Sila María Calderón took office as governor of Puerto Rico on January 2 with calls for greater autonomy and for an end to the U.S. Navy's use of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques for bombing exercises. She stressed in her inaugural address that "[t]he people of Puerto Rico want an immediate halt to the naval exercises. Sixty years of a menace to the health and security of our compatriots is unacceptable for any civilized and peaceful society."
José Garriga Pico, a political science professor at the University of Puerto Rico, suggests that Calderón will have a hard time fulfilling her campaign promises to stop the bombing on Vieques and to win greater autonomy for Puerto Rico; he expects strong resistance from the Navy and U.S. President George W. Bush, whose Republican Party supports statehood. Pico predicts that Calderón will seek the backing of countries in the region on these issues, noting the prominent place she gave President Hugo Chávez at her inauguration. "She's trying to impress on the United States that she has the support of Latin American radicals in order to have a stronger hand in the Vieques question," he told the Miami Herald.
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