National Boricua Human Rights Network

The Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques (CRDV) called on the U.S. Navy not to hide the truth about its actions, its violations of laws and regulations, and its harm to the health of the people of Vieques by using the so-called “sovereign immunity” defense in the pending lawsuit by several thousand affected Viequenses against the Navy.

On May 4, 2000, exactly 9 years ago today, beginning around 5:30AM, federal authorities engaged in a massive display of force deploying over 300 agents to arrest over 200 people in Vieques. Those arrested were engaged in civil disobedience, in front of the entrance at Camp Garcia and in the bombing range in Vieques.

In light of the undisputed high rates of disease, the multitude of studies done by the University of Puerto Rico and other scientists finding elevated levels of heavy metals and other toxic chemicals in the soil, crabs, fish, goats, vegetation and hair studies of people themselves, I believe that the ATSDR’s credibility as a protector of human health has been seriously damaged.

David was not the first Viequense to die at the hands of the military; however, his death was the “drop that overflowed the cup” of more than sixty years of military occupation of three fourths of Vieques’ land…

El Gobierno federal abrió ayer la puerta a ordenar nuevos estudios sobre los efectos de la contaminación causada por las antiguas maniobras militares estadounidenses sobre los residentes de Vieques.

Viequenses reject statements by Puerto Rico’s new Resident Commissioner in Congress, Pedro Pierluisi, in favor of renewed military use of Vieques

Los altos mandos militares estadounidenses, azuzados por el senador republicano James Inhofe, han abierto la puerta a volver a asentarse en Vieques.

http://www.primerahora.com/diario/noticia/otras/noticias/alcaldesa_rechaza_regreso_de_la_marina_estadounidense_a_vieques/284572 [Note: The Mayor of Vieques, Evelyn Delerme, in reaction to Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi's comments to AP, categorically rejected any return of the military to Vieques, saying that Vieques' lands are for Viequenses and that she's "totally opposed to the use of our land for military practices and any intervention, of any nature, and [...]

Six years after protesters were able to get the U.S. Navy out of Vieques, military authorities are considering a return to the island municipality…

Vieques, military toxics and health were topics at congressional hearings today (Thursday) in Washington, DC, where the House Committee on Science and Technology, Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight looked into serious flaws in studies by the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).