Sent: 17 November 2000

 PFC DAVID RIVERA DISCHARGED!

Remember the young Marine, PFC David Rivera, who was at the September 22 Washington, DC demonstration for Vieques? At that time he was AWOL, having left the military because he was denied the job training he signed up for, harassed for being Puerto Rican and against the continued bombing of Vieques.

After the September 22 rally, he along with his mother, sister, uncle and Tod Ensign, his lawyer and GI rights advocate, went to the Marine base at Quantico, Virginia where he turned himself in. Numerous letters, emails and phone calls on his behalf made the base commander aware that he had strong outside support. Congressional Representatives Luis Guiterrez of Illinois and Cynthia McKinney of Georgia both came to his defense. All this persuaded the Marines to give him an administrative discharge rather than a court-martial and brig time.

On Tuesday, November 7, David was released with an "other than honorable" discharge and given a one way ticket home. He arrived home in Rochester, NY the next day. Six weeks after turning himself in, he was free.

"Coincidentally" at 3 AM the next morning, four 9 mm rounds were fired into the nearby home of his uncle, disabled Vietnam veteran Roberto Resto. Roberto spent over a month in the Cayo La Yayi civil disobedience camp and has been involved in the struggle for many years. He recently spoke on several radio programs in Puerto Rico in support of David.

One of the bullets hit the wall in his 13 year old son's room. When police arrived they claimed the shooting was the accidental result of a dispute between drug dealers. Roberto doubts this. He has requested an investigation and a bias crime complaint has been made with the New York Attorney General.

David has said that his immediate plans are to find a job and go to college for computer tech training, the skill he had joined the Marine Corps hoping to get. He said "I want to thank everyone who supported me and I will do my part to support the people."

David Cline Veterans Support Vieques