Biography
Mariel Torres Lara was arrested for MST brigade occupation of Vieques bombing range as part of the sustained 1999-2003 civil-disobedience campaign that forced the U.S. Navy to withdraw from the inhabited island of Vieques in May 2003. Sentenced to 1 week.
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.
Documented case history
A December 12, 2025 Puerto Rico appellate judgment recounts a federal trespassing conviction connected with 2002 Vieques civil disobedience and later loss of her teaching contract after a background-check determination. The appeal was dismissed as premature because the agency had failed to provide legally adequate notice; the agency was ordered to notify her anew. This administrative decision did not impose imprisonment or order release. It does not resolve the exact dates of the separately recorded January 2003 custody period.
