|
Military Contamination on the Island of Vieques, Puerto
Rico and the People´s Response Good Evening. I thank the organizers of this event for
the opportunity to share with you the experience of struggle on the Island
of Vieques, Puerto Rico, beseiged by US Naval activities during the past
six decades. I thank the people of Puerto Rico and, in particular, the
people of the Island Municipality of Vieques, for allowing me to live
and work with the community during these past twenty years and to participate
in such an important struggle for peace and justice in such a special
place. I am here in representation of the Committee for the
Rescue and Development of Vieques, a grass roots community organization
on Vieques that defends the basic demands of the people of this small
Caribbean Island, demands known as the four D´s: demilitarization, decontamination,
devolution (or return of the lands) and development. I will share with you tonight some history of the US
military presence and activities on Vieques, the environmental, health
and socio/economico consequences of that presence and the historic and
heroic struggle of a small community against the mightiest naval force
in the history of the world. Around 7:00 PM (EST) on April 19, 1999, a U.S. Navy pilot
launched two five hundred pound live bombs from his FA-18 jet that missed
their target at the bombing range in Vieques, Puerto Rico, destroying
the Navy's observation post, killing David Sanes, a civilian security
guard and injuring several others. David Sanes' killing was the chronicle of a death foretold.
For decades Viequenses have been clamoring for an end to the bombings
and shelling on the Island and for an end to the military presence. This
was not the first time that the Navy missed its target. Fishermen generally
complain about the great number of unexploded bombs in the coastal waters
of Vieques and the destruction caused to coral reefs and other elements
of the marine environment from the bombing. In October of 1993, another
FA-18 fighter jet missed its target by about ten miles, dropping five
500 hundred pound live bombs about a mile from the main town of Vieques.
Luckily, no one was killed in that incident. In November of 1994, during
a two week exercise, a Navy air wing dropped 20thousand pounds of live
explosives, including Napalm, on Vieques. In 1998, during maneuvers involving
Navy and Puerto Rican National Guard troops, bullets broke windows in
the Public School Buses parked at the Public Works area of the Municipal
Government in the Santa María sector. Several government employees in
the area at the time had to take cover until the shooting stopped. Vieques is an island municipality of Puerto Rico, six miles southeast
of the main island. 72% of its population of approximately 9,000 live
below the poverty level. The Municipal Government reports over 50% unemployment.
Studies by the University of Puerto Rico School of Public Health indicate
that Vieques suffers a 27% higher cancer case rate than the rest of Puerto
Rico. The mortality rate for cancer on Vieques is 34% higher than in all
of Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rico Legislature ordered an epidemiological study to determine the causes of the higher cancer rate. People on Vieques, environmental and health experts throughout Puerto Rico, relate the abnormally high cancer rate to the environmental degradation caused by U.S. Navy and NATO bombing (the Navy "rents"
Vieques to NATO and other countries for bombing practice) on this Island. Since the 1940's, the U.S. Navy controls 3/4 of Vieques'
33,000 acres. The western end is used as an ammunition depot while the
eastern third is a bombing and maneuver area. Military expropriations
in the 40's caused a social and economic crisis that lasts to this day.
The Navy controls the shortest connecting point between Vieques and the
main island (the Puerto Rico Ports Authority must use an 18 nautical mile
route instead of the six-mile route controlled by the military). The Navy
controls the highest points on the island, the best aquifers and most
fertile lands, extensive white sand beaches, and hundreds of archaeological
sites. Large-scale ecological destruction is the result of over
half a century of bombing and experimentation with new weapons systems.
In his study titled "Vieques: The Ecology of an Island Under Siege",
Professor José Seguinot Barbosa, Director of the Geography Department
of the University of Puerto Rico in Río Piedras, explains that "the
eastern tip of the island constitutes a region with more craters per kilometer
than the moon." Professor Seguinot Barbosa adds "the destruction
of the natural and human resources of Vieques violates the basic norms
of international law and human rights. At the state and federal level
the laws pertaining to the coastal zone, water and noise quality, underwater
resources, archaeological resources and land use, among others, are violated." Chemical engineer Rafael Cruz Pérez, in an article titled "Contamination Produced by Explosives and Residuals of Explosives in Vieques, Puerto Rico" (published in Dimensión, Magazine of the Association of Engineers and Surveyors
of Puerto Rico, Year 2, Vol. 8, Jan. 1988) points out that “ . . .chemicals
from the bombing (TNT, NO3, NO2, RDX and Tetryl) are transported by diverse
mechanisms toward the civilian area. . .We find that the effective concentration
of particles of contaminants over the civilian area of Vieques exceeds
197 micrograms per cubic meter and therefore exceeds the legal federal
criteria for clean air." Studies done recently in the bombing area
by leading Puerto Rican environmental scientists Dr. Neftalí García and
Jorge Fernández, indicate dangerously high levels of heavy metals and
other toxic chemical components related to military activities in the
soil and water. The EPA and the Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board
previously announced their intent to deny the Navy permission to continue
bombing activity that results in discharges into bodies of water. However,
with the signing of the Presidential Directives, these agencies have abandoned
their responsabilities to the environment and the people of Vieques to
allow the Navy to continue with its destructive activities here. The Navy stated in May of 1999 – after a Freedom of Information
Act Request by the Military Toxics Project helped obtain the information
- that 263 Depleted Uranium projectiles were “accidently” fired from a
Harrier Jet into the impact area at Vieques during training for the war
in Yugoslavia in February of that year. Documents from the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission indicate that only 56 DU rounds were retrieved and because
of the danger of unexploded conventional ordnance in the area, the search
for the rest of the DU was postponed until August of 1999. The Navy has
still not publicly stated the status of their “cleanup”. Depleted Uranium
poses a serious threat to the health of the people of Vieques who suffer
an already alarmingly high cancer case rate. We believe the Navy has been
using Vieques for practice and experimentation with DU weapons possibly
for decades. Scientific studies carried out over the past two years
identified high concentrations of arsenic, barium, cadmium, zinc, cobalt,
copper, tin, mercury and silver and lead. Aluminum, chromium, iron, manganese,
nickel, and vanadium concentrations were found in some areas. High concentrations
of nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, hydrocarbons typical of diesel fuel, and
phosphates, that are formed from bomb explosions or are present in other
war artifacts, were also found. The metals found in high concentrations
are present in explosives, propellants, paints, conventional and uranium
bullets, napalm, chaff, flares and other paraphernalia used by the Navy
in Vieques. Metals have been found in plants, violinist crabs, fish,
mussels, Thalassia and sea grass beds, and humans in Vieques, which confirm
the expected processes of biomagnification. High concnetrations of mercury
and lead have been found in hair samples of civilians in Vieques subcontracted
by US companies like Raytheon and General Electric to work in the impact
areas. High contentrations of aluminum, antimony, arsenic, bismuth
and lead have been found in hair samples of a large number of civilians
in Vieques that do not work in impact areas. Other metals found in above
normal levels are boron, cadmium, tin, manganese, mercury, silver and
vanadium. Uranium in above normal concentrations has been found in stool
samples of civilians. Fishermen have for decades struggled to get the Navy
to stop bombing and leave the island. Giant military ships destroy fish
traps and bombing and other maneuvers impose severe restrictions on fishermen's
entry into some of the best fishing areas around the island. On numerous
occasions fishing boats have been damaged by naval gunfire and fishermen
have been severely hurt by bombs exploding close to their fishing activities. After the April 19th killing of David Sanes,
groups of Viequenses and supporters from the main island of Puerto Rico
occupied several areas inside the bombing zone to block the possibility
of renewed bombing and-or maneuvers. Close to the site where Sanes was
killed, a giant cross was placed by members of the Committee for the Rescue
and Development of Vieques (CPRDV), fishermen and others on 22 April.
Until the arrests of May 4, 2000,, a group of young Viequense men and
women together with university students from Puerto Rico, maintained a
permanent vigil at the site of the cross. The area has been renamed Moount
David. The Puerto Rico Independence Party (PIP) set up a protest
camp about a mile from Mt. David, also in the bombing range on the 8th
of May. On the North coast of Vieques (both Mt. David and the PIP camp
were on the South coast of the island) a group of fishermen and other
residents of Vieques occupied the Yayi Key while a group of Vieques teachers,
with support from the CPRDV and the Congreso Nacional Hostosiano (a coalition
of PR Independence groups) held a position directly across from the Yayi
Key. All of the protest camps were within Navy restricted zone. Labor
groups, the Catholic Church and Protestant denominations, and university
students set up other camps. In front of the entrance to the bombing range at Camp
García, another camp was set up on December 3rd, to block all
military vehicles and personnel from entering or leaving the base. This
was a project of a coordinating committee made up of church groups, political
organizations, the Vieques Womens Alliance, a youth group and the Committee
for the Rescue and Development of Vieques. On 25 June, 1999, a Special Commission on Vieques appointed
by the Governor with members from the three major political parties, the
churches, Vieques fisherman and the Mayor of Vieques submitted its report
in which it supported the position of the community – total demilitarization,
decontamination, devolution (return of all lands to the people) and development.
The Governor of Puerto Rico established Public Policy demanding the immediate
and permanent cessation of all military activity on Vieques. Representatives of the CPRDV successfully lobbied to
have a clear statement on Vieques included in the final resolution of
the UN Committee on Decolonization in July. On behalf of the Vieques committee,
a protest was formally introduced to the High Commissioner for Human Rights
of the UN at Geneva and a complaint filed with the Organization of American
States, citing Navy abuses and violations. On the main island, a national
coordinating committee - “Todo Puerto Rico con Vieques” (All Puerto Rico
with Vieques), rallied fifty thousand people for a demonstration at the
entrance to Roosevelt Roads Naval Station in the town of Ceiba on the
4th of July of 1999. A Presidential Panel – two of the three members from
the Department of Defense - appointed to investigate the military presence
on Vieques recommended the continuation of bombing for a five year period
while the Navy searches for alternatives. This recommendation was universally
rejected by all sectors of Puerto Rican society. In January of this year (2000), the Governor of Puerto
Rico made an abrupt turn and signed an agreement with President Clinton
authorizing the continuation of bombing for at least three more years.
The Presidential Directives, signed by Clinton and Puerto Rican Governor
Pedro Roselló on January 31, without the slightest participation of the
people of Vieques, gave the green light to the Navy to remove protesters
from the civil disobedience camps inside the bombing area and reinitiate
bombing shortly thereafter. The Directives suggested the clean up and return of the
eight thousand acres on the Western end of the island and the fifteen
thousand acres on the East to the people of Vieques. However, Congress
recently passed the Military Appropriations Bill that stipulates only
4 thousand of the 23thousand acres controlled by the Navy will be returned
to the people of Vieques. Without community participation in the process,
the Navy and the Puerto Rican government work to return lands before carrying
out environmental cleanup. The agreement between the Governnor of Puerto
Rico and President Clinton was recently changed and approved by Congress,
openning the door for renewed use of live weapons, and does not include
language about the cleanup of the impact area nor does it discuss the
return to the people of Vieques of any of the land on the Eastern third
of the Island. It also leaves the Navy´s giant ROTHR Radar functioning
with its electromagnetic contamination and the Navy in control of the
hightest point on Vieques, Monte Pirata, where it will continue to operate
an observation post and communications center. In Febrary of this year, over one hundred and fifty thousand
people marched in San Juan against the Presidential Directives. The march
– considered by many to have been the largest ever – was convoked by Puerto
Rico´s most influential religious leaders in support of the position of
our community: not one more bomb, not one more minute. On 4 May of this year, over a thousand Marines and hundreds
of federal officials – FBI, customs officials, US Marshalls, among others
– arrested over two hundred people in the bombing area, including priests,
nuns, pastors and ministers, fishermen, housewives, students, workers,
union leaders, grandmothers and great grandmothers. Shortly afterwards,
the Navy resumed bombing, with non-explosive projectiles, they say, and
only for 90 days a year, according to the Presidential Directives. Since the May 4 arrests, close to a thousand people have
been arrested during a series of civil disobedience actions inside the
bombing area and in other parts of the Navy´s restricted zones on Vieques.
In small, medium and large groups, by water in fishing boats and by land
through the Navy´s perimiter fence, hundreds of Viequenses and Puerto
Ricans from the main island have entered the restricted zone to protest
and disrupt the continuation of bombing and press for demilitarization. On 13 May, 54 people entered the restricted area of Camp
García and were arrested. A group of Viequense women directed a team of
fifteen people who got through Navy security, made it out to the bombing
area on the 1st of June and before being arrested, carried
out a ceremony in memory of women who have died from cancer on Vieques.
Other groups of women, Viequense university students, labor and religious
leaders, a group of Puerto Rican physicians and a group called Artists
for Peace on Vieques are among the hundreds who have been arrested over
the past six months for participating in civil disobedience actions here. (9 A) In June of this year, the Puerto Rican Independence party
organized its members for a large scale civil disobedience action aimed
at disrupting Navy maneuvers. The President of the Party, Puerto Rican
Senator Rubén Berríos, other legislators, mayoral candidates and assemblymen
and women from all parts of Puerto Rico participated in the actions led
by the PIP. Over one hundred members of the PIP were arrested and many
spent over a month in the Federal Prision in San Juan. During that same period, Vieques fishermen outmaneuverd
Navy patrol boats and after leaving several civil disobedients in the
bombing area, led the high speed, high tech Navy vessels through shallow
waters where they stayed caught up on the coral reefs. The fishermen returned
safely to the civilian area. The following Sunday, hundreds of Viequenses blocked
the entrance to the Navy´s Camp García with their cars during a two hour
demonstration. On the 22nd of October, hundreds of people from
our community tore down large sections of the Navy´s perimeter fence close
to the entrance to the bombing area. When Navy security forces approached
the protesters from inside the base, they were “attacked” with paint filled
balloons and lots of whistle blowing. This past October 17th, nine people from Vieques entered
the bombing zone during large scale NATO maneuvers. Although the Navy
was informed of the presence of the group, they nevertheless continued
to bomb from ships and jets. Three Viequense veterans, part of the civil
disobedience team, were caught in the firing when they tried to get to
the observation post after the oldest member of the group – 70 year old
Korean war veteran, Angel Navarro – suffered a diabetic shock. Bombs fell
within feet of the group as they tried to get Navarro medical attention.
At the same time and close by in the bombing zone, six other Viequenses – including the Deacon of the Catholic Church, Justino López; the ex Mayor of Vieques, Radamés Tirado; retired Viequense teacher and veteran Angel Guadalupe;
José Silva, whose wife died of cancer shortly before the killing of David
Sanes; Cedric Morales, leading member of the Vieques Chamber of Commerce;
and myself - waited out the bombing from 8:00AM until 11:00 PM, moving
from one place to another to stay clear of Naval gunfire. After crossing
the entire bombing zone on the second day between 4:00 and 6:00 AM, we
were arrested close to the observation post Every Saturday night for the past year and a half, the
Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques holds a vigil at the
Peace and Justice Camp in front of the entrance to the bombing zone. Last
Saturday around 200 people participated and around thirty people spent
the night to provide security due to rumors of a possible FBI/PR police
intervention against the Camp. There have been protests and civil disobedience actions
for Vieques throughout the US, and in Vieques we are greatly appreciative
of all the solidarity activity organized by the Puerto Rican communities
and others here. This past Sunday, activitists from Puerto Rico and New
York placed a Vieques flag, a Puerto Rican flag and sign for peace in
Vieques on the Statue of Liberty, before being arrested. Members of the Committee for the Rescue and Development
of Vieques have travelled recently to Korea, Okinawa, England, Mexico
and the US to help raise consciousness about the US Navy presence on the
island and to learn from other communities that face environmental degradation
and repression at the hands of the US military. We maintain contacts with
people struggling in Hawaii, the Phillipines and Panamá and have received
activits in Vieques from many of these countries during this past year
of intense struggle. From 16 to 20 November, we will celebrate in Vieques an International Tribunal on Human Rights Violations in Puerto Rico and Vieques, with the participation of judges and observers from across the globe. We now prepare for our - and their – next maneuvers.
A short note about the development of a Free Vieques. The CPRDV, together with the Vieques Women´s Alliance,
the Vieques Conservation Trust and other community leaders, has begun
to articulate a vision for future social and economic development of a
Vieques freed from the Navy. For several years the CPRDV worked on the
development issue with the UN based Economist Allied for Arms Reduction
and Columbia University´s Urban Technical Assistance Program. In July
of 1999, a group of highly respected Puerto Rican professionals organized,
at the request of the CPRDV, a Multidisciplinary Technical Team in Support
of Vieques. The local grassroots organizations recommend the creation
of a community land trust to keep and maintain the lands rescued from
the Navy in the hands of the people of Vieques. We also recommend the
establishment of a continuing education and training program in order
to adequately empower the community of Vieques to fully participate in
the development process. The decontamination of Vieques is crucial to ensure the
healthy social and economic development of the island. Our community will
continue to struggle for an end to militarization, for the environmental
restoration and devolution of the lands that belong, by natural right,
to the people of Vieques. The people of Vieques need your support in this historic
moment. We ask organizations and individuals to show solidarity by bringing
up the issue of Vieques at the workplace, in schools, at community and
religious meetings. The struggle for peace in Vieques, is a struggle for
people everywhere who believe that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness
is worth fighting for, even against the most powerful military forces
of our times. Thank you. *(Founded in 1993, the CPRDV is a grassroots organization
dedicated to ending the US military presence on Vieques and promoting
the sustainable development of the island. Donations for this struggle
can be sent to the CPRDV, Box 1424, Vieques, PR 00765. For more info.
bieke@coqui.net) |