Cause of Vieques

The Cause of Vieques was a civic, social, peaceful, and national movement that emerged in Puerto Rico during the Navy-Vieques protests. The movement was pivotal to the United States Navy abandoning of its facilities on the Puerto Rican island-municipality of Vieques.

The Cause of Vieques is also used in reference to the cause followed by those who supported the cease of the bombing target practices in Vieques.

Table of contents

1 Background
2 Points of views among the supporters
3 Movement leaders
4 See also

Background

Main article: Navy-Vieques protests.

During the 1940s the U.S. Navy purchased about 4/5 parts of Vieques grounds by compensated land expropiation, and then later started using them as bombing target practice grounds.

In 1999, the death of David Sanes triguered the Navy-Vieques protests: a countless series of protests that began in Puerto Rico against the U.S. military use of the island-municipality.

The Cause of Vieques movement emerged a few months later after the beggining of the protests and played a pivotal point in the abandoning of the military facilities on Vieques by the U.S. Navy.

Points of views among the supporters

According to polls done on the course of the protests by El Nuevo Dia, the majority of Puerto Ricans supported the cause. All those who supported it, also supported the immediate cease-and-desist of the allegely live-bomb target practices. However, there was a set of different points of views among them: [1]

Allow non-live bombing target practices
- as necessary
- for a few days, every few years
  - as necessary
  - but not in consequent years
Cease-and-desist of all bombing target practices
- immediate leave of U.S. military presence and return all expropiated territories
- and allow other U.S. military exercises
  - and leave all expropiated territories to U.S. military
  - but return expropiated territories
    - a small part
    - a considerable part

Movement leaders

Carlos Zenon

Ismael Guadalupe

Robert Rabin

Ruben Berrios
Tito Kayak