History as Prologue: Vieques vs. U.S. Navy

Editor’s Note: As part of Planet Waves’ series on the Navy’s proposed use of the NW coast as aВ target practice range, today’s column provides an historicalВ accountВ of anВ actual Navy weapons testing site,В its environmental impactВ and citizen efforts toВ shut itВ down. — efc

Dear Friend and Reader:

On April 19, 1999, David Sanes Rodrigues, a citizen of Vieques, Puerto Rico was working for the Navy as a security guard at its Atlantic Fleet Weapons Training Facilities (AFWTF) when the Navy dropped two errant Mk-82 bombs 100 yards away from his post, killing him instantly. Sanes Rodrigues’ death sparked a series of protests and demonstrations that drew a global cross-section of celebrities, politicians and religious leaders who brought visibility to the Navy’s weapons-testing activities and ultimately ended its nearly 60-year’s presence on the island.

FromВ 1941-42, В 2/3 of the island (22,000 acres) of Vieques was purchased by the NavyВ as an extension toВ Roosevelt Roads Naval Station on the Puerto Rican mainland. Vieques wasВ planned asВ a safe haven for the British fleetВ ifВ Great Britain fell to Nazi Germany.В  In 1947, with the onset of the Cold War, the US switched from a policy of disarmament to perpetual armed competition, and the Navy announced its desire to use Vieques for training. InВ 1948 bombing exercises began, and continued for the next 55 years.

The eastern half of Vieques was used for bombing practices, the western half for weapons storage. Vieques was bombed an average of 180 days per year. In 1998, the last year before protests interrupted maneuvers, the Navy dropped 23,000 bombs on the island, the majority of which contained explosives.В Over the course of US Navy occupancy, nearly 22 million pounds of military and industrial waste, such as oils, solvents, lubricants, lead paint, acid and 55 US gallonВ  drums, were deposited on the western portion of the island. The extent of leaching is unknown.

The Navy’s use of Vieques has long been a point of contention between Puerto Rico and the US, causing political unrest over US presence. Aside from effectively endingВ Vieques’ local agricultural economy, the environmental impact of weapons tested and their effect on public health — specifically the rising rate of cancer among Viequans, added heat to Puerto Rico’s simmering resentment toВ our naval presence.

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