[CPEO-MEF] HEALTH, CHEMWEAPONS: Vieques (PR) veteran

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Former Marine becomes face of new Vieques battle

By MIKE MELIA
Associated Press
October 10, 2009

ISABELA, Puerto Rico - The headaches began just after Hermogenes Marrero 
arrived on Vieques, the small Puerto Rican island where the young U.S. 
Marine guarded stores of Cold War-era chemical weapons.

The retired sergeant, now 57 and terminally ill with cancer and other 
ailments, blames exposure to toxins released while he was stationed 
there from 1970 to 1972. By coming forward to support similar claims by 
island residents, he has become the public face of a new and bitter 
battle over Vieques, the Navy bombing range-turned-tourist destination 
off the U.S. territory's east coast.

"I've been sick since I left Vieques," said the wheelchair-bound 
Marrero, who now lives in an apartment cramped with life-support 
equipment in this small town in northwestern Puerto Rico.

Marrero is a key witness in a lawsuit seeking billions of dollars in 
compensation for illnesses that past and current Vieques residents have 
linked to the bombing range, where the U.S. and its allies trained for 
conflicts from Vietnam to Ira

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jhddrRIjiEoCWHT7UCdSN8pv4ScgD9B8AFM80

--


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org



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