Justin & Lourdes

Before getting to this, we want to take a moment to talk about the history of Vieques since its intrinsically tied to everything you can see in this beautiful island.  Its not a very happy story, especially near the end. There’s no pop quiz in April so you can skip down to the attractions if that’s what you want .All of this information comes from Wikipedia and can be read here and here

Vieques has gone through a lot of changes over the years, most of them very painful. Prior to the Spaniards Colonizing it, it was the home of a tribe of Tainos, which gave the island the name Bieke, meaning “small island” due to its proximity of the main island (which was then known as Boriken). When the Spaniards colonized Puerto Rico, they eventually established a fort in Vieques mainly as a means of ensuring their territory was protected. There were some attempts by Scotland to take the island which culminated in Spain establishing a town there as well. It was known as “Crab Island” by Scotland and England at this time. Time goes by and the Spanish American War happened and Puerto Rico changed from a Spanish Colony to a United States Colony in 1898. 

Under the United States, Vieques continued business as usual as a sugar plantation until 1941 and World War II, at which point the United States purchased/seized about 2/3rds of the island for the United States Navy. The intent was for the land to provide a Safe Haven for the British Allies should the war get worse, in practice it was used for military exercises, and to test munitions. Unsurprisingly, this move caused a lot of civil unrest (locals were evicted and no one really enjoys having bombs dropped nearby). The portions of the island controlled by the Navy were mostly inaccessible to the locals, who only had access to the center of the island. Still, the Navy employed many locals and provided some economic benefits for the island so the complaints were not taken too seriously. On average, it is estimated that Vieques was bombed an average of 180 days a year until 1998 (yes, once every other day).

This discomfort built for decades and came to a head in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. As our understanding of radiation grew, evidence continued to pile up showing the detrimental effects on the health of the locals from the Navy base (Vieques had a significantly higher rate of Cancer when compared to the rest of Puerto Rico). In 1999, a local man who worked in the Navy bases was killed when a military ordnance was dropped too close to his security post. This triggered waves of protests, including movements where protesters occupied live practice ranges in an attempt to prevent more bombs from being detonated. The protests garnered world wide attention with Pope John Paul II speaking out against the base. Fun Fact: Robert F. Kennedy Jr was arrested during a protest in Vieques (along with Edward James Olmos and Al Sharpton) and was serving his prison term in PR when his wife gave birth to their sixth child: Aidan Caohman Vieques Kennedy  (just wanted something to lighten things up a little).

The protests were eventually successful and the base was closed in May 2003. There was still a lot of work to be done cleaning up the decades of military industrial waste . The lands were turned over to the U.S. Department of the Interior. There have been some cleanup operations and these parts of the island have been converted into Wildlife Refuges, where humans are not allowed on the land (and no Navy cleanup is needed or has occured in those parts of the island). Another fun fact: there’s a no fly zone over part of vieques due to continued ordinance disposals. Some portions have been opened for limited access (no camping).  Vieques is now mainly supported by its Tourism industry .