: Friday April 27 6:50 PM ET
: U.S. Navy Bombing Drill Begins in Vieques

: SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Reuters) - About 50 demonstrators were
: arrested after breaching a fenced-off U.S. Navy camp on the
: Puerto Rican island of Vieques where the Navy began
: controversial bombing and shelling exercises on Friday.

Friday August 10 9:47 PM ET

Actor Olmos Gets Prison Term for Vieques Trespass

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Reuters) - Actor Edward James Olmos was sentenced on Friday to 20 days in federal prison for trespassing on U.S. Navy land on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques during protests against Navy war games.

The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge Daniel Dominguez. Olmos, who appeared on the television show ``Miami Vice'' in the 1980s, already served four days in prison so his term will end in 16 days.

Olmos was arrested on the Navy bombing range on April 28 along with environmental attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and New York labor leader Dennis Rivera. Kennedy and Rivera each were sentenced to 30 days in jail on the misdemeanor trespassing charge and completed their sentences on Aug. 1.

``We all need to do this. Puerto Ricans all over the world need to understand this problem. We need to support Vieques,'' Olmos, who is of Mexican descent, said.

Vieques residents blame the Navy bombing for health and environmental damage and want the Navy to leave immediately. But President Bush said the Navy needs to continue using the Vieques bombing range until 2003 while it looks for an alternate training site.

Also on Friday, Norma Burgos, a senator in the Puerto Rican legislature and vice president of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party, was scheduled to be released from prison after serving 40 days for trespassing.

Olmos is among celebrity protesters who have joined the struggle to get the Navy out of Vieques, an island off the east coast of the U.S. territory.

Civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton is serving a 90-day sentence for trespassing in Vieques, and Jacqueline Jackson, the wife of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, served a 10-day sentence for trespassing on the Navy property.

U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, an Illinois Democrat, faces trial later this month for trespassing during protests in April.

Hundreds of Puerto Ricans have also been arrested during the protests, which first erupted after the April 1999 death of a civilian security guard in a botched Navy bombing run.

The Navy ended its latest round of training on Wednesday, during which 65 people were arrested.

``There were minor interruptions, but, in the end, the Navy and the Marines realized the training they needed,'' Pentagon spokesman Rear. Adm. Craig Quigley said. ``But certainly the calendar of maneuvers was interrupted.''

El Vocero, a Spanish language daily in San Juan, reported on Friday that another round of training was slated to begin in seven or eight weeks.

Protest leaders in Vieques said they would meet future training with continuing civil disobedience.

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