By Andy McInerney
Puerto Ricans have been waging a tremendous campaign to
get the U.S. Navy off of the island of Vieques. Then, on
Oct. 29, the struggle against the Navy took a new turn when
activists cut off the water supply to the larger U.S. naval
base at Roosevelt Roads.
Members of the Water for All Movement, a community group,
blocked two water-intake valves supplying the Roosevelt
Roads base in protest over the Pentagon's refusal to pay for
water service. The group charges that while the Navy
extracts over 2 million gallons of water a day from the
Blanco River, neighboring communities suffer water
shortages.
Puerto Rico's Department of Natural and Environmental
Resources (DRNA) has fined the Navy $8 million for
violations of water usage and $8.8 million for the years of
free water the Navy has taken. If the Navy does not respond
by mid-November, the DRNA says, its water will be officially
cut off.
The Navy has threatened to block any action by the DRNA,
arguing that Puerto Rico's government does not have the
right to prohibit its use of water.
Puerto Rico has been a colony of U.S. imperialism since
1898. The Pentagon uses the island for a host of military
functions, including military training at Vieques and, as
the base of the Southern Army of the U.S. Southern Command,
housing tens of thousands of troops.
The inhabitants of Vieques and militants across Puerto
Rico have waged a long struggle against the U.S. Navy's use
of the small island for target practice. Now, however, the
Pentagon's presence on the island is under fire from Puerto
Ricans of all political backgrounds. The change came with
the killing of a civilian employee, David Sanes, during an
April military exercise on Vieques.
The U.S. imperialist government, while threatening
repression, isn't sure how to handle the Vieques issue. At
the core of its vacillation is the fear that a heavy hand
will escalate the struggle to other Pentagon installations
on the island--and may even threaten the presence of the
U.S. Southern Command.
The new protests at Roosevelt Roads show that that fear is
well founded.
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