The long and often bitter campaign to end the US navy’s bombing exercises on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques culminated in victory for the islanders yesterday, who celebrated the military pull-out with fireworks displays and parties.
The former bombing range will be turned into a wildlife reserve.
The handover to the US department of the interior was also marked by protests in which the American flag was burned and US navy vehicles were destroyed.
The midnight ceremony marked the conclusion of a dispute in which more than 1 000 protesters had been arrested over the years.
Opponents claimed that the bombing caused cancers but the navy denied the allegations. Anger peaked in 1999 after a civilian security guard, David Sanes, was killed when two bombs missed their targets.
The protests and growing resentment against a military presence which stretches back nearly 60 years led to President Clinton announcing in 1999 that only dummy bombs would be used and the exercises phased out overfive years.
Further protests led to an announcement by President Bush in 2001 that the navy would withdraw and the area would be turned over to the US department of the interior. This week the navy finally departed from the 17-acre site.
Opponents of the bombing celebrated at the range by breaking through a fence and waving the Puerto Rican flag. US navy vehicles and equipment were trashed and vandalised amid cries of ”get out” aimed at the navy.
The withdrawal, which had been resisted for many years by the Pentagon, marked a victory for the protesters although they said yesterday that they had won ”a battle not the war”. Many campaigners would like the land handed over to Puerto Rican authorities rather than to the US department of the interior.
”We are here today to mark the beginning of a new era in peace and prosperity for Vieques,” Puerto Rico’s governor, Sila Calderon, said. ”It is a moment of great joy, for we have achieved our dream.”
The islanders, who number nearly 10 000, have long complained about both the health and economic damage done to the island by the military presence. It has also fuelled support for the island’s small independence movement and had become a rallying point for members of the American Latino community.
Puerto Rico was taken over by the US in 1898 as part of the Spanish-American war and became the equivalent of a crown colony two years later. Its inhabitants were granted US citizenship in 1917. Military activities started on Vieques in 1947 after locals had been forced to leave the land.
In the past few years, the bombing became an environmental and political issue.
Among the many public figures jailed after joining in the demonstrations were Robert F Kennedy Jr and the Democratic party presidential candidate the Rev Al Sharpton.
Sharpton said that the pull-out marked a victory. President Bush had done a ”good thing” by responding to the protests, he said.
He spent 90 days in jail for his part in the civil disobedience campaign.
Local and international support groups have claimed for many years that the bombing and the storing of ammunition presented serious health problems for the islanders; higher than average cancer figures, heart abnormalities and childhood asthma were cited by protesters.
The US navy waged a public relations campaign to try to counter the hostile publicity.
It denied that their presence was responsible for health problems and pointed to its roles helping to halt drug smuggling, offering hurricane relief and providing employment for local people.
About 5 000 Puerto Ricans serve in the US navy. – Guardian Unlimited Â