Puerto Rican leaders reject Pentagon plan

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (CNN) -- In a rare display of unity, Puerto Rican political leaders have rejected a Pentagon panel's proposal to resume U.S. Navy bombing on an outlying island.

Puerto Rico's Gov. Pedro Rossello will reject the panel's recommendations during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday, Rosello's chief of staff, Angel Morey, said.

In this story:

Progressives: Navy 'must not resume activities'
First lady calls for an immediate halt to bombing
Cohen to defer recommendation until after talks

Leaders from across the political spectrum were quick to reject the proposal outlined in a report by a Defense Department panel established to assess the U.S. Navy's need for a bombing range on the island of Vieques, a stance which was also adopted by first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The four-member panel, ordered by President Clinton, issued its findings early Monday and reported the U.S. armed services considered the resumption of training essential for military readiness.

However, the panel also recommended the Navy assess alternative sites in order to be able to stop training activity on Vieques within five years. The panel suggested additional talks between the Navy and the Puerto Rican government to resolve the issue.

Progressives: Navy 'must not resume activities'

"We are agreed that this is not acceptable," Morey said, of the Pentagon recommendation. He made the announcement after a meeting on Monday of the investigative committee appointed by Rossello after a civilian guard was killed by stray bombs in April.

Rossello's New Progressive Party, which favors making Puerto Rico the 51st U.S. state, reacted by "reaffirming that the Navy must not resume its activities of firing and bombarding on the island of Vieques," which is home to 9,300 people.

Opposition Popular Democratic Party leader Sila Calderon said her group would lobby President Clinton to reject the recommendations.

"The Puerto Rican people have to remain unequivocally firm that we do not want military exercises to begin again in Vieques," said Calderon, who favors continuation of the status quo.

Victor Garcia San Inocencio, a leader of the Puerto Rican independence Party, urged islanders to "redouble their fight" against the resumption of the bombings.

First Lady calls for immediate halt to bombing

Mrs. Clinton said late Monday she was "disappointed" by the panel's recommendation and called for an immediate halt to the military use of the island.

Vieques has become a major political issue within the Puerto Rican community in New York, where Mrs. Clinton is considering a Senate run.

New York has more than 1 million Puerto Rican residents.

Earlier this year, Mrs. Clinton stirred up another controversial Puerto Rican issue, when she first supported, then opposed, President Clinton's grant of clemency to 16 militant Puerto Rican nationalists, most of whom were subsequently released from prison.

Cohen to defer recommendation until after talks

Defense Secretary William Cohen, in a written statement, called the panel's report "balanced" but said he would defer making a recommendation to the president until further dialogue occurred.

Asked about the matter while in New Jersey Monday night, President Clinton, referring to Cohen's call for more talks, said that "ought to be done."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.