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On April 1 the U.S. Navy began military exercises on the Camp Garcia training facility on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques. Last year hundreds were arrested for trespassing on the base. The trespasser were protesting what they believe are decades of abuse by the U.S. military on the island. Some of those arrested include the Reverend Al Sharpton, Robert F. Kennedy, jr., and Chicago congressman Luis Gutiérrez. But since September 11, and the subsequent war on terrorism, many of those protests have subsided. Joining us now on Latino USA to help understand the political situation in Vieques, and in Puerto Rico, is political analyst Juan Manuel Garcia Passalacqua who joins by phone from San Juan.

In the months following the September 11 terror attacks, the federal government has increased its scrutiny of immigrants living and working in the United States. Increased security measures that put some Latino immigrants out of jobs, particularly those found to have invalid or incorrect social security numbers. In response the small North Carolina town of Carrboro has taken the unusual step of calling for a national amnesty for undocumented immigrants. Local leaders say the issue is economic rather than political.

State officials in Florida are still stinging from the fact that several of the terrorist involved in the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks spent much of their time in Florida flight schools, some in violation of federal immigration law. Now a pilot program gives some state police officers federal authority by allowing them to arrest undocumented immigrants. Miami Herald columnist Liz Balmaseda believes this pilot program is a dangerous step.

Writer Rudolfo Anaya is widely regarded as the father of Chicano literature. His classic 1972 novel 'Bless Me, Ultima' tells the story of an old curandera, or healer, who comes to live with the family of a young New Mexican boy. 'Bless Me, Ultima' can still be found on bestseller lists and on shelves alongside Anaya's extensive collection of novels, short stories, and plays. His work will be honored later this month when Anaya is presented with the National Medal of Arts, a prestigious award bestowed upon groups and individuals selected every year by the president for excellence in the arts.