‘Vieques is not very busy; Vieques is very, very quiet. You can hear a fly go by.’
– Puerto Rican Tourist Bureau
Situated just five miles off the coast of Puerto Rico, the seemingly inconspicuous island of Vieques sits at the intersection of several intense political and ideological debates. Home to about 9,000 people, many of whom work in the fishing and tourism industry, the island's natural resources are crucial to the local economy and individual livelihood of Viequense people.
However, in 1941 US Congress allocated $35,000,000 to construct a Naval installation that would eventually take up just under 2/3 of the island. Throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, the Navy's use of the site as a live-fire range resulted in serious environmental degradation of not-only Vieques, but the surrounding marine habitats as well.
Ahead of a massive combined arms exercise planned for May of '78, local frustration with the Navy began to reach a critical point. Resolving to interrupt live-fire drills at any cost, Viequense demonstrators began to host "fish-ins" in marine restricted zones using fishing vessels and more.
The fish-ins were successful in preventing live-fire drills, but at a serious cost to the Viequense. On May 22, 1979, military police arrested twenty-one protestors and delivered them to Judge Juan Toruella in the US District Court of Puerto Rico. These demonstrators became known as the "Vieques 21".
A member of the Puerto Rican Socialist League, Cristóbal refused to acknowledge the authority of a US Court in Puerto Rico and declined to accept representation throughout his trial. Judge Toruella sentenced him to a prison term of six months in a federal penitentiary, but he served only part of it before being found dead in his cell.
Amidst rumors of foul play, left-wing activists alleged that Cristóbal's death was a politically motivated killing, orchestrated by US forces acting in cohesion. Despite being officially listed as a suicide by hanging, the responding officer, Sheriff Ralph Johnson, described a bloody scene surrounding Cristóbal's cell when speaking with investigators. In his report, Johnson said the victim appeared to have been brutally beaten and disfigured before being hung up by an unknown assailant.
Following Cristóbal's death, violence between armed left-wing organizations and right-wing quasi-military groups exploded. US service members began to be specifically targeted and, in December of 1979, two sailors were killed when armed radicals opened fire on transport van outside San Juan. Communiqués from the responsible parties confirmed the attacks were revenge killings for Cristóbal and others.
The January 1980 bombing of the Puerto Rican Bar Association led to the arrest of the young lieutenant and two others by the FBI. Under oath, de la Zerda confessed to stealing ordinance off the Roosevelt Roads Naval Base and supplying them to an accomplice. Not only had the three succeeded in bombing the bar association, but they were also planning to bomb a passenger plane traveling to and from Vieques. A 1992 probe into the incident by the Puerto Rican Senate Judiciary Committee tied de la Zerda to a much broader conspiracy of right-wing extremism in Puerto Rico and a radical group known as the Defenders of Democracy. Even so, the court acquitted Lt. de la Zerda later that year.
My research, the Tenenbaum Program, and a fresh perspective on Vieques
From instances of violence by Sailors to the ecological degradation of Vieques fishing grounds and fresh water supply, it is clear that the Navy acted illegally in their own right as outlined in the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). Moreover, the Navy's ties both directly and otherwise to right-wing extremism only puts their legality into further question. All in all, through careful examination of USC, the UCMJ, newspaper archives, and various secondary sources, I will examine the US Navy's justifications under US Law in the arrests and convictions of the “Vieques 21” given the potential UCMJ violations committed and the inexact political status of the Puerto Rican people.
In order to gain a deeper understanding of the anti-Navy struggle, I will also be traveling to Puerto Rico and Vieques this August to conduct primary research of my own.
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Ethan Sirhal is a member of Tulane University’s Class of 2023 where he is a candidate to receive his BS in Economics and BA in History. He is also a contracted cadet in the Orleans Battalion ROTC Program, through which he won a 3-Year National Scholarship from the US Army.
At Tulane, Ethan is involved in various programs within the campus community. Academically, he is now conducting funded research through the Tenenbaum Sophomore Seminar and Center for Academic Equity. Outside the classroom, Ethan also serves on Dean Suri Duitch’s Student Advisory Board and is the Vice-President for TEDxTulane conferences. Within the ROTC Program, he is the MS-II Class Leader and Public Affairs Officer (PAO) for his battalion.
In his free time, Ethan enjoys visiting his four older sisters, his two brothers-in-law, and his two nephews. His hobbies include studying sabermetrics, collecting vinyls, flying his drone, and bragging about his home state of Massachusetts.