Aug. 29, 2024

Culebra Island

Culebra Island

The US Navy tried to take over the island of Culebra, but after years being displaced and harmed, the Culebrenses fought back. This is the story of how the US Navy was kicked out of Culebra Island.

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The US Navy tried to take over the island of Culebra, but after years being displaced and harmed, the Culebrenses fought back. This is the story of how the US Navy was kicked out of Culebra Island.

If you have topic suggestions, feel free to email Historiasunknownpodcast@gmail.com or use the contact us form on the website https://www.historiasunknown.com/contact/

Join the Historians Unknown Support Club: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/historias-unknown--6253658/support

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Music Credit: Hustlin (Instrumental) by NeffexSources

Sources

https://youtu.be/Sutl41skt5I?si=6sPjsv_SJjpREmGn
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-tanks-of-flamenco-beach-culebra-puerto-rico
https://theatlasnews.co/conflict/2022/09/16/on-island-of-culebra-us-navy-bombings-leave-scars/
https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/puerto-ricans-expel-united-states-navy-culebra-island-1970-1974
https://usace.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getfile/collection/p16021coll7/id/19665
https://cafe.com/article/the-navy-is-a-ghost-puerto-rican-rights-and-the-1970s-battle-for-culebra/
Book mentioned: Target Culebra by Richard D. Copaken

WEBVTT

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Hi. Everyone. Do they say that weird? No, but you

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didn't say this is Carmen. Oh sorry, I'm like what? Oh?

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Thank god? I'm like, are you gonna finish that? Hi? Everyone,

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This is Carmen. I'm Christina and this is Estodia's Unknown,

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a podcast where we talk about Latin American history. Sometimes

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it's horrible and deals with heavy topics like racism, corruption,

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and genocide. But more than that, it's also our resistance,

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power and community. And I'm sorry if you can hear

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my children in the background, it's okay, it's okay. We're

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used to it. At least it should be by now true,

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especially they listen to all of our podcasts. Yeah, they

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are in They're part of the Christina Cinematic Universe. Yeah.

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Didn't we have another name for it or the Christina Verse? Yeah? Yeah. Okay.

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So we've talked about, or you've told us me and

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the listeners about Viecues before I have. But did you

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know that Viees was inspired by another island in Puerto Rico. No,

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I had no idea, but I'm not surprised that the

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United States would have another military based on Puerto Rico,

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where they were I don't know bombing people. Yes, that

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is correct. So we're talking about Culebra Island today and

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when they kicked the navy out, which we love. I

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love it. Yeah, yeah, how did this happen? I was

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listening to Behind the Bastards. I'm hell behind on their episodes,

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so I was listening. It's not the most recent ones,

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and I already forgot what the title was, but it's

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about an island that the British Empire basically ruined. They

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took over it and they kicked all the people out.

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And I don't remember what the island is called, so

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you know, don't ask me that, but as you yeah,

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but in I don't remember if it was part one

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or part two, but they mentioned Culebra Island and how

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the people from Culebra kicked the navy out, and that's

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when the alarm bells rang. You're like, Gulebra Island, I

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must know now, and you just started timping away. Yeah,

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that's how that happened. As we know, and we've talked

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about there's a long, long, long history of colonization in

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Puerto Rico, and I feel like you touched on that

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a little bit, probably in the Vicas episode or maybe

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in another one, yeah, in the Vicas episode and then

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also a little bit in our Dusty Rhodes episode, right right,

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So yeah, I mentioned that Culebra Island has a similar

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history to Vics, only kind of like a predecessor, as

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in they were the first ones to kick out the Navy,

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so it happened before. Yeah. So the United States first

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lated greed little eyes on Culebra Island in eighteen sixty

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seven when they tried to unsuccessfully buy the island from Spain.

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But soon that didn't matter because in eighteen ninety eight,

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I don't know it was, I saw eighteen ninety eight

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and nineteen oh one, and anyway, that was a Spanish

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American war, and so the US, you know, won that

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war and took possession of Puerto Rico. And after that,

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Roosevelt allocated all of the public land in Culebra to

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the Navy, and soon the residents of Culebra or Gulevents

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began experiencing daily bombings because the Navy used the island

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to train for test landings, ground maneuvers, and bombing practice,

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and this led to many culibrentas being physically harmed, losing limbs,

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and as well as losing access to previously public places

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like the now popular and also then popular Flamenco Beach.

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It's just a really beautiful beach and they had, you know,

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just access to the speech before and now they didn't

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because of the Navy. Yeah. I wonder, and maybe you'll

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get into it, but if it affected also their livelihood,

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because I know Vicus, Oh yeah, yeah, yeah it did. Okay.

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I don't really get too much into it because then

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all the science was like bogging down my brain. But

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you know, when there's bombing, chemicals seep into everything, the environment,

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the ocean, the reefs, killing the fish, harming the environment.

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So yeah, this did harm the livelihood and how they

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sustained themselves, which is largely through fishing. Okay, so yeah,

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same like Vicus. Yeah. In nineteen thirty five, fifteen year

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old Alberto Beenya Garcia was killed from a grenade while

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playing on the beach. Oh my god, I know. And

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then the following year, in nineteen thirty six, Vincento Romero

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lost an arm from a grenade left on the beach

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after military training. Wow, oh my god. And I'm sure

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there was more, but these are just the ones I

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saw from my research. Right at some point before the

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nineteen forties, It was not clear to me what year

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the Marines moved their training exclusively to Veeks while the

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Navy remained in Kulebra. Oh yeah. After nineteen forty one,

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Culibrens experienced even more bombings to to Roosevelt claiming exclusive

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airspace around the island and the development of jet Oh

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I forgot to look up how to pronounce it. It's

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either straffing or strafing. Oh, I don't know what's a mean.

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That means the military practice of attacking around targets from

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a low flying aircraft using aircraft mounted automatic weapons. So

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basically mew techlogi achnology where they could shoot from I

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don't know, weapons mounted onto the plane. Yeah, right right

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onto ground. So by the nineteen fifties, the civilian population

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of the island had reduced from four thousand and nineteen

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hundred to only five hundred eighty in the fifties. Okay, wow,

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that's a huge, huge drop. Yeah. Part of this had

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to do with coulabrentes losing their houses because of eminent domain,

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which we have talked about before. Oh my god, imminent

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not this bitch showing up again. Imminent domain. This fucking

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bitch Eminent Domain. Seriously, you know, I really I really

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need to make that bingo card. Oh, because we needed

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one for like US military. We need another one a

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little slot for eminent Domain as well. Yeah yeah, because

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it has come up and so many episodes already. Yeah.

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So yeah. Basically through Eminent Domain, the Navy took control

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and had control of a third of the island and

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of all of the coastline. So wow. Colibdent has lost

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their homes or were displaced, I guess from their homes.

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For years, residents of kulebra knew no peace. They were

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bombed relentlessly. In nineteen sixty nine, coulibrentes were bombed two

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hundred and twenty eight out of two hundred and sixty

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five days of the year. Oh my god, that's almost

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every day. Yeah, and sometimes they were bombed multiple times

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in one day. Oh my god. Yeah. I mean, like

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you said, there's no peace at that point. Yeah, Like

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that's like your background noise is just bombs out, their

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bombs and yeah, sure you know they're not being aimed

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at you, but you don't know if you're going to

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get hurt by what or not. There's already so many

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well exactly. Yeah, so, like besides being laced, being hurt

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you know, physically by the bombs, So it didn't happen

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that often, but it happened enough. Yeah. Yeah. Their homes

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were damaged obviously from the bombing, so their windows often broke.

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The cattle that they had, if they had cattle, were scared,

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so they ran terrified stampedes of cattle, and they tore

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down fences, damaged property, and the Navy refused to compensate

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for any damages. I was gonna say, and I imagine

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the Navy is not paying for any of this. Yeah,

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those broke bitches, no, not broke pitches, stingy bitches. Yeah, yeah,

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stingy because they still refused to pay for cleaning the

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mess they made in Vehicus. Yeah, and so yeah, the

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Culabrenses way of life was completely disturbed. They could no

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longer fish for their foods, and slabster traps and fishing

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nets were destroyed and dead fish washed ashore, and they

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could even go swimming without needing approval from the Naval

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Observation Post or they would face a five thousand dollars

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fine or jail time. Wow. By nineteen seventy Gulabrentes had

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had enough, especially when the navy tried to evacuate the

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entire population. They tried to kick everyone off the island. Yeah,

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they tried to kick everybody off the island. And that

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was actually the second time they tried doing that. Second

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time they tried kicking everyone out of the island. And

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that's what So in the episode I listened to behind

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the Bastards, that's what the British did to this island.

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The island you don't remember the name of, Yeah, I

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want to say it started with an M or where

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it was? Maybe should find it, you know, like a

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region in the world where this island was. Nar Was

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it okay? I don't nar Was it a Latin American country?

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Nod Eastern? I don't know where the island was. Oh,

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here it is, okay. See, that's the last time I

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listened to, Oh the Chagos Islands. Okay. So it says

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how the British The title of the episode, it's the

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last time I listened to so and it's from June.

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So that's why I said I was behind anyway. So

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it's a two part episodes and it's titled how the

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British Empire and oh, I forgot the US was also

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involved anyway, but of course they were right. They're always

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in cahoods, these two. So it's called how the British

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Empire and US Department of Defense murdered an island paradise

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And yeah, so it's about the Chagos Island and I

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don't remember where they are, but what I do remember

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is that enslaved Africans ended up on this island. I

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don't remember how, and basically they made this island their

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own and it was this beautiful, beautiful paradise where they

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lived communally. They weren't used to like you know, the

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rest of the world, like capitalism things like that. And

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then the British forced themselves onto this island because there

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was a strategic place for them, I don't know, military wise,

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and so basically they kicked everybody out of the island

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and the people from Chago's ended up in Britain. But

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they didn't even tell the people from Chago's Islands that

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they were entitled to a citizenship, because then they would

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have to tell them that they kicked them out. And like,

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basically these people were laughing nothing wow. And I don't

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remember if it was in part one or part two,

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but they talk about Culebra Island and how they basically

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fought back against this happening to them, because that's like

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the colonizer dream, kicking you off through land and then

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like having nothing to do with them and helping them

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do nothing. Yeah, so of course this is what they

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wanted to do. So Yeah, in the mid nineteen fifties,

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the US Navy proposed to evict all of Kulebra's residents

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in order to expand the military base, but the Puerto

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Rican government resisted, saying that according to US law, a

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popular vote needed to happen to abolish the municipality of Culebra.

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So they're like, you can't just kick us out, like

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we have to agree as the Puerto Rican government to

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get rid of this municipality. And yes, So that was

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the first time, and then the second time they wanted

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to do that again, the people were like, fuck this ship.

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And the second time was nineteen seventy. Yeah, nineteen seventy.

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So the residents of Culebra fought back through civil disobedience.

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I love some civil disabiliens. We love us some civil

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disobedience and more of that, we really do more. Yeah,

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Culibranes held protests on the beaches, and after a court

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upheld the Navy's right to use Culebra as a military base.

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The court, the US Court sided with the US Navy. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

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of course. Okay, So after that, you know, the gulib

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Dances were pissed off, rightfully, so they marched to a

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local command post and threatened in the navy with an

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ultimatum they would use direct action to force the removal

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of the Navy. And they did that. Okay, Like what

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was the ultimatum, leave now or will make you leave?

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They said, leave or we're gonna make your lives hell.

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We're not gonna let you work. Basically, we're going to

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protest and protests and protests and show up here every day. Yeah,

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that was ultimatum. And while the protests were going on,

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at the same time, the Puerto Rican Senate passed a

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resolution asking then President Nixon to reevaluate the Navy's presence

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on the island. So there was like multiple avenues of

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like fighting this right, So throughout the summer and for

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seven months straight, the Colabrentes. In March, they held sit end,

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they created blockades with the goal of ending US Navy

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occupation in June nineteen seventy twenty Colabrentes. They created a

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human chain to block ship to shore missile fire. Then

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a three day long encampment was held, which attracted two

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hundred people. Wow. And the encampment was organized by the

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Puerto Rican Independence Party, which was led by Ruben Berrios Martinez.

216
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And so yeah, I mean they held protests. After protests,

217
00:14:17.320 --> 00:14:22.399
they blocked ships basically, right, Yeah, And like a lot

218
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of the any type of training that has to do

219
00:14:25.080 --> 00:14:28.039
with life, gunfire you cannot start if someone is in

220
00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:31.759
the range. And so they're blocking this training by standing

221
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where the gunfire is supposed to be happening. And I

222
00:14:34.080 --> 00:14:40.039
love that. And then yeah, they hold that encampment basically

223
00:14:40.120 --> 00:14:43.240
just being in the way, which is what you need

224
00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:47.200
to do. So then the Navy tried to make a

225
00:14:47.240 --> 00:14:51.480
deal with the Puerto Rican Independence Party like okay, like

226
00:14:51.559 --> 00:14:56.080
stop doing all this and we'll let you guys have

227
00:14:56.159 --> 00:14:59.440
thirty five jobs, Like we'll take over the island still

228
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and you guys, thirty five of you can work here.

229
00:15:03.039 --> 00:15:06.919
What a shit deal? That was their deal? Like, no,

230
00:15:07.080 --> 00:15:10.000
take that deal and show it up your asks exactly exactly.

231
00:15:11.919 --> 00:15:14.440
So yeah, of course, the Perdekins were like, no, thank you,

232
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and in response they picketed at a proposed demolition site.

233
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So yeah, like, protests continued, and the following year, in

234
00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:27.759
nineteen seventy one, the Pretty Rican Independence Party organized our

235
00:15:27.799 --> 00:15:30.600
march to the entrance of the Navy base and then

236
00:15:30.799 --> 00:15:35.279
another action with the help of Rescue Culebra Committee, the

237
00:15:35.320 --> 00:15:39.240
Clergy Committee to Rescue Culebra and a Quaker action group.

238
00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:43.159
And honestly, Quakers are always always like doing this kind

239
00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:46.240
of stuff, which I love. They're always showing up. Yeah,

240
00:15:46.639 --> 00:15:50.039
Like whenever you hear a movement, it's surprising Quakers if

241
00:15:50.039 --> 00:15:52.919
the Quakers are not involved, right, right, even in like

242
00:15:52.960 --> 00:15:56.080
the US and the anti abolitionist movements, the Quakers were

243
00:15:56.080 --> 00:15:58.320
one of the first to hop on that. Yeah yeah.

244
00:15:58.440 --> 00:16:01.759
And I remember when we also did the sanctuary movement.

245
00:16:01.879 --> 00:16:04.039
The Quakers were involved with that too when we did that,

246
00:16:04.200 --> 00:16:12.720
and of course they were yeah yeah, so they protesters,

247
00:16:13.080 --> 00:16:16.759
like all these groups working together as a form of protests.

248
00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:20.279
They attempted or they actually I don't know why wrote

249
00:16:20.279 --> 00:16:23.440
attimpay they did. They built a chapel on Plunaco Beach

250
00:16:23.559 --> 00:16:26.840
where a church had been previously demolished. By the military.

251
00:16:26.919 --> 00:16:30.279
They said, you can. You can tear this church down once,

252
00:16:30.440 --> 00:16:32.759
but we're gonna build it again and again and again

253
00:16:33.000 --> 00:16:38.480
and again. So yeah, this action to build this chapel

254
00:16:38.679 --> 00:16:43.200
was coordinated to disrupt Operation Springboard, which was a huge

255
00:16:43.240 --> 00:16:48.120
training involving sixty thousand troops from eight countries. And so

256
00:16:48.279 --> 00:16:51.279
because they were in the way building this chapel, right,

257
00:16:51.720 --> 00:16:56.039
they just they disrupted this huge like I love I

258
00:16:56.039 --> 00:16:58.399
can already picture the meetings between all the higher ropes,

259
00:16:58.440 --> 00:17:01.679
like make them stop, and they're like we can yeah. Yeah,

260
00:17:01.679 --> 00:17:05.839
and then they throw someone at the window, you know. Yeah.

261
00:17:05.880 --> 00:17:09.240
So then police tried to put up a barbed wire

262
00:17:09.359 --> 00:17:12.240
fence to you know, some of the protesters, but the

263
00:17:12.240 --> 00:17:15.559
protesters said no, and they traveled by sea, carrying all

264
00:17:15.599 --> 00:17:19.640
the building materials on boats. Oh my god, can you

265
00:17:20.279 --> 00:17:23.519
this is insane? Yeah, I can picture this, and this

266
00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:27.519
is just beautiful, Like, let me just carry all this

267
00:17:28.119 --> 00:17:32.559
on a boat, like we will travel by c Yeah.

268
00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:35.880
And these I would imagine are not fancy boats. I

269
00:17:35.960 --> 00:17:40.960
imagine they're like fishing boats. There's a lot of trips. Yeah,

270
00:17:41.119 --> 00:17:45.440
And although this was successful, this was not without consequence

271
00:17:45.519 --> 00:17:50.480
for the protesters, and eventually, uh, Ruben Rios Martinez and

272
00:17:50.519 --> 00:17:52.640
thirteen others were sent to president, but it was only

273
00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:55.440
for a few months. Okay, Yeah, that's good at least

274
00:17:55.440 --> 00:17:58.039
because they could keep making new things up for leaving

275
00:17:58.079 --> 00:18:01.519
them there. Yeah, you know they could and they that. Yeah.

276
00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:07.640
In nineteen seventy, a culibrence named that Clado Feliciano was

277
00:18:07.680 --> 00:18:11.720
interviewed by the Toronto Globe about the Navy occupation and

278
00:18:11.839 --> 00:18:14.480
he said, the Navy is a ghost. It is in

279
00:18:14.559 --> 00:18:16.759
the water, in the air, in the land, but we

280
00:18:16.839 --> 00:18:19.319
cannot speak with it. It is not in contact with

281
00:18:19.640 --> 00:18:23.680
this village or people. And yeah, I mean if that's

282
00:18:23.799 --> 00:18:26.640
not a perfect way of putting it right, Like the

283
00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:29.720
Navy is everywhere just bruing in their lives and they

284
00:18:29.759 --> 00:18:33.759
have no say I mean no say, no power. Yeah yeah,

285
00:18:34.359 --> 00:18:37.079
until they started, you know, all this to fight back.

286
00:18:37.119 --> 00:18:40.279
That's what I was gonna say. Yeah. And then mayor

287
00:18:40.359 --> 00:18:44.599
of Culebra Ramon Feliciano, And I don't know if he

288
00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:48.200
was related to Clado Feliciano. I didn't see that anyway.

289
00:18:48.240 --> 00:18:52.720
I wonder he was also known as Don Moncin. It's

290
00:18:52.799 --> 00:18:56.599
kind of cute. Yeah, I'm gonna call him Don Moncin. So, yeah,

291
00:18:56.640 --> 00:18:58.759
Don Moncin went to the United States to find a

292
00:18:58.839 --> 00:19:03.079
lawyer willing to sue the Navy, and eventually Puerto Rico

293
00:19:03.160 --> 00:19:06.000
did win the case. And I saw like different things,

294
00:19:06.119 --> 00:19:09.000
so like it wasn't clear to me if the Navy left.

295
00:19:09.079 --> 00:19:11.519
I think the Navy love because of combination of everything,

296
00:19:11.920 --> 00:19:15.000
not just a lawsuit, because at one point it looks

297
00:19:15.079 --> 00:19:19.440
it's a terrible look like nobody wants to hear. Yeah, exactly.

298
00:19:19.839 --> 00:19:25.160
And the continuous protests were garnering like worldwide attention at

299
00:19:25.160 --> 00:19:29.680
this point, and people all over the world and in

300
00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:31.880
Latin America were mad at the United States for this.

301
00:19:32.799 --> 00:19:38.440
I love that. So then in January nineteen seventy one,

302
00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:42.640
the Culebra Agreement was signed between Puerto Rico and the

303
00:19:42.799 --> 00:19:46.680
US Secretary of the Navy, in which the Navy agreed

304
00:19:46.720 --> 00:19:49.839
to LOGI to another island for their training by nineteen

305
00:19:49.880 --> 00:19:53.000
seventy two, and they would stop using Culebra for bombing

306
00:19:53.039 --> 00:19:58.079
practice by nineteen seventy five. And when the Secretary of

307
00:19:58.119 --> 00:20:03.359
Defense left the signing agreement, he greeted a protester, Hello,

308
00:20:03.400 --> 00:20:06.440
and a protester was like, I can't return agreeing to

309
00:20:06.480 --> 00:20:10.000
you after what you did here today. Oh, I love

310
00:20:10.039 --> 00:20:12.720
that he said hello, and he said not today, sir,

311
00:20:13.000 --> 00:20:18.799
not today, Yeah, not today, not ever ever. Yeah, and

312
00:20:19.519 --> 00:20:23.519
things got worse though, because oh my god, no. Yeah.

313
00:20:23.559 --> 00:20:25.160
Well I don't know if it's worse or they stayed

314
00:20:25.160 --> 00:20:28.119
the same, because within a year of the agreement, the

315
00:20:28.119 --> 00:20:32.440
Secretary of Defense basically backtracked. Instead the United States would

316
00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:36.000
continue to use the military base in Kulebra until nineteen

317
00:20:36.039 --> 00:20:40.160
eighty five. Wow, but maybe indefinitely was what they said,

318
00:20:40.240 --> 00:20:44.359
that they would maybe definitely keep using Wow. Wow, that's

319
00:20:44.400 --> 00:20:47.960
not even after they agreed to stop. Yeah, of course

320
00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:50.880
they did this, of course, because this is what they do. Yeah.

321
00:20:51.079 --> 00:20:53.720
This isn't even like a normal backtrack. This is like,

322
00:20:54.319 --> 00:20:57.559
this is huge. It's like nevermind, like forget everything I said,

323
00:20:57.880 --> 00:21:00.480
we take it back, all of it. Yeah. So, of

324
00:21:00.519 --> 00:21:04.519
course has caused uproar and further protests, and protesters put

325
00:21:04.559 --> 00:21:07.880
up a cross where the chapel was constructed. So they

326
00:21:07.880 --> 00:21:11.759
added to the building, love it, and the cross said

327
00:21:11.960 --> 00:21:14.400
you tore down a chapel, but you can't destroy the

328
00:21:14.440 --> 00:21:19.000
spirit that builds it ever again and yeah. Then the

329
00:21:19.039 --> 00:21:24.279
action spread from Puerto Rico to Washington, DC, and so

330
00:21:25.079 --> 00:21:28.079
the chapel was reconstructed in the by the Pentagon as

331
00:21:28.119 --> 00:21:32.960
a former protest Ooh and okay, sorry, so I meant

332
00:21:33.000 --> 00:21:35.039
to put this higher up because then I found out

333
00:21:35.079 --> 00:21:38.079
that I think don Mond Chin's and lawsuit actually came

334
00:21:38.240 --> 00:21:41.920
after this backtracking from the Secretary of Defense. Oh okay,

335
00:21:42.039 --> 00:21:44.720
I mean because yeah, they made a deal. Yeah. Yeah.

336
00:21:45.359 --> 00:21:49.240
And so it was after the victory of the lawsuit

337
00:21:49.279 --> 00:21:52.960
that the Navy left I think, okay, And that was

338
00:21:53.000 --> 00:21:57.000
when they relocated to Vieks But the victory in Kulebra

339
00:21:57.119 --> 00:22:00.160
inspired Viekis to fight against the military occupation. And we

340
00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:02.599
know that they succeeded. We know how that went because

341
00:22:02.640 --> 00:22:04.960
we have a whole episode on it. Yeah, but we

342
00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:07.519
know it took a while, and it took the death

343
00:22:07.720 --> 00:22:11.119
of one young Puerto Rican I think. I remember, he

344
00:22:11.200 --> 00:22:14.359
must have been like eighteen. I think, yeah, he was young,

345
00:22:14.400 --> 00:22:16.920
that's all I remember. Yeah. And so there's still war

346
00:22:16.960 --> 00:22:21.119
tanks left behind on Flamenco Beach. And for tourists these

347
00:22:21.160 --> 00:22:24.079
tanks are just a macob curiosity, but for the locals

348
00:22:24.079 --> 00:22:28.279
they're a reminder of US colonialism and imperialism and for

349
00:22:28.319 --> 00:22:33.240
the continuous battle against it. And tourists and locals continue

350
00:22:33.279 --> 00:22:35.759
to be harmed by the explosives that were left behind,

351
00:22:36.519 --> 00:22:39.640
with one of the most recent hospitalizations being in twenty

352
00:22:39.759 --> 00:22:43.839
thirteen when a young girl was hospitalized after being burned

353
00:22:43.880 --> 00:22:47.400
by white phosphorus. Wow, after she found it on the beach.

354
00:22:47.640 --> 00:22:50.400
Oh on the beach. Yeah, this must be the same

355
00:22:50.400 --> 00:22:53.880
situation as BIEC has really refused to clean There's been

356
00:22:53.920 --> 00:22:55.960
some cleanups. The last one I saw was in twenty

357
00:22:55.960 --> 00:23:01.079
twenty two, but I couldn't find theos in twenty twenty

358
00:23:01.400 --> 00:23:04.200
and this comes from the reports of the cleanups. In

359
00:23:04.279 --> 00:23:08.519
twenty twenty thirty one, munitions were removed from the northwest

360
00:23:08.599 --> 00:23:11.920
peninsula of the island, and as of twenty twenty one,

361
00:23:12.039 --> 00:23:16.359
over five thousand pieces of unexploded ordnance and over one

362
00:23:16.440 --> 00:23:19.519
hundred and fifty thousand pounds of munition debris were recovered.

363
00:23:20.880 --> 00:23:24.000
Oh good, okay, And this was not the most recent cleanup.

364
00:23:24.119 --> 00:23:26.480
There was one. I think the what I saw was

365
00:23:26.480 --> 00:23:30.039
twenty twenty two maybe the latest one, and this is

366
00:23:30.079 --> 00:23:32.640
more recent, but it was something we talked about also,

367
00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:37.079
I think when we talked about veeks. But Culebra continues

368
00:23:37.160 --> 00:23:41.880
to fight right against I guess now modern day Colonis colonialism,

369
00:23:42.240 --> 00:23:46.599
which is the threat of developers taking over the island.

370
00:23:47.119 --> 00:23:50.559
Oh yeah, and one of the main developers in the

371
00:23:50.599 --> 00:23:55.680
area is Puerto Rico Land and Fruit, and their principal

372
00:23:55.799 --> 00:24:00.000
partner is Victor Gonzalez Barona, who is also the present

373
00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.160
cident of Wendemar Home, a company that sells solar panels

374
00:24:04.200 --> 00:24:09.279
in Puerto Rico. After the company bought land in El Moyesito.

375
00:24:09.400 --> 00:24:10.640
This is like a little I don't know if it's

376
00:24:10.640 --> 00:24:15.920
a little neighborhood, but it's in Culebra. Okay. So they

377
00:24:16.640 --> 00:24:19.839
after the company bought the land in in Moyesito, they

378
00:24:19.839 --> 00:24:25.279
built a concrete fence in in Moyasito, blocking access to

379
00:24:25.359 --> 00:24:29.480
this popular area but that the community uses or used

380
00:24:29.559 --> 00:24:35.119
to come together for celebrations. And so the community, with

381
00:24:35.319 --> 00:24:40.680
their fighting spirit that never left, they fought back just

382
00:24:40.680 --> 00:24:42.720
like they did, you know, all those years ago. And

383
00:24:42.799 --> 00:24:46.359
so the wall was eventually taken down after the issue

384
00:24:46.400 --> 00:24:51.640
went to court. But Victor Gonzalez Barona and his developing

385
00:24:51.680 --> 00:24:54.839
and his company continue to cause harm to the quilibrentis

386
00:24:54.880 --> 00:24:58.240
by building property in a flamenco beach and renting it

387
00:24:58.440 --> 00:25:02.599
as short tomntals like Airbnb. Wow, Okay, I was gonna say,

388
00:25:02.599 --> 00:25:06.680
like Airbnb yep, yep. And there's a lot of oh sorry,

389
00:25:06.720 --> 00:25:08.799
I'll go ahead. I was gonna say, there's a lot

390
00:25:08.839 --> 00:25:13.640
of try attempting to block public beach access. It's like

391
00:25:13.680 --> 00:25:16.119
a huge issue in Puerto Rico because all beaches are public.

392
00:25:16.119 --> 00:25:19.400
But then there's these like developers that are building beachfront

393
00:25:19.440 --> 00:25:22.640
houses and then went to them to Americans who are like,

394
00:25:22.720 --> 00:25:25.319
this is my beach, but there are no there is

395
00:25:25.359 --> 00:25:27.559
no this is my beach in Puerto Rico. It's ours.

396
00:25:27.559 --> 00:25:32.839
It's all players like it's public. Yeah, and the ongoing

397
00:25:32.920 --> 00:25:37.880
development is also harming the environment of course, like the

398
00:25:37.880 --> 00:25:42.440
biodiversity of the reefs, which in turn affects still like

399
00:25:42.480 --> 00:25:46.160
the fishing again just like before, all of that science stuff,

400
00:25:46.960 --> 00:25:51.799
which is important of course, and even in one area

401
00:25:52.000 --> 00:25:55.559
of when it turned the water brown and where it

402
00:25:55.640 --> 00:25:59.519
was a beautiful clear blue before. Right, Oh my god,

403
00:25:59.599 --> 00:26:03.759
that's just sad, yeah, infuriating both Yeah, and this is

404
00:26:03.799 --> 00:26:08.160
an issue all over Puerto Rico. Mm hmm. And then

405
00:26:08.240 --> 00:26:14.240
there's issues with basically companies not respecting the policies that

406
00:26:14.279 --> 00:26:17.160
are put in place because they're supposed to be like

407
00:26:17.839 --> 00:26:21.200
extra caution when developing on cu Libra because of the

408
00:26:21.240 --> 00:26:24.640
bombs and shit that were left behind, but they don't care.

409
00:26:24.759 --> 00:26:29.759
They like over they passed this thing that was put

410
00:26:29.759 --> 00:26:32.680
in place. I did not write down what it stands for,

411
00:26:32.759 --> 00:26:36.000
but the abbreviations are actic and it's supposed to be

412
00:26:36.160 --> 00:26:39.160
a committee to help protect the environment. And they're supposed

413
00:26:39.160 --> 00:26:45.319
to approve any development projects in cu Libra. But major

414
00:26:45.519 --> 00:26:49.759
like corporations and whatever developers they just bypass this. They yeah,

415
00:26:49.759 --> 00:26:52.960
they don't even seek permission, they just do it. Yeah. Wow.

416
00:26:53.480 --> 00:26:57.519
So yeah, and this is, you know, only one of

417
00:26:57.559 --> 00:27:01.480
the issues that Puerto Rico know continues to face, as

418
00:27:01.519 --> 00:27:05.359
well as just being a colony in the first place, right, Like, yeah,

419
00:27:05.400 --> 00:27:08.200
there's still a call of that too. So yeah, I

420
00:27:08.240 --> 00:27:10.880
just wanted to bring attention to that a little bit.

421
00:27:10.920 --> 00:27:13.440
And all of that came from a video from I

422
00:27:13.480 --> 00:27:15.440
forgot her last neighbor. Her heirst name is Bianca. She's

423
00:27:15.480 --> 00:27:17.880
like a journalist. Oh my god, I love her. I

424
00:27:17.920 --> 00:27:20.279
follow her on TikTok and she has a bunch of

425
00:27:20.319 --> 00:27:22.640
videos on Puerto Rico but also inside of other Yeah.

426
00:27:22.720 --> 00:27:25.559
I follow her on YouTube. Yeah that's where I watch

427
00:27:25.559 --> 00:27:27.759
all her stuff on YouTube. Oh, I need to subscribe.

428
00:27:27.799 --> 00:27:30.440
I just follow her on TikTok. Well, I'll find it

429
00:27:30.559 --> 00:27:32.240
the link and put it in the show notes. I

430
00:27:32.279 --> 00:27:37.640
have the links in the course you do, yeah, unlike you? Yes,

431
00:27:37.799 --> 00:27:43.400
I put everything here. And also, after researching all of this,

432
00:27:43.519 --> 00:27:46.000
I added a new book to my TBR which is

433
00:27:46.160 --> 00:27:51.680
Targetulebra by Richard D. Copaken, who was a lawyer who

434
00:27:51.680 --> 00:27:54.640
represented the Colibans in their fight against the navy. Oh

435
00:27:55.200 --> 00:27:58.759
all right, well I will also added to my tv rcs.

436
00:27:59.599 --> 00:28:03.319
Sounds fascinating. Yeah, and so that was the story of

437
00:28:03.359 --> 00:28:07.480
Culebra Island and when they kicked the Navy of their island.

438
00:28:07.599 --> 00:28:11.480
This amazing. I love when a community just comes together

439
00:28:11.559 --> 00:28:16.880
like this to kick out military forces that shouldn't be there. Okay, well, yeah,

440
00:28:16.920 --> 00:28:21.519
thanks for sharing that. I guess this is the end

441
00:28:21.559 --> 00:28:25.319
of the episode, right, Yes, anything you want to add

442
00:28:25.359 --> 00:28:29.599
before we go? I don't think so. What's there anything

443
00:28:29.640 --> 00:28:32.039
you want to add? Yeah? I just want to thank

444
00:28:32.200 --> 00:28:36.960
new listeners for listening and for leaving us nice comments.

445
00:28:37.400 --> 00:28:41.680
Oh yeah, there was a comment on one of our

446
00:28:41.720 --> 00:28:45.519
older posts. It doesn't matter how old the posts is.

447
00:28:45.519 --> 00:28:48.799
Feel free to comment. We love to see it, we do.

448
00:28:49.319 --> 00:28:51.000
I thought you were gonna see what the comment was. No,

449
00:28:51.079 --> 00:28:52.960
I don't remember what it was. It was a good comment,

450
00:28:53.000 --> 00:28:56.039
that's all I remember. Yeah, yeah, it was a good comment.

451
00:28:56.079 --> 00:28:59.319
We've also had nice comments on threads. Yes, we've been

452
00:28:59.400 --> 00:29:02.119
semi ax on threads. You never know who's posting on threads.

453
00:29:02.160 --> 00:29:04.960
It could be either one of us. Yeah, yeah, it

454
00:29:04.960 --> 00:29:08.480
could be either one of us. Yeah yeah. And but

455
00:29:08.880 --> 00:29:11.400
so yeah, we've been a little active on there. Uh

456
00:29:11.640 --> 00:29:14.599
and yeah, we've just been receiving comments that are like, oh,

457
00:29:14.640 --> 00:29:16.799
we started listening and we know we love it. So

458
00:29:17.319 --> 00:29:20.160
those are the kind of comments that we love. Yes,

459
00:29:20.240 --> 00:29:22.079
we love to see it, we love to read it.

460
00:29:22.680 --> 00:29:24.920
But more than anything, I'm just glad people are finding

461
00:29:25.559 --> 00:29:30.039
the podcasts in order to hear these stories, which are

462
00:29:30.079 --> 00:29:38.279
our stories, our history, right as a collective Latinez right. Yes, exactly.

463
00:29:38.920 --> 00:29:41.119
As much as I love hearing how much you love

464
00:29:41.279 --> 00:29:44.960
the podcast, is more important that the stories are being heard. Yeah,

465
00:29:45.119 --> 00:29:48.440
you know, stories that you know, they're important. That's why

466
00:29:48.440 --> 00:29:50.759
we do it, and they deserve to be told and heard.

467
00:29:50.839 --> 00:29:55.960
Yeah yeah, yeah. Yeah. And also we're like dead inside

468
00:29:56.000 --> 00:29:59.440
because it's almost seven pm and there's nowhere like yeah,

469
00:29:59.440 --> 00:30:01.279
we have so little energy to give at this time,

470
00:30:02.039 --> 00:30:06.400
and I'm sick right now. So yeah, if we might

471
00:30:06.400 --> 00:30:09.599
not sound as excited, but we are. Yeah to say

472
00:30:09.680 --> 00:30:12.799
thank you to all of our new listeners. Yes yeah,

473
00:30:12.839 --> 00:30:16.160
so as always, if you have enjoyed the podcast so far,

474
00:30:16.720 --> 00:30:20.640
feel free to leave us a nice review, a little

475
00:30:21.200 --> 00:30:27.759
high rating, recommend us to your people. Yeah, and thanks

476
00:30:27.799 --> 00:30:30.720
for listening. So I guess this is the end. We

477
00:30:30.759 --> 00:30:32.839
hope this is one LESSI studia unknown for you and

478
00:30:32.920 --> 00:30:42.079
goodbye my everything before you said it, I know this

479
00:30:43.880 --> 00:30:46.640
for no reason. I know. I know