John Zarrella: Vieques Island protests symbolic of great frustration

John Zarella

Q: What are the actions the protestors they have taken out?

ZARRELLA: The level of civil disobedience has ratcheted up considerably. Throughout the course of the day a group of about eight protestors managed to make their way onto a small island just off the coast here. Because they were on that island, the navy had to stop its practice until the protesters could be detained by security forces.

ALSO U.S. military detains protesters at Vieques     MESSAGE BOARD Vieques protests

More recently and ongoing now, many groups of protestors have tried to break through, and in some cases have been successful in breaking through the fence line that surrounds Camp Garcia. Military police in riot gear are out in force. They have made numerous arrests; it is difficult to say now how many.

But these acts of civil disobedience are continuing. From my vantage point, I can see the military police lined up along the fence line. Now, the fence line is many miles long. So, it is impossible for them to patrol the entire fence line. And people are apparently still continuing to sneak in and make their way onto Camp Garcia, and we have seen several who are on the ground inside the base who are being detained, are handcuffed, and will probably be taken away very shortly.

Q: Who are the protestors? Are there several groups involved?

ZARRELLA: It is difficult to say. Anti-American sentiment is fairly high in Puerto Rico. There is an independence party that has some protestors that they have admitted are trying to make their way in or have made their way in. The independence party, of course, is made up of people who want independence for Puerto Rico. We have seen a lot of young people with towels wrapped around their faces or putting hoods over their heads disguising their faces. These are teenagers that are apparently among the ones trying to break in. Whether they have any affiliations to the political parties is hard to say. But, clearly, there are many people -- people who live on the island and people who are people who are from Puerto Rico itself – who are over here involved in the protest today.

Q: What are the main complaints of the protestors? How close is bombing to where civilians live?

ZARRELLA: Well the bombing is a considerable distance away; at least today it is. Because they were inert bombs -- bombs that are dummy bombs -- you could not hear or really see the bombing from where we were. All you could see in the distance were two war ships on the horizon.

But, the contention has been here for a very long time that it is a health risk and that there is an increased level of cancer on the island. In fact, there are ongoing studies about that issue. Protestors also complain that the noise from the bombs when the military is using live ammunition is also a noise pollution and health issue to the people here.

But, what really ratcheted all of this up was two years ago when a civilian security guard was killed by an errant bomb dropped from an airplane. So, clearly, there is the potential for an accident to happen here because just on the other side of the Camp Garcia fence line is where the 9,000 people of Vieques Island live.

Q: Why does the military say that the exercises are important? Why did they choose this location?

ZARRELLA: Vieques Island for many years has been a military training ground, at least for the last six decades. And it is deep water, it has sandy beaches, it has hills, and it has the type of topography that the military says is essential to train troops. In fact, over the years, there has been training of marine amphibious landings on the island, as well as bombardment of the island from ships, planes making aerial strikes and marine landing of helicopters.

So in all phases of what would be an invasion, the U.S. military has, over the decades, used this particular island as a training ground for those types of exercises. They believe that it is the perfect location for these types of exercises. Any time a battle group heads off from port and goes into the Mediterranean or into the Persian Gulf, on many occasions they stop here first to hone their skills and to train in case they should be called into action. So, that is why the U.S. military insists on the vital nature of this base and this facility.

Q: Any final thoughts?

ZARRELLA: I think it is very important to note that what Vieques island has become is really a rallying point. It has really become symbolic of a frustration -- at least, that is what a lot of people here are telling us, particularly from the independence party – that the Puerto Rican people are not masters of their own destiny. That because they are a commonwealth and the Navy here runs the island, pretty much, that the Navy and the U.S. Government can pretty much do what they want. This is symbolic of the overall frustration of many Puerto Rican people at the fact that they have not been able to win their independence.

Now, it should be noted that there have been numerous referendums on the issue of independence of Puerto Rico and during those referendums, the issues of statehood and independence or remaining a common wealth have been addressed and in those referendums, commonwealth status has consistently won out. But, there is definitely a growing sentiment in Puerto Rico, at least from what we are seeing, that many more people are beginning to feel as if they would like a little bit more control of their own destiny.

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Vieques Island, Puerto Rico
Government of Puerto Rico - Office of the Governor
U.S. Navy
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
  • Judge Gladys Kessler
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
U.S. Department of Justice

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