Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site uwmacc.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!uwvax!uwmacc!myers From: myers@uwmacc.UUCP (Latitudinarian Lobster) Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: Re: One for our side Message-ID: <1630@uwmacc.UUCP> Date: Thu, 31-Oct-85 22:28:04 EST Article-I.D.: uwmacc.1630 Posted: Thu Oct 31 22:28:04 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 3-Nov-85 12:11:00 EST References: <973@decwrl.UUCP> <12580@rochester.UUCP> <1587@uwmacc.UUCP> <1385@ihlpg.UUCP> <1606@uwmacc.UUCP> <10853@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> Organization: Ken Kopp's Fresh Seafood Tank Lines: 39 > >Puerto Rico, 1968-present, Navy occupation and bombardment of the island > > of Vieques, destroying fish and other national resources > ^^^^^^^^ > > Good God, even Myers can't possibly believe this. The last time I looked, > Puerto Rico was part of the United States -- proposed for statehood by at > least one US President (Gerald Ford, in the State of the Union address, 1977), > and the statehood party consistently wins gubernatorial elections. It is, I > suppose, reasonable to debate the Navy's choice of practice bombing ranges, > but I hardly think that the United States is committing outrages on Latin > America by bombing US territory. Myers might as well argue that the > bombardment of Kahoolawe is an outrage upon the peoples of the Pacific. > > -- Rick. What is there not to believe? (Anyway, this was merely a minor aside to my point that Latin Americans have some reasons to love the US, but also many to despise the US.) Regardless of its legal status (which is best for many groups to leave in limbo), Puerto Rico is very much occupied territory since it was wrested from Spain several dozen years ago. There has always been an active movement, supported by UN resolutions, to make Puerto Rico independent, which the US is as eager to repress as it is to not allow successful progressive governments in the rest of Latin America. Every source I have ever heard of considers Puerto Rico part of Latin America, which trancends national boundaries. Having lived in San Jose, California (working for Big Blue) for a summer, it's clear that it is part of Latin America, too ;-) Vieques was taken over without any consultation with the people who lived there -- they were forceably moved en masse to the least desirable part of the island. Most of the people had been fisherfolk, but their livelihood has gone down the drain as their nets have been torn away by propellers and fish destroyed by constant practice bombardments. You might be interested to know that Vieques was where the invasion of Grenada was practiced a year or two before the actual event. What is Kahoolawe? Were there people there before it was bombarded? Myers (aka Jeff)