At least nine organizations in Puerto Rico expressed their concern to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres regarding US military expansionism in the Caribbean region.
In the letter, political and social organizations in Puerto Rico stated that “The current increase in the United States’ military use of Puerto Rico reveals the deception surrounding the closure of military installations and constitutes a setback in the Puerto Rican people’s struggle for self-determination.”
When the organizations denounce the UN Secretary-General, they are asking the international community to be alert to the impact this has on the Puerto Rican people’s right to self-determination and independence.
They also denounce the rearmament and military expansion of the United States in Puerto Rico, “its use as a bridge and base of aggression against the sovereignty of sister nations in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the destabilization of peace in the region.”
“The Puerto Rican people spoke loud and clear when thousands of our compatriots became human shields to stop military operations in Culebra and Vieques, and tens of thousands protested against the military presence,” stated Vivian Godineaux of the Puerto Rico Bar Association and Vanessa Ramos of the American Association of Jurists.
Eunice Santana of the Ecumenical Community on the Road; Sonia Santiago Hernández of Mothers Against War; Francisco Concepción of the Martin Luther King Dialogue Table; and José Rodríguez Vélez of the Labor Solidarity Movement added that “the complaints about the harm inflicted on our population by the United States military presence in Puerto Rico have been widely documented and presented to the Special Committee on Decolonization since the 1970s.”
The letter addressed to Guterres points out that for more than six decades, the United States used Puerto Rican land for military exercises and drills, including bombings in areas near populated areas, particularly the eastern islands of Culebra and Vieques. These actions caused severe harm to the physical and mental health of the islanders, as well as damaging their land and waterways.
IMAGE CREDIT: Puerto Ricans reject the presence of US military forces on the island. Photo: EFE
[ SOURCE: teleSUR ]
