VIEQUES INTERVIEW NOTES WITH ACTIVISTS ON DEPLETED URANIUM AND OTHER MILITARY CONTAMINATION
Vieques interview notes with activists on depleted uranium contamination – for Stop-DU meeting and other forums: From Wes Rehberg The interviews and the visit to Vieques are part of a documentary I’m making on DU contamination dangers – U.S. Navy contamination from weapons testing on this Puerto Rican island was the key theme of the interviews. The interviews were conducted during my Sept. 18-24 2007 journey throughout the island. The key interviews were with six people: * Nilda Medina, former science teacher, long-time activist and organizer and now developer of cooperative enterprises, who has been imprisoned for her activism against the Navy presence on two-thirds of the island, the weapons testing there, and who now speaks to the health problems of contamination; * Ismael Guadalupe Ortiz, activist since he was 19 (now aged 63), activist and organizer, addressed UN committee on colonialism twice, was imprisoned four times, who sees contamination now and the necessity of its cleanup as the cause for new occupations of Navy land by activists; * Andres Nieves, cinema photographer in US, moved to Vieques on retirement, documented via video more than 1,000 hours on Vieques problems for Fort Conde Marisal Museum archives, also an activist, has been tested positive for contamination; * Zaida Torres, nurse at Vieques hospital, whose child died of cancer, and who addresses issue of contamination and the need for health services and remedies on the island; * Robert Rabin, a former Bostonian who has lived in Vieques for more than two decades, is director of the museum mentioned above, is a key activist, organizer and educator via the museum, and who has also spent time in federal prison for his activism. * Tania Cruz Morales, youth activist who speaks to problems related to contamination, including psychological; I also spoke off-camera with a man who works on the decontamination project for USA Environmental, one of the Navy contractors responsible for cleanup – briefly, he offered a contrast about the exposure and said he has also been involved in Iraq and Kuwait recent cleanup efforts. The contrast is this: He has to wear an array of protective gear, including a protective mask that he says is capable of filtering contaminants at a sub-micron level – uranium oxide and ceramic uranium oxide are such contaminants; but if he’s so protected, then the danger of exposure is clearly evident, including the danger to the people of Vieques, despite Navy and other disclaimers about such a danger. (This part I’ll have to narrate into the documentary) Summary: It would be more comprehensive to provide individual summaries of what each said, but in the interests of space and time, I’ll address the key points they made: 1. The Navy remedies for decontamination are inadequate. Not only are they inadequate, but the Navy is exploding unexploded ordnance in the open air as part of the “cleanup,” further spreading contaminants. In addition, the Navy disclaims responsibility for the contamination, saying it’s part of the natural Vieques environment. The activists’ response is that the Navy can be the only source – there is no industry on the island except for a small GE plant, and the types of contaminants and the extent are not naturally occurring. These include uranium oxide, lithium, mercury, lead, arsenic, antimony (gunpowder) – some of which has also entered the food chain. The contamination is on land as well as in the surrounding seabed, has been found in fish as well as measured in sea grass at some distance from the test proving grounds sites. Soil, water, food-chain and the air carry the contaminants. 2. There is a considerable need for medical resources to serve people affected – people have to travel by ferry to the main island of Puerto Rico (1¼ hour trip each way) and then by public transportation to receive chemotherapy and dialysis treatments, for example (diabetes is linked to the contamination as well). The contaminants affect the lungs, kidneys, bones, heart, stomach, pancreas, and other organs. Vieques has a rate of cancer at least 26 percent higher than the main island of Puerto Rico, and now possibly measurable at 50 percent higher. 3. In the face of opposition by the U.S. government, the Puerto Rican government and the U.S. military to comprehensive cleanup and health services related to contamination, it would be easy to give in to despair, but this is self-defeating. 4. Activists must remain optimistic that their cause will bear the results they want accomplished. 5. The solutions are not immediate and short-term. They are long-term because of the pervasiveness of the contamination and the health problems. 6. The problems must not be elided or submerged in people’s consciousness, thus education and continued activism is essential. There’s a tendency, for example, to view the cancer problems fatalistically rather than the result of practices that are specific to the island. 7. The Navy must yield the land ultimately back to the people (some has been "turned over" to the U.S. Department of the Interior as a wildlife preserve) – the Navy originally expropriated two thirds of this island, cramming its 10,000 inhabitants in the center – the island is 21 miles long and 4 miles wide. The land, cleaned up, and the seabed, cleaned up, would be a valuable resource for people and their lives. (Ironically, as in Puerto Rico, tourism is the number one economic producer in Vieques – in Puerto Rico’s mainland; the number two industry is pharmaceuticals). Basically unspoken except in Andres’ case, these activists have been exposed to the contaminants themselves and so have put themselves at high risk. -- Wes Rehberg |
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