Ricky Martin: No Bombs

12/15/1998 at 12:00 AM EST

Puerto Rican pop star Ricky Martin wants the U.S. Navy to stop conducting bombing runs on the territory's island of Vieques. "Puerto Rico is united in this cause and I'm part of it," Martin said in Friday's El Mundo newspaper. The "Livin' La Vida Loca" singer has a tentative meeting scheduled this week to discuss the matter with President Clinton when he visits Washington for a benefit concert. The Navy owns two-thirds of Vieques, a tiny island off the eastern coast of Puerto Rico and has conducted exercises using live bombs and other artillery on Vieques for decades. Opposition to the bombing intensified in April when a Marine Corps jet dropped two bombs off-target, killing a civilian security guard. Exercises were suspended after protesters set up camps on the range.