Church activists celebrate Vieques victory, worry about future By Paul Jeffrey Tegucigalpa (ENI) - The bombs are gone and the tourists are coming to the Caribbean island of Vieques. After using the eastern one-third of the Puerto Rican island as a bombing target since 1941, the U.S. Navy conducted its last military exercises on Vieques at the beginning of February, and promises to be gone by May 1. As a sign of things to come, a 156-room luxury resort, the largest on the island, is scheduled to open February 24. Its owners had delayed the resort’s inauguration several times, waiting for the Navy to leave. The departure of the Navy, first announced last June by President George W. Bush, is seen as a victory for the widespread coalition of Puerto Ricans from all walks of life who joined in years of protests, often occupying the bombing range until U.S. marshals and troops drug them off. Some 1,500 protestors have been arrested in the last four years. The protestors have included ministers, nuns, bishops, and the head of the Puerto Rican Bible Society. An ecumenical chapel was built on the bombing range during one protest, only to be torn down when military forces retook the area. “Thanks to the religious leaders who knew how to be authentic pastors walking with their people and defending their people, David has once again overcome Goliath,” said the Rev. German Acevedo-Delgado, a United Methodist activist. The Navy, which is moving its war games to Florida and other areas on the U.S. mainland, has said it will turn over the portion of the island it has used to the U.S. Department of the Interior for use as a wildlife refuge. Yet the 9,100 residents of the island, part of the U.S. commonwealth of Puerto Rico, are worried that the Navy is leaving them to clean up its mess, and demand the U.S. government clean up the toxic remnants of war. Decades of bombs have left the island with higher than normal cancer rates, and many residents are concerned that the military’s legacy of depleted uranium and heavy metals will leave them suffering for years. A recent Pentagon report confirmed that the Navy also tested chemical and biological weapons on the island beginning in the 1960s, something the military had previously denied. After six decades of vicious feuding with the Navy, Vieques residents are also distrustful that the military is really pulling out, and warn of an alleged secret agreement between the Navy and the Department of the Interior which would let the military back onto the island in the future. “We do not trust the Navy or the federal government, so we will be steadfast in our struggle, attentive to any plan to continue using and abusing Vieques,” said Nilda Medina, spokesperson for the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques. The Rev. Esdras Rodriguez’ words to a judge last year may prove to be prophetic. “I hope I am wrong, your honor, but I’m afraid that many more if us will pass before this court demanding the cleanup of all environmental pollution caused by the indiscriminate use of all types of weapons on Vieques without taking into account the effects on our health and the environment,” said Rodriguez, a United Methodist pastor, when he was sentenced on October 21 for protesting against the Navy presence on Vieques. “We may have to return to this court to demand the return of our land, as well as [compensation for] the economic, ecological, and health damages on Vieques.”