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opinion
The Navy should
leave Vieques alone
The U.S. Navy has been disrupting the lives of the 9,000 residents
on the island of Vieques for 60 years.
The island off
of Puerto Rico has become a target range for bombing and shelling
combat maneuvers that occur throughout the day and at night.
This beautiful
island that was once a major producer of sugar now has a completely
destroyed economy. Few jobs are left for the residents and
no further development may take place as long as the Navy
has control of two-thirds of the island.
The Navy claims
to have no other suitable place to conduct this combat training.
That is absurd. There has to be someplace else in this world
-- an isolated place -- in which they can relocate. Vieques
is the only inhabited island that the U.S. is using as a bombing
site.
It is no coincidence
that more than half of the residents of Vieques are living
in poverty and have no voice. The Navy bombings would never
be allowed on an island full of high-class, educated Americans.
The residents of
Vieques are people that the Navy can easily take advantage
of and get away with it. After all Puerto Ricans are nothing
more than second-class citizens, right? Wrong.
The residents of
Vieques are U.S. citizens that are merely struggling for the
basic civil rights that they deserve. School is being cancelled
due to the low-flying planes and the dangerous bombings. Not
to mention the deafening sounds keeping Vieques residents
awake at night.
People have been
killed and injured over the years and protestors say that
the six decades of bombing and shelling have taken their toll
on the environment and the health of its residents, an accusation
that the Navy denies.
Yet, it just so
happens that the people of Vieques have a 27 percent higher
cancer rate than the people on the mainland. Puerto Ricans
also have a higher infant mortality rate and a higher overall
mortality rate.
The bombing has
contaminated the air, soil and water with toxic chemicals.
Toxics have been found in several fish that have been a source
of food for local residents.
President George
W. Bush has recently announced that the Navy will leave Vieques
in May 2003. It may be great that he is acknowledging this
issue, but hasn't the 60 years of injustice been long enough?
Why should they have to suffer two more years? The Navy
needs to leave now and give the residents the peace and dignity
that they have so long deserved.
Puerto Ricans are
not against the United States. They are merely struggling
for their human rights and ability to live a decent life without
planes flying overhead dropping bombs and scaring their children.
It is not too much to ask.
Priscilla Gutierrez
is a print journalism major at Cal State Long Beach.
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