A Chapter of USA Imperialism will End - The Navy will leave

[Borincano]

Tomorrow, May 1st 2003, iwill not only be May Day, but the day that the USA Navy will finally leave the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico, wher eit has practiced it's military operations for over 60 years. The Navy constantly called it the best military training facility in the world, but constant international and local pressure, civil disobedience and peaceful protestes, has led the USA Navy to move its operations some where else. Tomorrow the people of Vieques will celebrate, because now the source of the overwhelming poverty, cancer cases, and destruction of their natural resources will depart!

For more information, go to:

http://www.endi.com
El Nuevo Día newspaper

http://www.vocero.com
El Vocero newspaper

http://www.tutv.puertorico.pr
TúTV, PR public TV station.

http://www.redbetances.com
Left-wing PR website

There might be information in local USA newspapers, and there was when high profile USA citizens, such as Al Sharpton, and Edward Kennedy Jr...etc, protested and were arrested. However, attention is mostly focused on Iraq now...hey, did you hear, there was a massacre in Iraq against protestors?

[Urban Rubble]

Was this place also known as Bikini Island ? Because I heard of a Puerto Rican island where the U.S was testing bombs called Bikini Island.

[Borincano]

Urban Rubble,

LOL! Bikini island? No, I never heard of Vieques referred to as Bikini island, but it did have military practices on it by the USA Navy for 68 years.

[Borincano]

PR news in English: PuertoRicoWOW (http://www.puertoricowow.com/html/newsnew.asp)

[Dirty Commie]

The bikini atoll was in French Polynesia,the south pacific.

[jjack]

Congratulations, Borincano. It is certainly a good day!

[Borincano]

Thanks jjack! Happy May Day and long live Vieques' Freedom! Thousands celebrated in Vieques with music, dance and political speeches at the stroke of 12. No for the clean-up of the 68 year contamination and the development of our long neglected sister island! :)

[WhoWillFight]

What a day for Puerto Rico! Congrats!

[Sabocat]

Quote: from Urban Rubble on 6:31 am on May 1, 2003
Was this place also known as Bikini Island ? Because I heard of a Puerto Rican island where the U.S was testing bombs called Bikini Island.


Bikini Atoll was South Pacific site for the U$ hydrogen bomb testing. It remains radioactive and contaminated to this day.

[Wolfie]

so havent the US offered to clean up there own mess?

[Lefty]

A victory for all who participated in civil disobedience there. I remember reading a piece in National Geographic about how the testing was completely fucking up the island and the people that live on it.

[Borincano]

Wolfie,

The USA gov't says it will clean it up. However, on the other Puerto Rico-owned island that was tested on by the Navy for decades, Culebra, the same drive to shut the installations down as in Vieques took place, we succeeded, and the Navy made the same promise. Needless to say, it's still not cleaned up. However, the honorous leftist gov't of Venezuela has offered to help clean up, which I hope the PR gov't takes up. However, remember what happens everytime one nation allies themselves and/or takes up the help of "rogue nations" in the eyes of the USA gov't.

Lefty,

Yeah, the Navy illegally used plutonnium in their testing and things we don't even know about. The Vieques cancer rate is 27% higher there than in mainland PR. Poverty is also high, because the Navy restricted the fishing industry, one of the only means of income there. Also, they took parts of the best land to bomb or place all the debris, restricting a potencial tourist industry as well. They made it possible that the only way to live well is to work for them and they thought that when the Vieques voted for whether they should leave or stay, they would vote in their favor because of that. Nope, 68% voted them out! Now we're seeing one of the benefits of that.

Also, that National Geographic article, which I have, was very controversial in PR, because many say, and I agree, that it didn't really show real Puerto Rican culture. They also didn't have that great of pics, had a lot of out-dated or exagerrated information, didn't state extremely important moments in our history while stating other less important facts or one with a greater connection, and didn't give a connection of all the things they stated as to how it affects our status. It could've been better.

[Dirty Jersey]

i sent this info to my mother and she was very happy. she was born in puerto rico. she has instructed me to thank all of you for this info and the links.

[Borincano]

Quote: from Dirty Jersey on 4:13 pm on May 3, 2003
i sent this info to my mother and she was very happy. she was born in puerto rico. she has instructed me to thank all of you for this info and the links.

Which part of PR is your mother from? If she enjoyed these links, tell her to go to www.puertorico.com/forums it's a great site where Boricuas discuss politics and other PR issues. Tell her to e-mail me if she'd like,because I have tons of online links on PR.