Biography
José Pérez González received the longest federal sentence among the Vieques resisters: five years in federal prison for conspiracy, damage to federal property, and probation violation in connection with civil disobedience halting U.S. Navy bombing of the inhabited Puerto Rican island. He served at FCI Edgefield in South Carolina and later at FCI Yazoo City Medium in Mississippi.
From 1941 to 2003, the U.S. Navy used the inhabited Puerto Rican island of Vieques as a live-fire bombing range. After Navy bombs killed civilian security guard David Sanes in 1999, a sustained civil-disobedience movement of Puerto Rican residents and U.S. solidarity activists repeatedly entered Navy land to halt training. Hundreds were arrested and dozens served federal prison sentences for trespass, conspiracy, and damage to federal property. The Navy finally withdrew from Vieques in May 2003 — the largest victory in U.S. anti-base activism in a generation.
