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My
Thoughts on Vieques
July 21, 2001
by
Luis Orlando Gallardo Rivera
Vieques is a small island off the East Coast of Puerto Rico
with a population of about 9,000. Vieques is divided into
three parts, two of which are owned by the United States Navy
and are used to store weapons and train with live ammunition.
The Vieques population is sandwiched in-between the two. Even
though the Navy has occupied Vieques for about 60 years, it
is only recently that the world's newspapers have featured
the subject.
In April of 1999, a watchtower near the training grounds
was mistaken to be a bombing target, and as a result, a civilian
was killed. After this event, Puerto Rican protesters from
all of their political parties have occupied and protested
on the bombing range for a full year, halting the Navy's exercises.
Recently during this month, when the Navy began it's fresh
new round of practices, they were met with hundreds of protesters,
thrown rocks and bottles, civil disobedience, security breaches,
officer beatings, and even Puerto Rican's own bombs. Among
the hundreds that were arrested within a week's period were
Al Sharpton, Robert Kennedy, and actor James Olmos.
Countless tests and studies have concluded that not only
is cancer more prevalent among Vieques civilians, but various
heart diseases and food contaminations. These illnesses and
poisonings are results of U.S. bombs along with the radiation
and loud constant sonic blasts that they produce. Some Vieques
citizens complain that due to U.S. bombings, their houses
shake so much, that their family evacuates them, fearful that
they might collapse. Included in the bombs that the U.S. uses
for live exercises, are depleted uranium shells, which are
believed to cause various illnesses and cancers, which may
include the Gulf War syndrome. Recently NATO and other foreign
organizations have been pushing international courts to take
action against the U.S.'s use of such deadly weapons in Kosovo
and Iraq. The Navy denies these charges with their own studies
that support their presence. Is it no wonder that the only
tests that support the Navy's claims are conducted by the
Navy itself?
Vieques, like other areas of Puerto Rico, is dependent on
its fishing market. Not only are some of the best fishing
grounds bared off by the Navy, but also many of the fishing
areas are contaminated by Navy radiation and poisons.
Why won't the Navy leave, you might ask? There are a few
reasons that they claim to support their presence, but all
of them seem to be hollow. The Navy claims that Vieques is
"vital" to U.S. security, stating that the island is the "only
training ground of its type". How can the "best training establishment
in the world" be so effective when exercises have to be stopped
for months on end, or even between hours? Do they seriously
consider hauling away hundreds of protesters and getting smacked
around with rocks "vital training"? It might be vital training
for the military riot squads, but to me, it looks like the
Navy isn't getting much done.
I can understand why Vieques would be important to the Puerto
Rican people, but not the Navy. Vieques is gifted with some
of Puerto Rico's best beaches, and is a gold mine waiting
to be excavated because of its tourism possibilities. These
beaches include some that have had tourists barred from them
by the Navy. There are thousands and thousands of islands
scattered all over the seas of this hemisphere. Many countries,
including Panama have offered to sell some of their coast's
islands to the U.S. to replace Vieques. Most of which would
cost less than what the U.S. is paying to stay in Vieques.
A former Naval admiral has been quoted to say that Vieques
"means nothing to the U.S.". No longer does it seem to be
an important training ground, but a prop used to allow the
U.S. to flex its "power muscle" on Puerto Rico. Before they
killed us with their bombs. Now they kill us with their bombs
and mock us.
The U.S. also stresses that Vieques is "vital to U.S. security".
U.S. forces have trained in Vieques for almost all of their
wars and conflicts within the last 40 years, including Kosovo
and the Persian Gulf. This doesn't look like "U.S. security"
to me. It looks more like South Korean, Kuwaiti, and ethnic
Albanian security. The U.S. is not only sacrificing the lives
of Puerto Ricans in their armed forces, but Puerto Rican civilians
for worthless, imperialistic foreign policies.
Former Puerto Rican governor, Pedro Rosello, signed an agreement
with former U.S. President, Bill Clinton, called the "Vieques
Accord". In this agreement, the Navy would hold a referendum
allowing Vieques citizens to vote on whether or not they would
like the Navy to stay. Recently the Navy has begun to put
funding into Vieques, upgrade its facilities, and even began
construction of a new PX. It is common in Puerto Rico for
families and friends of military personal to take advantage
of on-base commissaries for food and supplies. The Navy set
the referendum so far into the future that by the time it
would arrive, many of the Vieques inhabitants would be too
dependent on the Navy's funding and commissaries to have them
to leave. This was a plot acted out by the Navy to slowly
manipulate the Vieques citizens into accepting their presence.
There has not been any official referendum, but the last
poll held on the subject, revealed that 70% of Vieques citizens
would like the Navy to leave as soon as possible. When our
new governor, Sila Maria Calderón attempted to establish our
own referendum, the Navy told us that it would be void, and
if exercised, they would scrap all chances for their departure.
Various Naval and congressional officials are also attempting
to break Vieques, one of our prized municipals, from Puerto
Rican ownership and incorporate it into another U.S. colony,
the U.S. Virgin Islands. Not only is this the further raping
of our sovereignty, but disrespect to our democracy.
Many supporters of the Navy's presence say that the Navy
is planning to leave, but those who are in support of its
departure are rushing them. By the looks of the Navy's recent
additions to their facilities, they plan to stay for a while.
They also use the excuse that the U.S. Military still hold's
its base in Guantanamo Bay of Cuba, so "why would they leave
Vieques"? Cuba is one of the United State's "enemies", and
it's millions of inhabitants are not American citizens, like
Puerto Ricans. Many decades ago, Culebra, another Puerto Rican
island, was experiencing the same problems that Vieques is
facing now. After a large civil disobedience campaign, the
Navy left Culebra, thus giving us hope that they will do the
same with Vieques.
Vieques is a victim of imperialism, colonization, environmental
attacks, and the U.S.'s selfish foreign policy. It demonstrates
the U.S.'s selfishness, disrespect towards democracy, and
disregard for the people of Vieques' well being.
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