Stop the militarization of Puerto Rico The following is the lead article from the July issue of La Verdad, paper of the Liga Internacionalista de los Trabajadores (Internationalist Fourth Internationalist organization in
In recent weeks, a series of U.S. government plans have been announced that point toward an unprecedented step-up in the militarization of our island
Among the measures announced are (1) the reopening of the Ramey Base in Aguadilla, (2) the transfer of the
School from Panama Canal Zone to Puerto Rico, (3) the transfer of 867 facilities in Fort Allen o the U.S. army in March 1983 for the training of Latin American military forces (although they have also talked establishing the Las Americas Military School there), (4) cancellation of the phasing out of Fort Buchanan, and (5) the issuing of contracts for the mod ernization of the naval communications facilities in Fort Allen. Not content with the military occupation of two-thirds of Vieques, with Roosevelt Roads (the biggest naval base in the world) and with the Sabana Seca installations, among others, the U.S. government is projecting the supermilitarization of Puerto Rico.
The U.S. government alleges that these changes are necessary to counter Cuban influence in the Caribbean and in Central America. It talks about how many airplanes and soldiers Cuba has, but it does not say anything about the U.S. military presence in Central America and the Caribbean, which greatly exceeds the capacity of the Cuban government. 26 attacks on Cuba, the U.S. government is trying to conceal its real which is to maintain U.S. economic control over Central America and the Caribbean.
For decades, the peoples of Latin America have been ruled by governments and military dictatorships that have submerged our Latin-American brothers and sisters in the worst poverty.
Although there been nothing about these governments, they have been propped up, including by military means, by the U.S. government, which economically controls the entire
Today, many of our Latin American brothers and sisters are rising up against exploitation and injustice; they want to take control of the destinies of their re-
The Nicaraguan people, for example, who were ruled for decades by the Somoza dynasty, fought against exploitation and extreme poverty control of the country in July 1979.
The new government has not been prepared to accept foreign intervention in the running of the country, and has not accepted any agreements whose conditions were detrimental to the Nicaraguan people. This has brought it attacks from the U.S., which is supporting the counterrevolutionary forces and has launched an economic boycott, which includes measures such as reducing the import quota for Nicaraguan sugar.
Like the Nicaraguan people, the Salvadoran people are now rising up against oppression and tyranny. Once again, the U.S. is not willing to give up its influence in the area, and is openly sending money has meant for the people of Vieques? Have they forgotten the serious problems of prostitution and public drunkeness that the navy has brought for the people of Vieques?
represented such a threat to the security of men, women, and children on the island that they were obliged to organize to get the military out of the town (the civilian zone). Recently, the people of Vieques have protested about the resurgence of these problems, and
At the same time as denying these facts, the government and the media that serve it has been flooding the country for years with propaganda about the life" in the army and trying to present it as an alternative source of jobs.
Why don't they say that 80% of the professional training in the military has civilian application, and that 56% of Puerto Rican veterans suffer from mental disorders, while they get less government aid than veterans from the U.S.
The U.S. is defending its interests in Central America by and claw. It is not democracy and freedom for our Latin-American brothers and sisters that interest them but oil, bauxite, and coal, among other things
We Puerto Ricans cannot permit the militarization of our country. We have to oppose the transer of the Las Americas School to Puerto Rico, the school that trained Anastacio Somoza and Humberto Romero (the Salvadoran dictator ousted in 1979), among others. This is not only because it is the best help we can give our Latin-American brothers and sisters, but because the supermilitarization of our country will bring such grave problems as prostitution, unemployment, destruction of the environment, and the threat of a military attack in the event of the U.S. becoming involved in a military conflict and our youth being used for cannon fodder in wars that are not in our interest.
Stop the militarization of Puerto Rico!