THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 10, 1994 TAG: 9409100235
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: VIEQUES, PUERTO RICO LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
Grenades and mortar shells exploded Friday along the sandy shores of an island off Puerto Rico, where U.S. Marines in jungle camouflage have stormed beaches and seized buildings in a practice invasion of Haiti.
Across the Caribbean in Haiti, a ragtag column of soldiers armed with World War II-vintage rifles, many wearing sandals or street shoes, jogged through the capital's marketplace in morning maneuvers. Some wore army-issue T-shirts emblazoned ``No to Intervention.''
It is hard to imagine a greater contrast than that between the two armies that would face each other if the United States carries out its threat to invade Haiti.
The five-day Puerto Rican training exercises, involving 1,300 Marines, were the latest saber rattling by the U.S. military, as the prospect of an invasion to topple Haiti's military rulers appears to grow more likely.
Next week, Army specialists will begin training forces from eight Caribbean nations for peacekeeping duty after the planned restoration of Haiti's constitutional government.
The eight are Antigua and Barbuda; the Bahamas; Barbados; Belize; Dominica; Jamaica; St. Vincent and the Grenadines; and Trinidad and Tobago.
Guyana on Friday also announced its participation, although the decision must be approved by its legislature.
``We will participate in the U.N.-mandated, U.S.-led multinational force,'' Roger Luncheon, a presidential representative, told reporters. ``I cannot say with any degree of clarity when the troops will be leaving.''
The training on Vieques, an island of 7,000 people just east of Puerto Rico, began at 3 a.m. Wednesday with a mock helicopter and sea landing and seizure of a mock U.S. Embassy - a converted Seabee headquarters.
On Friday, Humvees and amphibious assault vehicles roared across the island's dirt roads and white beaches. Two-thirds of the island is owned by the U.S. Navy, which used it as a training site for both the Persian Gulf war and the mission to Somalia.
Platoons of Marines, their faces blackened, launched grenades and mortar shells and fired M-60 machine guns at flare targets and rusted vehicles set up in mock enemy positions.
Some officers said the exercises were practice for evacuating U.S. citizens from Haiti.
But a Navy lieutenant commander said the Marines and two Navy ships carrying them are the advance wing for any intervention in Haiti. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS photo
A ragtag group of soldiers, some armed with World War II-vintage
rifles, jog through a Port-au-Prince marketplace in Friday morning
maneuvers.
by CNB