From: | vozvieq@coqui.net |
Date: | Thu, 30 Mar 2000 12:44:10 -0800 (PST) |
Reply: | cpeo-military |
Subject: | [CPEO-MEF] Vieques |
Vieques is an offshore municipality of Puerto Rico. Its population has been squeezed into less than one third of its original territory. The other two-thirds are employed by the Navy to stockpile weapons, including tactical nuclear warheads, and for target practice. The effect of the war exercises, many conducted with experimental weapons like reduced uranium ordnance, has been the high degree of contamination of soils and waters, with the concomitant surge in infant mortality, cancer deaths, and deaths in general, statistically all the highest by far in comparison with the rest of the population of Puerto Rico. Savage harm has been done on the environment, to the extent that Sen. Murkowsky (R-Alaska) has stated that "there's not enough money in the United States Treasury to pay for the cost of cleaning-up". Of course, Vieques and Roosevelt Roads (in mainland Puerto Rico, just offshore from Vieques) have been used extensively as a military platform for actions in the Caribbean (Haiti, Santo Domingo, Granada, etc.). Puerto Ricans in Vieques are presently locked in a literal life-and-death struggle with the Navy. Hundreds of Islanders presently occupy the poisoned lands the Navy uses for target practice in a successful campaign of civil disobedience. So far, battle-group Eisenhower (December 99), and battle-group Washington (February 00) have had to exercise elsewhere. A complex web of political and economic interests has been spun around this issue, with the puppet government of Puerto Rico and Clinton concocting a byzantine "deal" which allows the Navy to continue its bombing on a limited basis, subject to a bizarre referendum that is to take place, with a Congressional allocation of $90 million for the Navy to wage a publicity campaign to persuade the less than 4,000 Viequean voters to allow them to have unrestricted use of their land. The "deal" has been so repugnant to the general population of Puerto Rico that a council of churches recently called for its massive rejection. More than 150,000 people showed up (the pro-government police commissioner counted only 85,000, as he admitted being baffled by the size of the crowd. "The largest ever in Puerto Rico", he admitted.) Everything seems to be at a standstill, but federal moves seem to reenact the Waco episode (without the weapons, at least on the demonstrators' side, made up of fishermen, church leaders, students, and leaders of two of the three legal political parties). This is not at all a "national security" issue, as the Navy is trying to present. Vieques is just a convenient, distant place to test experimental weapons, and to dump tons of ordnance that keeps, Raytheon, Northrop, General Dynamics, Lockheed-Martin and other corporate warriors (where most Navy top brass retire to) happy and rich. Some of us involved in this struggle are trying to grab a handle on the legal environmental exposure of the Navy (all federal environmental laws apply in Puerto Rico). We would appreciate guidance along this path. You can find archived listserve messages on the CPEO website at http://www.cpeo.org/lists/index.html. If this email has been forwarded to you and you'd like to subscribe, please send a message to: cpeo-military-subscribe@igc.topica.com ________________________________________________________________________ Start an Email List For Free at Topica. http://www.topica.com/register | |
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