MIM Notes 211                   June 1, 2000

Amerikans seize Puerto Rican island of Vieques -- again 

Hundreds of federal agents in riot gear arrested over 200 
protesters on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques last May 4. The 
agents were backed up by three navy warship and 1,000 marines.(1) 
The protesters had camped on a u.$. Navy bombing ground for over a 
year, ever since the Navy killed a civilian security guard during 
a bombing exercises. The u.$. Navy seized over 72% of Vieques in 
1941 and has used it ever since as a military training ground. 
Live-ammunition exercises have devastated the environment and 
economy of the island.(2) Military exercises could begin again as 
early as the end of May, according to Navy officials.(3) The 
protesters did not resist arrests, and, according to many 
bourgeois reports, the armed agents used restraint. "They are 
trying to be extremely kind and generous and courteous," said u.$. 
representative Luis Gutierrez (IL), who joined the protest just 
before the arrests, "I think they understand they are wrong 
because they have lost any moral authority to use force against 
these people."(1) While the bloody legacy of the u.$. military 
around the world gives us no hope that the imperialists will turn 
from their evil ways simply because of so-called moral pressure, 
there is a kernel of truth in Gutierrez's statement. Hundreds of 
massive rallies and other actions against the Navy occupation of 
Vieques had solidified Puerto Rican and international public 
opinion behind the protesters. Violent arrests would have provoked 
a huge outcry and radicalized many of the more moderate supporters 
of the protesters. The u.$. military did not stay its hand of its 
own accord, rather the activism of the masses forced the Amerikans 
to tread carefully. The toady governor of Puerto Rico, Pedro 
Rosello, said of the raid: "I believe this is a very positive day 
for Puerto Rico."(1) Rosello feigned opposition to the Navy 
bombings, but ultimately agreed to allow u.$. military activities 
on Vieques to continue. Rosello supported the arrests, and said he 
was "prepared... to establish law and order" following the 
raid.(4) In plain proletarian language: He was prepared to squash 
the Puerto Rican people's outrage at another Amerikan invasion of 
their homeland. But the arrests have not dampened the fervor or 
commitment of the opposition to the Navy's occupation. Protests 
against the May 4 raid and the Navy occupation were held on 
Vieques itself, in San Juan, across Amerika, from New York to Los 
Angeles to Honolulu, and even in Seoul, Korea.(5) Many involved in 
the fight explicitly link it to the anti-colonial struggle. 
Vieques is a microcosm of the problems caused by u.$. imperialism 
in Puerto Rico. After the Navy took over much of the island, it 
set the prices for the land and forced the people to the island's 
center. Close to three-quarters of the residents of Vieques live 
below the poverty line. Because of the toxins released into the 
air by Navy bombing, the incidence in Vieques is 27% higher than 
in the rest of Puerto Rico.(2) 

True self-determination can unleash the power of the masses 

Several weeks before the arrests, Puerto Rican independence 
activists gave a presentation on the history and current status of 
the struggle around Vieques at the Communities Confronting 
Capitalist Globalization conference in Santa Barbara, CA (see MIM 
Notes 210). During a discussion of whether the united $tates 
should or would pay for cleanup of Vieques, one of the presenters 
said, "I don't really care, as long as we get Vieques back. If we 
have Vieques, then we can put the youth -- many of whom are 
unemployed -- to work cleaning up the island." MIM wholeheartedly 
agrees that the principal contradiction is imperialism. Here 
specifically, it is the Amerikan domination of Puerto Rico, as 
manifested in the occupation of Vieques. With true self-
determination, the Puerto Rican people themselves could solve 
their own problems -- most of them legacies of Amerikan 
imperialism. Furthermore, a ITAL socialist END independent Puerto 
Rico could put the resources into cleaning up Vieques (e.g. 
mobilizing the youth), unhampered by any bourgeois concerns of 
profitability. But if the united $tates retains control of Vieques 
and of Puerto Rico, there is no guarantee that Vieques will ever 
get cleaned up -- or even that the bombing will stop. The Navy has 
repeatedly promised to honor a Puerto-Rico-wide referendum on 
whether it should use live ammunition. No date has been set for 
this referendum; the Navy says it might happen in August. But 
regardless, the Navy has reserved the right to continue bombing 
with so-called dead ammunition (which still can kill people and 
destroy the environment). And the Amerikan government has withheld 
$50 million in economic aid to Vieques, contingent upon referendum 
approval of the Navy's continued use of live ammunition.(2) That's 
the kind of self-determination the united $tates offers its 
colonies: Sham self-determination, coerced with guns and bribes. 
The united $tates track record for cleaning up former military 
bases is awful. The former u.$. military bases in the Philippines 
are just one example of this. Almost ten years after the bases 
closed, the Amerikan government still has not made serious moves 
to clean up the destruction around Subic Bay and Clark Air Force 
Base.(6) 

Notes: 1. Los Angeles Times, 5 March 2000. 2. MIM Notes 205, 3 
March 2000. 3. Associated Press, 5 May 2000. 4. Associated Press, 
4 May 2000. 5. www.viequeslibre.com 6. MIM Notes 95, December 
1994.