Dateline: 05/01/00
After raiding the home of Cuban-American citizens to transfer the custody of a child, it seems the government is ready to take on Puerto Rico, the oldest New World colony. With the emotional backlash against the Cuban-American population in full force, it seems the government may be ready to use their momentum to teach Puerto Ricans the "rule of law". Several sources have revealed that the Justice Department is planning a raid to clear away the protestors in Vieques. The raid is said to consist of U.S. Marshals, FBI, and the U.S. Navy escort. These three forces will unite to bring the island of Vieques into compliance with the will of the military and Justice Department.
The Navy proudly maintains that they paid $1.5 million for the land since 1941. They fail to mention that it was "purchased" under the same law that allows the government to take land from U.S. citizens in exchange for "fair market value". The government paid $20 to $30 for the homes and land of eight hundred citizens who did not have the titles to the land their families farmed for centuries. The Viequenses were sometime given 24 hours notice being their eviction. The land expropriation took place before Puerto Rico was permitted its status as Commonwealth and was applied to a people with no voting representation in the federal government. The Navy will also assume responsibility for their land being the "best". This is typical of Manifest Destiny adherents who claim they saved the land from the natives. The original complaint, however, is that they have the most fertile land. The Spanish, French, and Dutch fought for decades over this same land for the location and the fertility. Vieques was an agrarian and fishing society with many struggling sugar mills before the U.S. Navy expropriated the land of families who had farmed the land for centuries.
To hear the Navy tell the story, they have done nothing wrong in the past 60 years. They make note of the responsibility of Vieques, as U.S. citizens, to assist in our national security. However, the United Nations, human rights organizations, and a battered Vieques tell a different story. The U.S. Congress joined the choir and in 1980 recommended that the Navy leave. Congress has apparently abandoned this stance for two decades. These international organizations also remind us that these protests did not start in the past two years. They tell of how the U.S. Navy is in violation of the following:
The last Native Taíno revolt against the Spanish crown took place in Vieques. The cacique brothers, Cacimar and Yaurèibo, fought to the death on this island. They died to fight foreign invasion and protect their sovereignty and dignity in 1514. In 1941, the Navy expropriated two-thirds of the land from farmers and the protests started immediately. The civilians live in the center of Marine and Navy owned bases. In 1947, the US Interior Department tried to force the population of Vieques to Saint Croix. The government tried to expropriate additional land in 1964 and 1989. The effort to move the people off the island to finish the expropriation of land and abolish the Vieques society has been consistent. While the U.S. Navy can claim they also use the mainland for target practice, they cannot cite a precedence where they attemped to abolish and entire society for that purpose.
In all of this time, the farmers and fisherman battle the U.S. Government with what little resources they have. In the past, they were met with violence and retribution. On 4 April, 1953, two septuagenarians were beaten by U.S. Marines for failing to sell them more rum. A military court acquitted the Marines. In 1959, the military invaded a private party and injured nineteen people. In 1979, many served sentences for trespassing on government property. One of them, Angel Rodríguez Cristóbal, was arrested for the second time and later found hung in his jail cell with a gash on his forehead. It was determined that this high spirited and motivated activist committed suicide. His lawyer, who met with him only hours before, described Angel to be upbeat.
Depleted uranium and napalm have been used on the island, and the Navy has historically denied its violations before it is forced to confess. Some estimate that the U.S. receives about $80 million each year for renting Vieques to foreign entities. They haven't said whether they rent mainland artillery ranges to foreign entities as well. Ads in military publications called it a "One Stop Shopping" destination. The description included, "Live-fire capability for most non-conventional weapons inventory". NATO used Vieques to prepare for the campaign against Yugoslavia. The Republican Party does not want to fall under the command of NATO, but they are willing to expose Vieques to their artillery. The Navy says this is the only appropriate land for their needs. I believe this is the only land they are willing to expropriate the entire society and use it for domestic and foreign military maneuvers. This is the island of the last indigenous battle of the first indigenous to fall completely to the fist of Spain. How appropriate is it that the U.S. wants it to be an entire island dedicated to artillery and weapons testing? After the U.S. began decreasing its presence in Panama, the U.S. Army announced plans to move their position to Puerto Rico. The United States is apparently very comfortable maintaining a large strategic military presence in a Commonwealth that someday may be independant.
With the concentration on health and economy, I wonder why nobody has mentioned the archeological treasures that might lay beneath the Navy installations. This was one of the last Taíno strongholds, and should yield an archeological treasure of Pre-Columbian culture. The current arguments against the Navy include an escalated cancer rate for the Viequenses, a stagnant economy, and the destruction of their environment. When Reno marches up to the microphone in the next two weeks to talk about the "rule of law", ask yourself if she is talking about Spanish laws of subjugation, U.S. colonial law, or the international laws the U.S. is accused of violating. The Taíno population is depleted, but the treatment of the modern Vieques native is the same as their Taíno ancestors. As it was said five-hundred years ago about those who reject the will of colonial powers, "For these, force and punishment are necessary". Not much has changed.
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