Navy-Vieques protests
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The Navy-Vieques protests is the name given by English-speaking media to a series of protests starting in 1999 on the Puerto Rican island-municipality of Vieques, against the United States Navy and Marine Corps (USMC) use of the island for bombing target practices. The protests led to the U.S. military abandoning of its facilities on the island.
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Background
During the 1940s the U.S. Navy purchased about 4/5 parts of Vieques grounds by compensated land expropiation. Later, the U.S. military later started using them as target practice for bombs and missiles, and for other ground practices — like the USMC beach and helicopter infiltration exercises.
There have been some allegations that these practices are the cause of Vieques high cancer rate. The World Socialist Web Site (WSWS), published by the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) —an opponent of U.S. military and foreign policy— reports that “over a third of the island's population of 9,000 are now suffering from a range of cancers and other serious illnesses”. [1] (http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/feb2001/vieq-f21.shtml) WSWS links these cases of illness to the Navy's target practice on Vieques. A recent study reported that Vieques has a 27% higher rate of cancer than the main portion of Puerto Rico. [2] (http://www.puertorico-herald.org/issues/2003/vol7n22/StudyVQCancer-en.shtml)
In 1999, the death of David Sanes triguered what has been known as one of the most notorious acts of civil disobedience, the Navy-Vieques protests or the Cause of Vieques. A countless series of protests began in Puerto Rico against the U.S. military use of Vieques. That same year, the then Governor of Puerto Rico, Pedro Rosselló, began talks with the U.S. government to try to look for a solution to the problem.
In 2001, Governor Sila María Calderón signed a treaty with the U.S. President George W. Bush that guaranteed the military leave of the island in May of 2003.
In November 17, 2002 Milivi Adams, a little girl native of Vieques, died as a consequence of her cancer diagnosis. She became the child-symbol for the protesters in their quest to liberate the island of the bombing practices.
History
The death of David Sanes, protests begin
See also: David Sanes.
In April 19, 1999 Vieques native David Sanes was killed by a bomb dropped by a USMC jet during bombing target practices. A civilian employee of the Navy, Sanes was on duty at a military observation point when two bombs fell 1.5 miles (2.5 km) away from their designated target. One of them fell 30 feet (10 m) away from Sanes, killing him instantly.
After the tragic event, Puerto Ricans from all over the world started protesting against the target practices. Their most common protest act was practicing civil disobedience by illegally introducing themselves to the practice grounds; some of them camped there.
Encampments are set, the protests gain an international renown
A few months later, small wood structures were erected inside the practice grounds, and encampments from all over the island-municipality started to gain renown.
By that time, the protests started to gain international renown too, and people from all over the world joined the struggle. Many celebrities, including the political leader Ruben Berrios, singers Danny Rivera and Ricky Martin, boxer Félix 'Tito' Trinidad, Mexican actor Edward James Olmos and Guatemala's Nobel Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu supported the cause. Pope John Paul II once said that he wanted peace for Vieques. The Archbishop of San Juan, Roberto González Nieves, was heavily involved in the protests that took place in the municipality. He managed to put together a coalition of different Puerto Rican church leaders that gathered international attention.
Massive entrance to practice grounds
In May 4, 2000 civil disobedience encampments inside the practice grounds were evacuated by U.S. Marshals and Marines.
Five days later, in an internationally covered event, hundreds of protesters and supporters from all over the world and with different ideologies, penetrated into the military practice grounds.
Natives of Vieques, many Puerto Ricans, Hollywood celebrities, priests, reverends, friars, athletes, and politicians (including U.S. Representatives) were among them.
The incursion had been well publicized and resulted in the arrest of the protesters by Marshals, as both sides of the struggle wanted to avoid brushes with the military.
With peace as main cause of the protests, all civil disobedients behaved in a peaceful manner upon their arrest; most of them shouting "Paz para Vieques" (or "Peace for Vieques" in English). Others simply sang themes related to peace or religion. Only a very few had to be carried by U.S. officials, as they sat or lied down, and didn't move after being ordered to leave the practice grounds; although they didn't offer physical resistance nor insulted the officials. As recorded televisely, most of the disobedients were handcuffed loosely to not pressure their wrists, but allegely their handcuffs were later tightened when escorted to jail.
Many disobedients were set free a few hours after being put in jail, others were released a few days later, and only a few of them were imposed to sentences that lasted between one to six months. The official charge was trespassing U.S. military territory.
Unfair treatment?
Some imprisoned disobedients, including U.S. Representative Luis Gutierrez, announced an unfair treatment to them. This was denied by U.S. military officials and is still a questionable allegation for many Puerto Ricans up to this date.
A video of a body inspection done to a female disobedient, in which her breasts were inspected rigorously by a Military Police (MP) soldier, was passed through television news. Many protested against this formal military procedure, as they said they were imprisoned for actions in favor of peace. This time, the military alleged that these specific individuals behaved in a hostile manner while imprisoned. The allegation is still questionable up to this date for many imprisoned disobedients.
Incursions continue, protests come to an end
With the continuation of bombing practices by the U.S. Navy, incursions to the practice grounds continued, until an official announce by the U.S. government stating that the military would be leaving the island on May of 2003. The supporters of the Cause of Vieques rejoiced their triumph won by peace.
Results / Consequences / Achievements
In 2003 the U.S. military began their moving out of Vieques. On May 1, 2003 at 12:01 AM EST of that day, the official military leave took effect. Part of the past bombing practice grounds became now property of the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The remaining part was given to the government of Vieques.
A perhaps unforeseen consequence was skyrocketing unemployment in Vieques after the Navy left.
Controversies
On April 30, 2003 many supporters of the Cause of Vieques traveled to the island-municipality to held a celebration inside the past bombing practice grounds. The event was recorded by national TV news. On May 1, 2003 at 12:01 AM EST of that day, the crowd entered in mass to the past practice grounds. Unfortunately, their celebration turned aggressive, in contrast to the peaceful protests held by some of them a few months ago.
The Police Task force of Puerto Rico was mobilized from the main island, as the Police of Vieques, and other previously mobilized law enforcement officials, were unprepared for the now turned violent celebration.
The Teachers Federation of Puerto Rico President and a leader of the cause were recorded by TV cameras in a violent and destructive behavior. The crowd destroyed a former Navy's guard-house and military trucks with drop hammers.
The TV records were used as evidence to criminally instill the vandals, as the property destroyed was now owned by the NRCS.
Those implied said that their behavior was caused by the resentment and bitterness that accumulated for the decades of suffering from the Navy's bombing practices on the island. Norma Burgos, a Senator of Puerto Rico, and formerly imprisoned for tresspassing into the practice grounds several months ago, justified the behavior by comparing it to the fall of Saddam Hussein's statue in the recent invasion of Iraq — in which U.S. soldiers used an Army tank (a property of the U.S. government) to torn it down. Their defense failed, and more than a dozen of the implied were imprisoned for “damages and destruction of public property”.
Famous protesters / supporters
Main article: List of famous Navy-Vieques protesters and supporters.
Quotes
- “It's unclear to me how they think they are helping the people of Vieques by going out there. My sense is that they have other motivations. I'd be out of line to speculate, but I don't think it has much to do with the welfare of the people of Vieques, when they penetrate that fence line.”
- -- U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Kevin Green, San Juan Star, August 8, 2000.
- “Never again shall we tolerate abuse of a magnitude and scope the likes of which no community in any of the fifty states would ever be asked to tolerate. Never again shall we tolerate such abuse: not for sixty years, and not for sixty months, or sixty hours, or sixty minutes."”
- -- Gov. Pedro Rosselló, October 19, 1999. Statement before the U.S. Senate Armed Forces Committee.
See also
External links
Official sites
- www.navyvieques.navy.mil - former official site of the U.S. Navy regarding the Navy-Vieques conflict (website was set offline). The site had a controvertible "Fact vs. Allegations" link.
- The Internet Archive stored a copy of the website at: http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.navyvieques.navy.mil
Organizations
- Vieques Libre (http://www.viequeslibre.org)
References
- Román, Iván. Study: Vieques' Cancer Rates Higher Than Puerto Rico's (http://www.puertorico-herald.org/issues/2003/vol7n22/StudyVQCancer-en.shtml). San Juan, Puerto Rico: San Juan Bureau. May 10, 2003.
- Thompson, Harvey. U.S. Navy to be sued for depleted uranium use on Caribbean island (http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/feb2001/vieq-f21.shtml). The World Socialist Web Site. February 21, 2001.