NCACS -- News: Member Resolution on Vieques.

NCACS Member Resolution on the US Navy use of Vieques

The Membership of the National Coalition of Alternative Community Schools, meeting at its annual meeting in April, 2001, passed the following resolution on the US Navy's ongoing occupation of the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico:

WHEREAS, for more than 50 years the United Sates Navy has occupied two-thirds of the land base of the island of Vieques, which is part of the Puerto Rican nation; and

WHEREAS, this occupation has displaced the original population of Vieques for the purpose of turning a sustainable community into a bombing range for U.S combat maneuvers and military practice against the wishes of the majority of Puerto Ricans; and

WHEREAS, this occupation has brought to the island the destruction of the natural environment, irradiated waste, experimental gases, uranium, napalm and other deliberate pollution, the elimination of the coastal reefs, the ruin of the fishing industry, massive increases in cancer, brain damage, birth defects, trauma, and the loss of human life; and

WHEREAS, repeated efforts to address these concerns with the colonial government have met with intransigence, punitive arrests, harassment and reprisals, culminating in the forcible removal from the island of Puerto Rican congresspeople, elected officials, church and community leaders, and hundreds of supporters; and

WHEREAS, the NCACS is committed to local community and participant control, sustainable and clean ecology, reverence for life, and peoples' self-determination in the face of racism and colonialism;

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED, that the NCACS supports the immediate evacuation of the U.S. Navy and the fair and full restoration of the island of Vieques to the Puerto Rican people; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we ask for unconditional U.S. support in the decontamination of the island, and the rebuilding of the native ecology and human community infrastructures; and

BE IT ALSO RESOLVED that the NCACS commits to the use of our national newsletter, events and venues to inform and encourage action on this resolution wherever possible; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the membership in attendance on this day, April 27, 2001, will endeavor to send messages directly to the president regarding our stand, in whichever way and form best suits our learning communities.

Submitted by Jesse Mumm,

Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos Puerto Rican High School

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Vieques and the Navy

From EPICA/NECCA materials provided by Marvin Garcia, Puerto Rican Cultural Center of Chicago

Puerto Rico is a United States territorial possession, controlled by the U.S. Congress. Puerto Ricans are subject to federal laws and regulations. Their representation in the Congress is a non-voting Resident Commissioner. They elect a local governor and a bicameral assembly.

Vieques is a small island six miles off the eastern coast of Puerto Rico.

During World War II, the U.S. Navy acquired 26,000 of Vieques 33,000 acres of land. Large naval bases were established on the west and east coasts of the island, with the inhabitants moved to a strip of land in the center.

When the Navy came, 10,000 people lived in Vieques -- by 1960, 7,000 remained. Most moved to Puerto Rico's main island and other islands in the area. Today, the population is about 9,000.

Many landowners agreed to sell to the Navy, but many tenant farmers and sharecroppers were forcibly removed from their homes following the sales.

Construction jobs dried up after the bases were completed. Most fishing areas around Vieques are restricted, making it hard for the residents to make a living.

Vieques is a part of the U.S. Navy's Atlantic Fleet Weapons Range. The island is regularly the staging area for exercises that include combat training, artillery firing, and target practice for large bombs.

Organized resistance to the Navy's presence on Vieques began in 1978. Just before a joint naval exercise of several western nations, forty small fishing boats sailed into the warships' path. Since then, a squatter's movement occupied areas in the naval bases. Last autumn, the U.S. Navy forcibly removed all protesters from its territory on Vieques.