Vieques bombing range

Puerto Rico is indicated by the red arrow in the map to the right. Below is a map of just Puerto Rico and the outlying islands of Culebra and Vieques.

 

Vieques lies about 7 miles off the east of Puerto Rico. The island is about 20 miles long. The US Navy has expropriated about 2/3 of the island and relocated all civilians to the center of the island. The civilian population has remained about 10,000 as it was since long before the Navy came.

This is a USGS photo of the bombing range at the extreme eastern end of the island. The diagonal patch in the center is a pretend airstrip which is about 1/2 mile in length. At the extreme left of the photo is the OP-1 observation post which looks out over the bombing range. It was there that a very errant bomb killed David Sanes on April 19, 1999. He was a Viequense working as a security guard and his death galvanized the islanders to begin the protest encampments on the bombing range. The presence of these encampments effectively halted the bombing for over a year.

 

This is the view of the bombing range from the observation post. (Click to enlarge)
This picture was taken from Camp Monte David, one of the original camps set up by fishermen in the restricted zone. The "puddles" are bomb craters in a marshy lagoon in the bombing range. This area had been bombed into almost complete lifelessness. At the time of the picture after about a one year rest from bombing, some life was returning. Vehicles to left are used for target practice. (Click to enlarge)
CPT members (left to right) Mark Byler, Sue Frankle-Streit and Cliff Kindy inspecting one of many bomb casings visible on the island.
Close-up aerial photo of the bombing range showing the numerous bomb craters. The airstrip and other areas are periodically covered over and smoothed out. This range has been bombed by virtually every type of weapon in our arsenal over the last 60 years. This has left it highly contaminated with heavy metals. Every new explosion creates a contaminated dust plume which is carried onto the civilian areas and to the main island as well. (Click to enlarge)