Biography
Luis A. Olivera was arrested for trespass on the U.S. Navy bombing range at Vieques, Puerto Rico, as part of the sustained 1999–2003 civil-disobedience campaign that ultimately forced the Navy to withdraw from the inhabited island in May 2003. Sentenced to 45 days.
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.