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Vieques Island was the site of the former Vieques Naval Training Range which was primarily used to train surface combatants for Naval Surface Fire Support. This training consisted of shooting live rounds at specified targets inside the range, 9 to 13 miles from the nearest populated area.
Prompted by the accidental death of a civilian guard, David Sanes, inside the range, the people of Puerto Rico began a movement to close it. Environmental and health issues fueled the opposition of the people against keeping the range open. A nearby civilian area allegedly was adversely affected by the military operations. The opposition was mainly peaceful, relying on civil disobedience and massive protests. Nevertheless, some violent incidents did occur. A controversy arose because pro-independence and nationalist movements used the process to promote independence for Puerto Rico. However, with the protests and subsequent closing of the range, there was no longer any reason for Navy and Marine Corps forces to deploy to the Caribbean Sea, and the closing of Vieques' support base, U.S. Naval Station Roosevelt Roads, occurred on March 31, 2004. As a consequence, the U.S. Navy's more than $300 million in yearly economic impact, and thousands of military, federal and contractor jobs were lost on both Vieques Island, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
The military defense of Puerto Rico is the responsibility of the United States as part of the Treaty of Paris. Locally, Puerto Rico has its own National Guard, the Puerto Rico National Guard, and its own state defense force, the Puerto Rico State Guard, which, by local law, is under the authority of the Puerto Rico National Guard. The commander-in-chief of both forces is the governor of Puerto Rico, currently Wanda Vázquez Garced, who delegates her authority to the Puerto Rico Adjutant General, currently Brigadier General Isabelo Rivera The Adjutant General, in turn, delegates the authority over the State Guard to another officer but retains the authority over the Puerto Rico National Guard as a whole. At the national level, the commander-in-chief is the President of the United States, currently Donald Trump.
Vieques, in full Isla de Vieques, is an island–municipality of Puerto Rico, in the northeastern Caribbean, part of an island grouping sometimes known as the Spanish Virgin Islands. Vieques is part of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and retains strong influences from 400 years of Spanish presence in the island.
Rubén Ángel Berríos Martínez is a Puerto Rican politician, international law attorney, writer, and current president of the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP). A former three-time Senator, Berríos is a perennial PIP candidate for Governor of Puerto Rico. He led the Navy-Culebra protests that succeeded in the United States Navy abandoning the use of the Puerto Rican island of Culebra for military exercises and was a leader for the Cause of Vieques.
Isla Culebra is an island-municipality of Puerto Rico and geographically part of the Spanish Virgin Islands. It is located approximately 17 miles (27 km) east of the Puerto Rican mainland, 12 miles (19 km) west of St. Thomas and 9 miles (14 km) north of Vieques. Culebra is spread over 5 wards and Culebra Pueblo (Dewey), the downtown area and the administrative center of the island. Residents of the island are known as culebrenses. With a population of 1,818 as of the latest census, it is Puerto Rico's least populous municipality.
Vieques Air Link is a small Puerto Rico-based airline that links Vieques with Culebra and mainland Puerto Rico.
The Ejército Popular Boricua, also known as Los Macheteros, is a clandestine organization based in Puerto Rico, with cells in the states and other nations. It campaigns for, and supports, the independence of Puerto Rico from the United States.
The Puerto Rican Independence Party is a social-democratic political party in Puerto Rico that campaigns for the independence of Puerto Rico from United States suzerainty.
The term Navy–Culebra protests is the name given by American media to a series of protests starting in 1971 on the island of Culebra, Puerto Rico against the United States Navy for its use of the island for military exercises.
David Sanes Rodríguez was a native of Vieques, Puerto Rico whose death became a rallying point for those opposed to the U.S. military presence on and use of his home island for live-fire bombing practice. Sanes Rodríguez's death sparked the organization of the Cause for Vieques and a series of protests by residents and activists that culminated in the US Navy abandoning Vieques.
Nydia Margarita Velázquez Serrano is a Puerto Rican-American politician serving in the United States House of Representatives since 1993. Velázquez, a Democrat from New York was the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus until January 3, 2011. Her district, located in New York City, was numbered the 12th district from 1993 to 2013 and has been numbered the 7th district since 2013. Velázquez is the first Puerto Rican woman to serve in the United States Congress.
USS Killen (DD-593), a Fletcher-class destroyer, was a ship of the United States Navy named for Edward Killen, who served in the First Barbary War. Killen volunteered for Lieutenant Stephen Decatur's daring 1804 expedition into Tripoli Harbor to destroy Philadelphia, a United States frigate captured by Tripolitan pirates.
Roosevelt Roads Naval Station is a former United States Navy base in the town of Ceiba, Puerto Rico. The site is run today as José Aponte de la Torre Airport, a public use airport.
USS York County (LST-1175) was a De Soto County-class tank landing ship built for the United States Navy during the late 1950s. The lead ship of her class of seven, she was named after counties in Maine, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia, she was the only U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name.
The Spanish Virgin Islands, formerly called the Passage Islands and also known as the Puerto Rican Virgin Islands, primarily consisting of the islands of Culebra and Vieques, are part of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and are located east of the main island of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean.
The Vieques, Puerto Rico, Naval Training Range was a United States naval facility located on the island of Vieques, about 5 miles east of mainland Puerto Rico. Starting in November 1941, the navy used the range for military exercises. Military operations ended in 2001, with the Navy completely leaving the area in 2003.
Carlos Vélez Rieckehoff was the President of the New York chapter of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party in the 1930s. In the 1990s Rieckehoff was among the protesters against the United States Navy's use of his birthplace, the island of Vieques, as a bombing range. He stood in front of the committee of the U.S. House of Representatives investigating the situation in Vieques and pleaded for the return of Vieques to the people of Puerto Rico.
Puerto Ferro Light, also known as Faro de Puerto Ferro, is a historic lighthouse located in the Vieques, Puerto Rico. The light was first lit in 1896. It is one of the last minor or local lights to be built by the Spanish government. The light was of crucial importance to cross the Vieques Passage. The lighthouse was deactivated in 1926 when it was abandoned.
Isla Cabras Light, also known as Faro de Isla Cabras, was a lighthouse located on a rocky but flat islet with the same name, which sit just off the coast near Ceiba, Puerto Rico, toward the Vieques Passage.
Alba Nidia "Miss Pupa" Encarnación Ayala was a sixth-grade public school teacher and community leader in Vieques, Puerto Rico. A devoted Catholic, she always put God first; and that was her foundation, passion and strength for living a life of service to others. She advocated for the rights of the people of Vieques and Puerto Rico in general. She was the voice for better Maritime Transportation and health services which are crucial for the people of Vieques, Women's rights, the poor and the outcast; fought against prejudice, racism and injustice. She also helped lead the movement to end U.S. Navy bombings in the island-municipality and have the lands expropriated by the Navy in the 1940s returned to civilian use. She died on 11 March 2012 in the hospital del Maestro in Vieques, due to complications of diabetes.
Ensenada Honda, is an inlet on Puerto Rico's northeastern coast, in the municipality of Ceiba. Early indigenous resistance and the absence of gold kept cash-strapped colonial administrations mostly away from the region, which in time grew into a pirate and smuggling hub. In the 19th century, the bay's harbor facilitated the growth of the sugarcane industry, and in the 20th century, it hosted the Roosevelt Roads U.S. Naval Station. At present, a Reserve Component maintains a military presence in the area, but the inlet, along with a civilian airport, is the focus of local tourism and the fishing industry. As part of negotiations with the U.S. Navy, Ensenada Honda is also the object of preservation projects.
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