Re: [CPEO-MEF] VIEQUES CELEBRATES THE NAVY'S DEPARTURE

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

The following response was posted by M. Merrill <Zafradecana@aol.com>
_________________________________________________________
In a message dated 7/21/03 10:21:23 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
cpeo@cpeo.org writes:


   They got rid of the Navy, the
   major employer in PR. Now that the range is closed there is no reason

   for the Navy to maintain a base at Roosevelt Roads. There goes the
major
   employer, and all the money. Now what?


The US Navy was not the mayor employer on Vieques.  In 1999, the year
David Sanes was
killed there were less 100 people employed by the US Navy on Vieques.
there were less than
30 Navy people deployed on the island.  Just before the plebiscite held
on Vieques where
80% of the voters participated and 69% told the Navy to leave the US
Navy tried to buy
support on Vieques by again employing 100 people.  A month after the
plebiscite the number
went down to less than 40.

The same thing is happening with Roosevelt Roads in Ceiba.  The US Navy
has had a
sistematic  program of moving everything on to the base and employing
less people from the
area for more than 10 years now. Thus, the impact of  the depature of
Roosevelt Roads from
Ceiba in Eastern is not as great as the impact of the loss of Star Kist
Tuna to the area of
Western Puerto Rico.

M. Merrill

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~