Socialist Action /October 2001
U.S. War Drive in Vieques
By DAVID BERNT
In its preparation for war, the U.S. Navy has begun exercises at its
bombing range on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques. The people of Vieques
have been protesting the use of the island as a bombing range, exposing
its people to severe health risks. The Navy uses the range to practice war
games with the use of live bombs, including napalm.
The Navy has refused to leave and clean up the range, despite a recent
two-thirds vote of the island's people in a non-binding referendum demanding
that the Navy do just that. According to Maricelis Rivera Santos, editor
of the magazine El Vocero, battle groups of the aircraft carrier U.S.S.
John F. Kennedy have already been sighted near Vieques. The Navy has notified
island fishermen they will be bombing every day in the upcoming weeks.
Activists are planning protests to continue demanding the Navy vacate
the island. The people of Vieques will no doubt be among the victims of
any U.S. military retaliations, providing yet another reason for workers
in the United States and elsewhere to oppose Washington's drive toward war.
Socialist Action /October 2001 |