Beyond_Sun_And_Sand__Caribbean

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the Deepening of Democracy in Puerto Rico
The end of the Cold War opened a political space in which Vieques s long-
simmering grievances against the Navy could be expressed. For decades, oppo-
sition to the military in Puerto Rico was perceived as anti-colonial and
anti-American. Legitimate grievances about Vieques stifled economy and en-
vironmental damage from bombing became mired in cold war politics. The col-
lapse of the Soviet Union created a new context.
A focus on health, environmental protection, and human rights are key
elements of the revitalized movement s efforts to expand and reach new constitu-
encies. The Vieques struggle fits nicely into the environmental justice framework
126 Katherine T. McCaffrey and Sherrie L. Baver
that gained a degree of national legitimation and institutionalization in the
1990s.18 The basic theme of the environmental justice movement is that the poor
and ethnic minorities suffer disproportionately the burden of environmental risks
taken by industrial society. Environmental concerns thus expand beyond tech-
nical discussions to become issues of civil and human rights.
After the events of September 11, 2001, Vieques activists observed a mora-
torium on anti-Navy protests for a brief period given the nation s sense of mourn-
ing and the move to a war footing. Within a month, however, activists resumed
their struggle, and by August 2002 major politicians were again able to embrace
the issue.19
That the military exit became inevitable despite the U.S. war footing is
testimony to the resilience of the Vieques movement. Now that the grassroots
organization is in place and the struggle has been framed in terms of human rights
and environmental justice, the health and environmental concerns that surfaced in
the late 1990s will continue as issues even with the Navy s departure. The Vieques
struggle has contributed to a deepening of democracy in Puerto Rico. We hope
it will serve as a model for other grassroots environmental justice struggles in
Puerto Rico, and will thus allow citizens to move beyond the paralyzing divi-
siveness of traditional party politics to participate on issues of significance in
their daily lives. Such grassroots groups have strengthened civil society, a key
to a smoothly functioning democracy. The Vieques struggle represents a quest
to end a legitimate grievance without having to choose a status option; the large
majority of Puerto Ricans clearly rejected what analyst Juan Manuel Garc�a
Passalacqua called cupones por megatones, or the federal government s policy
of providing welfare benefits in exchange for holding naval maneuvers.20
The environmental struggle in Vieques may also have contributed to inci-
sive questions about the quality of democracy in the United States. Indeed, the
issue of military responsibility for environmental contamination increasingly cuts
to the question of civilian control over the military, a basic tenet of a demo-
cratic society. After decades of secrecy surrounding its activities, the military is
emerging as the single largest polluter in the United States, having produced
27,000 toxic waste sites in this country (Environmental News Service 2001;
Sorenson 1998, 78). The military, protected by the rhetoric of national security,
has not been held fully accountable for its toxic legacy. Therefore, while an end
of bombing on Vieques represents a clear victory for Viequenses, activists will
need organizational skill and perseverance to continue the struggle to clear the
Navy s legacy of contamination.21 The next stage of the struggle for decontami-
nation and development will not be brief, but it will enhance the quality of life
and democracy in Vieques and Puerto Rico.
Notes
1. According to Carmen Ort�z Roque of the Puerto Rico Surgeons and Doctors Asso-
ciation, the infant mortality rate in Vieques has climbed in the past twenty years while
Reframing the Vieques Struggle 127
decreasing in Puerto Rico as a whole. Between 1990 and 1995 infant mortality rates
were 50 percent higher in Vieques than in Puerto Rico as a whole (El Nuevo D�a, 23
February 2000). Puerto Rican Governor Sila Calderón publicized a study that sug-
gested that residents suffer from vibroacoustic disease, an unusual heart disorder as-
sociated with exposure to loud noises like jet engines or deep explosions (New York
Times, 14 January 2001). The study was later challenged by Johns Hopkins research-
ers (New York Times, 15 July 2001).
2. See for example National Catholic Reporter, 21 March 2000.
3. The framing notion comes from Goffman 1986.
4. Keck s focused analysis on Acre is found in Keck 1995. A more general discussion
of this work is in Keck and Sikkink 1998.
5. Only two other Puerto Rican municipalities San Isabel, dominated by the Aguirre
Sugar Company, and Guanica, dominated by the South Porto Rico Sugar Company
had sharper inequalities of land ownership (Ayala 2001).
6. For further discussion of the effect of the military expropriation of land on Vieques
residents see McCaffrey 2002, chaps. 1 and 2; and Ayala 2001.
7. For further discussion on the plight of the Bikini islanders see Delgado 1996; Dibblin
1988; Kiste 1974; Weisgall 1994.
8. For further discussion of the Culebra movement see Delgado Cintrón 1989 and
McCaffrey 2002, chap. 3. For discussion of the growing militancy of the Puerto Rican
independence movement and the struggle against the draft see Nieves Falcon, Garc�a
Rodr�guez, and Ojeda Reyes 1971.
9. Angel Rodr�guez Cristóbal was found dead in his prison cell on November 11, 1979,
two months into a six-month term. Prison officials declared the death a suicide, but
an independent autopsy performed by the family concluded that he was beaten to
death. Photos of the cadaver showed that the face was heavily bruised, inconsistent
with a finding of suicide by strangulation.
10. See McCaffrey 2002, chap. 6.
11. The ability of environmental issues to rally Puerto Ricans regardless of partisan ties
is documented in Baver 1993. Also, sociologist Myra Mu�oz, for example, has ex-
amined at least one hundred struggles since the 1970s in which Puerto Ricans have
crossed party lines and banded together on issues. See Mu�oz 2001.
12. The large presence of women is common in environmental justice struggles in the
United States. On this point see Harvey 1999, l53 85.
13. Solution on Vieques Takes a Step Forward, New York Times, 29 February 2000.
14. See Navy Bombing is Betrayal, Puerto Rican Governor Says, New York Times, 29
April 2001; the Navy s position is found in Jack Spencer, The Importance of Vieques
for Military Readiness, The Heritage Foundation Backgrounder, Washington, D.C.
No. 1411, February 16, 2001.
15. Sorenson (1998, 82 n. 168) notes that most of the 50,000 acres of the most contami- [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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