[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 5 (Monday, February 7, 2000)]
[Page 197]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Action To Resolve the Impasse Over Armed Forces Training on 
Vieques Island, Puerto Rico

January 31, 2000

    Today, I am announcing a course of action to resolve the impasse 
over United States Armed Forces training on Vieques. This course will 
give the people of Vieques the right to determine the future of the 
island while assuring that our training needs are met. I have received a 
letter from the Governor of Puerto Rico endorsing this course.
    I am issuing two directives. They provide that between later this 
year and early 2002, there will be a referendum held on Vieques, in 
which the people of Vieques will be asked to choose between two 
alternatives. If they choose the first alternative, the Navy will cease 
all training on Vieques and leave the island by May 1, 2003. If they 
choose the second, training will continue on Vieques on terms that will 
be presented at least 3 months before the vote.
    During the period leading up to the vote, training done on Vieques 
will be limited to nonexplosive ordnance--meaning there will be no live 
fire, and the Navy and Marine Corps will cut in half the amount of time 
they will spend training to no more than 90 days per year, which is what 
we need to meet our training needs. I will also implement measures to 
meet the health, safety, environmental, and economic concerns of the 
people of Vieques, and I will ask Congress to begin transferring title 
to land on the western quarter of the island to Puerto Rico.
    I believe this plan will help resolve the impasse over Vieques in 
the fairest possible way, because it will meet our training needs while 
giving the people most affected by this decision--the people who 
actually live on the island--the ability to choose for themselves the 
future of their island.