FW: Even Without Navy, Struggle in Vieques Continues

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From: <GUILLO@aol.com>


Even Without Navy, Struggle in Vieques Continues
15:08 H <http://vivirlatino.com/2006/11/01/even-without-navy-struggle-in-vieques-continues.php>  | Topics: Activism  <http://vivirlatino.com/topics/politics/activism/> - Environment  <http://vivirlatino.com/topics/politics/environment/> - New York City  <http://vivirlatino.com/topics/cities/new-york-city/> - Puerto Rico  <http://vivirlatino.com/topics/latin-america/puerto-rico/>

While many Latino eyes in NYC will be focused on the Latin Grammy Awards this Thursday, Puerto Rican activists will be gathering in el Barrio to discuss the ongoing struggle in Vieques. While the U.S. armed forces have ended their use of the small Puerto Rican island as a bombing range, issues such as environmental clean-up and development remain. Half a century of bombing and the enormous accumulation of military toxins on the former US Navy bombing range have created health problems for residents and there is a sense by many activist from Vieques that they have been abandoned by the Puerto Rican government, in particular, and by agencies responsible for environmental protection and health that have perpetuated the ongoing ecological disaster and the critical health hazards.

Currently the U.S. Navy is proposing the detonation of tons of explosives in the former practice area. Additionally there is a struggle to regain control of lands that the Navy utilized­ over 15,000 acres, now controlled by the Federal Fish and Wildlife Service. Some feel the transfer of jurisdiction over those lands to thisfederal agency is part of the strategy to avoid a complete cleanup, due to the strong restrictions on land use in Fish and Wildlife refuges. Another problem is development and the control exerted by powerful economic and political interests. Local activists are pushing for community-based and controlled, democratic development, in the interests of the current Vieques population and future generations.