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 |
This document is in PDF format and can be read using 
Midway through our documentary, yet in production, on the terrible consequences of depleted uranium contamination from the use and production of these munitions, I've videoed reflections on how it seems to be going. The reflections were recorded on a MacBookPro using its iSight software. The 10-minute reflection can be found at this Wild Clearing web page -- Wes Rehberg
