The Cause of Vieques was a protest movement that emerged in Puerto Rico during the Navy-Vieques protests. The movement was pivotal to the United States Navy abandoning of its facilities on the Puerto Rican island-municipality of Vieques.

The Cause of Vieques is also used in reference to the cause followed by those who supported the cease of the bombing target practices in Vieques.

Background

Main article: Navy-Vieques protests.

During the 1940s the U.S. Navy purchased about 4/5 parts of Vieques grounds by compensated land expropriation , and then later started using them as bombing target practice grounds.

In 1999, the death of David Sanes triggered the Navy-Vieques protests: a countless series of protests that began in Puerto Rico against the U.S. military use of the island-municipality.

The Cause of Vieques movement emerged a few months later after the beginning of the protests and played a pivotal point in the abandoning of the military facilities on Vieques by the U.S. Navy.

Points of views among the supporters

According to polls done on the course of the protests by El Nuevo Dia, the majority of Puerto Ricans supported the cause. All those who supported it, also supported the immediate cease-and-desist of the allegedly live-bomb target practices. However, there was a set of different points of views among them: [1]

• Allow non-live bombing target practices
  • as necessary
  • for a few days, every few years
    • as necessary
    • but not in consequent years
• Cease-and-desist of all bombing target practices
  • immediate leave of U.S. military presence and return all expropriated territories
  • and allow other U.S. military exercises
    • and leave all expropriated territories to U.S. military
    • but return expropriated territories
      • a small part
      • a considerable part

Movement leaders

• Carlos Zenon
• Ismael Guadalupe
• Robert Rabin
• Ruben Berrios
• Tito Kayak

Related topics

• List of famous Navy-Vieques protesters and supporters
• Navy-Culebra protests