'Get the U.S. Navy out of Vieques'
WW Party Conference: Excerpts from a talk by Berta
Joubert
On the eastern coast of Puerto Rico is a tiny little island,
just 21 by 4 miles, called Vieques. It is right now a
tremendous headache for the U.S. government and particularly
for the Pentagon.
The brass are afraid that in their next war move their
soldiers will be less prepared to kill. Because Vieques is the
bombing range where the U.S. has been training its pilots with
live ammunition for every single armed conflict since World War
II. But for now, the Navy cannot fire a single shot.
What made them stop so suddenly? And, apparently,
involuntarily?
On the evening of last April 19, during exercises to prepare
for war against Yugoslavia, an F-18 U.S. fighter plane dropped
two Mark-82 500-pound bombs. They fell one mile off target,
hitting five people in a watchtower and killing civilian guard
David Sanes.
The callous Navy delayed Sanes' medical treatment, even
though he was bleeding profusely, and blamed Sanes for his own
death, saying he probably left the security post to smoke or
hang out. It was not until four months later that the Navy
finally admitted that the pilot and the official in charge of
the shooting range were to blame.
Over two thirds of Vieques has been forcibly occupied by the
U.S. Navy since the early 1940s.
The island of Vieques is like a long strip, and the Navy
occupies both ends, east and west. The narrow section left
sandwiched between the ends is the civilian sector, where the
people live. Everywhere else is a restricted military area.
In the western end, the military stores ammunition, which
they use in their exercises and sell to other countries.
The easternmost part of the island is used for military
practice. But besides the use of this eastern third of land,
they also use 195,000 square miles of open ocean and airspace
for their training.
Vieques is part of the Roosevelt Roads Military Base
complex, the main base of this complex being located on the
southeastern coast of P.R.. Together they make up the Atlantic
Fleet Weapons Training Facility. The Navy, Marines, Army and
Air Force conduct amphibious landing exercises and parachute
drops, using the latest technology, to prepare their next
invasion.
Eighty percent of the U.S. ships and airplanes that
participated in the U.S./NATO war against Yugoslavia trained in
Vieques. This tiny island has been used as a stepping stone to
invade Guatemala in 1954, Cuba in 1961, Santo Domingo in 1965,
Chile in 1973, Grenada in 1983, Panama in 1989. Also against El
Salvador, Nicaragua, Vietnam and Iraq. Soldiers from Colombia
are being trained now in Puerto Rico.
Because of the economic stagnation resulting from the Navy
presence, there is 50 percent unemployment. Fishing, which is
the island's main industry, is thwarted by the military
exercises, as is tourism.
Almost 60 years of shooting with live ammunition containing
depleted uranium, as well as using napalm and other toxic
chemicals, have left environmental destruction affecting the
ecosystem of the area and depriving the world of seeing one of
the few phosphorescent bays in existence.
SANES' DEATH UNLEASHED THE STRUGGLE
The death of David Sanes was the straw that broke the
camel's back. Shortly after, a group went to the hill in the
restricted area where Sanes was killed and planted a cross,
staying there to defy the Navy. Soon there were more camps.
People from Isla Nena [Vieques] and Isla Grande [Puerto Rico
proper] started pouring in, rescuing the land that the Pentagon
took.
They have been risking their lives, as there are land
mines--unexploded bombs buried in the land and the sea. Yet
this has not stopped the will of the people, who are
saying:
Basta Ya! Enough! So far the military practices have been
halted for six months, and counting.
The people of Vieques have been opposing the Navy and trying
to rescue the restricted territory since the time the Pentagon
took it away from them.
Fishers have surrounded huge battleships with their small
fishing boats, stopping the military practice, at least
temporarily.
The Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques
wants to demilitarize, rescue the land, demand from the
Pentagon the decontamination of the island and develop it for
the benefit of all the citizens of Vieques. They coordinate the
visits and the support for the encampments.
There are five encampments in the restricted area. The only
access to them is by sea. No roads connect to the civilian
part. It's a 30 to 40 minute ride by boat. Fishers volunteer
their boats for transportation. Just the task of organizing
boat rides back and forth is monumental.
There are no phones to call for help, no electricity, so
even cell phones cannot be charged. There are only
battery-operated flashlights. Any emergency has to wait for the
next boat ride. There is no drinking water, no food, no
facilities for bathing with fresh water.
The camps are both for civil disobedience and for education.
The teachers' union is responsible for one of the camps, where
they built a one-room school they use for discussions about the
militarization of Vieques and Puerto Rico.
Almost all the people from Vieques who visit the area for
the first time say, "I can't believe I can be arrested for
stepping on my own land."
The people in Vieques truly feel that they are rescuing
their land permanently and they are not waiting for the Navy to
leave before they take action.
As Marxists we have to pay close attention to this struggle.
Of the colonial question, Lenin wrote that "Socialists must not
only demand the unconditional and immediate liberation of the
colonies without compensation," they "must render determined
support to the more revolutionary elements _ and assist their
rebellion--and if need be, their revolutionary war--against the
imperialist powers that oppress them."
The Pentagon does not want to leave Vieques. In fact, in the
1980s, after the great struggles of the Vieques fishers during
the 1970s, a U.S. Congressional panel recommended that the Navy
leave the island.
Nothing happened.
Now in 1999, the U.S. Senate held hearings and Clinton
formed a panel on the same issue. The result: the
recommendation that the Navy vacate in five years. But the
people in P.R. said: "No! We want the Navy out now, not in five
years!"
The struggle is taking on a more urgent turn. The Pentagon
wants to re-start bombing Vieques on Dec. 1. It wants the
battleship USS Eisenhower and its fleet--set to go to the
Persian Gulf in February--to practice with live ammunition in
Vieques. Right now the battleship complex is maneuvering off
the north coast of Puerto Rico, ready to sail south to
Vieques.
This only makes the encampment movement more determined.
Already they are making plans in the event of arrests.
Students, unions, religious and social organizations are also
making their plans to react.
U.S. Navy out of Vieques! Viva Puerto Rico libre! Free
Mumia!
This article is copyright under a Creative Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)
HOME :: U.S. NEWS :: WORLD NEWS :: EDITORIALS :: SUBSCRIBE :: DONATE
Email
this article
Printable
page