Since 1899 and the signing of the Treaty of Paris with Spain, the US Military has occupied Puerto Rico and it’s surrounding islands.
As a military outpost Puerto Rico’s strategic value is unmatched. As a territorial claim of the US, Puerto Rico seems doomed to the political limbo of commonwealth status because the Navy is not ready to give it up.
It’s simply shameful that the US Navy has a better working relationship with Communist Cuba at Guantanamo Bay than the American citizens of Puerto Rico.
This must change.
If the Island of Vieques is absolutely necessary to military training, then the military should be crystal clear about their needs. The Navy should claim the entire training island and relocate those citizens to Puerto Rico proper or other surrounding islands.
Required staffing should be internal military personnel or contract workers as is the case on Cuba’s Guantanamo Naval Base. The US Navy doesn’t ask Cubans if they’d like a secretarial job. The US Navy should stop confusing Americans on Vieques Island about their relative importance.
There’s only one reason that Puerto Ricans remain on Vieques: the US government must attach an economic dependency to the military in order to retain Puerto Rico and surrounding territory.
Without an economic dependency on the US, Puerto Rico might get a crazy idea like the possibility that they can’t be any worse off as an independent nation than as a territorial claim of the United States.
