Biography
One of approximately 1,500 activists arrested between 1999 and 2003 for civil disobedience at the U.S. Navy's Atlantic Fleet Weapons Training Facility on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico. The campaign — sparked by the April 19, 1999 death of civilian Navy security guard David Sanes Rodríguez when an errant Marine F/A-18 bomb struck his observation post — drew Puerto Ricans of every political stripe (independentistas, statehooders, the Catholic Church, fishers, environmentalists) into a sustained nonviolent direct-action campaign demanding the Navy leave Vieques. Defendants were prosecuted in U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico under 18 U.S.C. § 1382 (entering a military reservation) and typically served 30 to 90 days in federal custody, most often at MDC Guaynabo. The Navy formally ceased operations on Vieques on May 1, 2003. Listed as a current prisoner in Nuclear Resister Issue #121 "Inside & Out" prisoner roster. Known as Tito Kayak; one of the most prominent activists of the Vieques campaign, famous for repeatedly scaling Navy installations and federal landmarks (including the Statue of Liberty in 2000) to plant the Puerto Rican flag.
Photo: Ricardo Alcaraz Díaz / dialogo.upr.edu, via The San Juan Daily Star. Original-image crop; identified by the source (sole subject captioned Alberto de Jesús Mercado, aka Tito Kayak). Source: https://www.sanjuandailystar.com/post/activist-tito-kayak-arrested-at-protest-in-front-of-la-fortaleza . Non-free image used at low resolution under this site's educational/memorial fair-use rationale; not an open-license or permission claim.
