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Esta página no está disponible en español. EFE News ServiceVieques Hopes New Year Brings End To Decades Of War GamesBy Maria Luisa Rubio
December 28, 2002 San Juan-Though the maneuvers continued for another year despite widespread protests, residents of Vieques and most of their Puerto Rican compatriots hope 2003 will finally bring an end to decades of the island's hammering by U.S. Navy war games. During his administration, former U.S. President Bill Clinton announced the Navy would leave the island of Vieques , where it has been conducting training exercises for more than 60 years, by May 1, 2003. George W. Bush reaffirmed Clinton's promise last June. Later, this commitment was confirmed again in a letter from U.S. Navy Secretary Gordon England to Puerto Rican Gov. Sila Maria Calderon. "Considering the short amount of time remaining before May 2003, it is important that we study the steps required to implement this decision," Calderon said in a November reply to England's letter. In the same letter, Calderon highlighted the importance of naming a committee to oversee the transfer of Navy land on Vieques . Many expressed concern that the possibility of a U.S. attack on Iraq and difficulty finding alternate sites for the maneuvers would delay the closing of military bases on Vieques . Two-thirds of the land on Vieques , located 11 kilometers (7 miles) east of Puerto Rico , was expropriated by the U.S. Navy in the 1940s and some 800 families had to leave their homes. According to several organizations and health experts, Vieques , with barely 9,000 inhabitants and an area of slightly more than 80 square kilometers (31 square miles), has been contaminated by the military exercises. The Puerto Rican health department reports that Vieques has the highest cancer rate in the commonwealth. This past year saw the usual maneuvers, as well as the usual response of demonstrations, trespassing on the bases and arrests, which have numbered more than 1,000 over the past three years. Puerto Rican authorities continue to file complaints against the Navy for violating a local laws against the noise pollution caused by bombing and military flights over the populated areas of Vieques . In January 2002, a federal district court in the United States rejected a suit brought by the Puerto Rican government against the Navy on those same charges.
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