A Journey To Vieques: An Island Besieged

For 60 years bombs have cascaded from war planes sending clouds of dust and smoke toward nearby gardens, playgrounds, homes, schools and stores on Vieques, a small island east of Puerto Rico. Classroom activity has often been interrupted when children, crouched under their desks in fear, hear the thunder of bombs exploding on the U.S. Navy's training ground just a few miles away.
The U.S. Navy has controlled more than 70 percent of Vieques since World War II. The U.S. government "expropriated" about 26,000 acres out of the total 33,000 and built military installations for bombing practice and storage of military explosives. The east coast of Vieques serves as a target range for combined air-ground-sea military exercises. The west coast houses an ammunition depot. The people of Vieques are confined to live on the middle portion of the 21 mile by four mile island.
"We want to live in peace. Fuera la Marina de Vieques (Navy leave Vieques)," said Myrta Sanes, a resident of Vieques.
Sanes' words echo the strong sentiments of more than 9,000 residents of Vieques -- U.S. citizens -- engaged in a struggle to defend their human rights, to regain control over their own economy and social growth, and to better their health, education and environment.
"We do not want one more bomb. Too many people here live with fear," Sanes told a delegation of church leaders and staff of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) from across the United States, and clergy and lay leaders of the ELCA Caribbean Synod, with offices in Dorado, Puerto Rico, on March 23. The delegation visited Vieques and Puerto Rico on March 22-24 to learn more about life there.
In April 1999, Sanes' brother, David Rodriquez Sanes, a Puerto Rican guard working for the U.S. Navy -- was killed in a bombing accident on Vieques. Since then the people of Vieques and Puerto Rico have called for the removal of the U.S. Navy on Vieques not only as a result of the accident but because of the damage caused to the environment. Many on the island believe uranium, lead, mercury and other contaminates released during the Navy's war exercises have poisoned their bodies.
The destruction of the land and human resources on Vieques is a violation of human rights, said the Rev. Marysol Diaz Feliciano, Iglesia Evangelica Luterana San Marcos, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, in an interview.
"This is about protecting the dignity and livelihood of the people on Vieques. It is not about politics; it is about peace and justice. It is also an issue of ethics and morality, health and peace of mind for people. The U.S. Navy must clean up the land and return it to the people of Vieques immediately," Diaz said.
"There is a large incidence of cancer among people on Vieques, as well as bronchial asthma among children and some unknown skin disorders among adults," said Dr. Rafael Rivera Castano, Vieques, a retired epistemologist and professor at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras. He said the population of Vieques has had a 27 percent higher incidence of cancer than the population of Puerto Rico.
Castano said scientific studies conducted on the east coast of Vieques have indicated the presence of lead, mercury, uranium and other toxins in the soil and sediment. These contaminants have spread for miles, he said.
"We can find no other source in the environment that would explain the presence of these contaminants and the cause of cancer and other illnesses among our people," Castano said.
Castano and Sanes met with the ELCA delegation March 23 at the Museum of Vieques' Art and History, Fort Count Mirasol, Vieques.
Surrounded by artwork depicting the history of Vieques, particularly the last six decades, Lutherans heard stories about life on the island told by a college student, a school teacher, representatives of the Vieques Women's Alliance and members of the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques.
Eva del Mar Emeric, a university student from Vieques, said the economic crisis and lack of job opportunities on the island keep her and other students from returning to the island after graduation.
"I live in a place where many around me have cancer, and I have a high probability of getting sick with it. I've been exposed to the same contaminants everyone else has been exposed to. I'm afraid to get tested for the level of uranium that may exist in my body. I'm afraid of what it may mean for my future," she said.
"When I was six years old my mother was diagnosed with cancer. Since then I have had to care for her, especially during her chemotherapy. She's lived some years in remission, but cancer has surfaced in another area of her body. Thanks to God, she lives. On the other hand, my grandfather was not as lucky. He died three months ago. He's just another victim of cancer. I have a 16-year- old male friend who has testicular cancer. So we must continue the struggle to free Vieques, so that future generations will have better prospects," Emeric said.
Carmen Valencia, a member of the Vieques Women's Alliance, said, "There are babies being born with cancer here, a problem people should care about. There are people who do not believe in the seriousness of the health crisis on Vieques, and we cannot understand why. We have 20- and 30-year-olds dying of cancer, as well."
"Instead of focusing on the lesson plan, I have had to spend time consoling children who were afraid of bombs exploding nearby," said a school teacher in Vieques. The children "couldn't distinguish between the sound of thunder in a rainstorm and bombs exploding. Many of them hid under their desks -- afraid of being bombed," she said.
"The air we breathe and the water we drink has been contaminated with heavy metals. These contaminants do not belong in our bodies, especially in the bodies of our children," said Mirna Pagan, an artist living on Vieques. "The residents of Vieques cannot continue to absorb these contaminants at the expense of the nation's security," the teacher said.
"Support from religious organizations has been fundamental and essential to the efforts of people in Vieques and Puerto Rico," said Ismael Guadalupe, Committee for the Rescue and Development for Vieques and "veteran leader" of the Vieques struggle. Guadalupe served six months in federal prison in Pennsylvania for his participation in civil disobedience related to Vieques in 1979.
"What we want is the Navy to leave and give us back our land," Guadalupe said.
"Physically, there is enormous pressure for people living on this island. We are sandwiched between two coasts occupied by the Navy; that is an imposition. People are imprisoned on their own land, and that is a violation of human rights," he said.
"Our effort has taken on momentum and has been able to penetrate the mainstream -- more and more people are becoming aware of consequences related to the U.S. Navy's [military activities]," Guadalupe told the Lutherans.
"Vieques, despite the Navy's presence, is a very special place," said Robert Rabin, Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques. "It is a small, family-like community where people share their happy and sad times together. Since the death of David Sanes, people here collectively engage in social and psychological therapy, and they deal seriously with the unemployment and health crisis," he said.
Rabin said the unemployment rate on Vieques is about 50 percent, and residents cannot afford to purchase household appliances. He added that fishermen for decades struggled to get the Navy to stop bombing the land and sea. Military ships destroy fish traps, and bombing imposes "severe restrictions on [a fisherman's] entry into some of the best fishing areas around the island," he said
"Since the Navy controls the closest connecting point between Puerto Rico and Vieques, the peop