Vieques, Puerto Rico
Vieques is an
island-
municipality of
Puerto Rico. It is located to the east of the Puerto Rican mainland.
Studies show that Vieques was first inhabited by
Native Americans who came from
South America about 1500 years before
Christopher Columbus set foot in Puerto Rico in 1493.
After a brief battle between local Indians and
Spaniards, the Spaniards took control of the island, turning the locals into their
slaves.
In 1811, Don
Salvador Meléndez, then governor of Puerto Rico, sent military commander
Juan Rosselló to begin what later became the take-over of Vieques by the people of Puerto Rico.
In 1816, Vieques was visited by
Simón Bolívar.
Teófilo José Jaime María Le Guillou, who is recognized as the founder of Vieques as a town, arrived in 1823, marking a period of economic and social change for the island of Vieques.
By the second part of the 19th century, Vieques received thousands of Black immigrants who came to help with the
sugar cane plantations. Some of them came as slaves, and some came on their own to earn extra money. Most of them came from the nearby islands of
St. Thomas,
Nevis,
St. Kitts,
St. Croix and many other
Caribbean nations. Ever since, black people have formed an important and essential part of Vieques' society. Many Viequense do not consider themselves Puerto Rican, but a separate people.
During the 1940s the
United States military purchased 60% of the land area of Vieques including farms and sugar plantations from locals, who in turn were left with no employment options and many were forced to emigrate to mainland Puerto Rico and to
St. Croix to look for homes and jobs. After that, the United States military used Vieques as testing grounds for
bombs,
missiles, and other weapons.
There have been claims linking Vieques' high
cancer rate to these tests; especially after the US Navy admitted to use of depleted uranium at least on one occasion in 1999. Dr. Nayda Figueroa, an epidemiologist for Puerto Rico's Cancer Registry, claimed that research showed Vieques' cancer rate (latest available is for 1995 to 1999) was 31 percent higher than for the main island. Dr. Michael Thun, head of epidemiological research at the American Cancer Society, cautioned that the variations in the rates could be due to chance, and reflect the small population on Vieques. [
1]
In March, 1999, Vieques native
David Sanes was killed by a bomb dropped by a military jet during bombing exercises. A civilian employee of the Navy, Sanes was on duty at a military Observation Point when two bombs fell 1½ miles (2½ kilometres) away from their designated target; one of them fell 30 feet (10 metres) away from Sanes and exploded, killing him instantly. [
2] Native Viequense and non-native pacifists seized upon this event as the flashpoint for ending military exercises there. Young
Milivi Adams, a Vieques native who was a cancer patient, became the protester's symbol child in their quest to liberate the island of the bombings (On the morning of
November 17,
2002, she died). Soon after,
Puerto Ricans from all over mainland Puerto Rico as well as from the
United States travelled to Vieques to protest the bombings and testings, by illegally introducing themselves on the bombing grounds and camping there. People from all over
Latin America joined the struggle, which became known as the
Navy-Vieques protests. Many Latino celebrities, including the Independentista leader
Rubén Berríos, singers
Danny Rivera and
Ricky Martin, boxer
Félix Trinidad,
Mexican actor Edward James Olmos and
Guatemala's
Nobel Prize winner
Rigoberta Menchú have protested, as did
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.,
Al Sharpton, and the
Rev. Jesse Jackson. A number of Puerto Ricans served time in jail for illegally entering the bombing ranges. Sharpton and Kennedy also served jail time; while serving his prison term in Puerto Rico, Kennedy's wife Mary gave birth to the couple's sixth child, a son they named Aidan Caohman Vieques Kennedy. The
Movimiento Socialista de Trabajadores (MST) held a series of incursions into the bombing ranges to halt the bombing without being arrested, and a few of them were successful in that second objective.
In 1999, then-Governor
Pedro Rosselló began talks with the U.S. government to try to look for a solution to the problem, and in 2001, Governor
Sila María Calderón signed an agreenment with President
George W. Bush that guaranteed the military's vacating of the island in May of 2003.
On
May 1,
2003, the military began to vacate Vieques, an event that was covered by the international media. Exuberant celebrants destroyed US$750,000 of facilities and equipment that was turned over to the island's government by the U.S. Navy.
Since that time, tensions on the island have been low; tourism is increasing and Vieques is rapidly becoming a popular destination. The lands previously owned by the Navy have been turned over to the U.S. National Fish & Wildlife Service and the governments of Puerto Rico and Vieques for management. The immediate bombing range area on the eastern tip of the island suffers from severe contamination, but the remaining areas are mostly open to the public, including many beautiful beaches that were inaccessible to civilians when the military bases were open. Clean-up efforts of the contaminated areas have commenced.
Aside from archeological sites, such as La Hueca, and deserted beaches, a unique feature of Vieques is the presence of two pristine
bioluminescent bays.
Vieques runs 21 miles east-west. It is three miles wide, giving it a land area of 52 square miles. It is located 10 miles east offshore of Puerto Rico. [
3]
The island houses only two towns: Isabel Segunda on the Atlantic side of the island, and Esperanza on the Caribbean.
The highest point on the island is Monte Pirata, 936 feet, and the lowest point is the Carribbean. [
4]
Image:Vieques_SunBayBeach.jpg|Sun BayImage:Vieques_jaskyna_na_PlayaNavio.jpg|A view to Navio Beach from a nearby sea caveImage:Vieques_Tomáš_v_Esperanze.jpg|A view from the malecón in Esperanza towards Cayo FueraImage:Vieques beach.jpg|Playa del Corcho (Corcho Beach)*
Cause of Vieques*
List of Vieques birds*
Vieques, Puerto Rico: ATSDR Documents Dealing with the Isla de Vieques Bombing Range*
Pictures from the island
