behind his back after his arrest. That image was broadcast by television stations throughout the U.S. territory.

``That contempt toward Puerto Ricans, conscious or unconscious, is very alive in the soul of the Navy,'' said Robi ``Draco'' Rosa, a Puerto Rican singer and songwriter who has composed hits for Ricky Martin.

Other high-profile protesters detained on Vieques included environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr., actor Edward James Olmos, and New York labor leader Dennis Rivera.

``My treatment was good,'' said Kennedy, who was released Monday night.

-- Anonymous, May 01, 2001