U.S. Will Close Puerto Rico Naval Base

AP | 9/23/03

[kattracks]

The Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico Sept. 23 — The United States will close its Roosevelt Roads Naval Station in eastern Puerto Rico within the next six months, the territory's congressional delegate said Tuesday. Congress and President Bush are expected to sign off on the closure by the end of next week, said Anibal Acevado Vila, the U.S. territory's nonvoting congressional delegate. The Pentagon did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

The base's closure comes after several years of protests against U.S. military exercises in Vieques, which ended with the Navy's May 1 withdrawal from its bombing range on that tiny outlying island.

The United States set up Roosevelt Roads and the Vieques bombing range in the 1940s and used it to prepare for international conflicts from World War II to the war in Afghanistan.

Roosevelt Roads was the site of the Atlantic Fleet Weapons Training Facility, which oversaw the exercises on Vieques.

Tensions between the Navy and locals heightened, however, when two errant bombs in 1999 killed a civilian guard on Vieques. Opponents said the bombing harmed the environment, the health of the island's 9,100 residents and its sole industries of fishing and tourism.

The Navy maintains the exercises never posed a health threat, but it turned to inert ammunition following the fatal accident.

Since 1999, more than 1,000 people including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Rev. Al Sharpton and actor Edward James Olmos have been arrested for breaking onto Navy lands to thwart the exercises.

Gov. Sila Calderon wanted Roosevelt Roads to remain open even after the end to Vieques military exercises.

Roosevelt Roads, which began laying off some of its 6,300 employees in April, injects an estimated $300 million a year into the U.S. Caribbean territory's economy.

Acevado Vila, who is running for governor in 2004 from Calderon's People's Democratic Party, said the base's closure would open opportunities for tourism and other investment.

[Cronos]

Good. Now they have a choice -- become the 51st state or stop riding piggyback getting all the benefits and none of the responsibilities

[battlegearboat]

I just reread your post.

You were royally ripped off by the taxi.

They have a "Publico" transportation system there.

All you do is stand out on PR-3 and wave down any car with "Publico" license plates.

Sure, you may be sharing the car with poultry, a pig and a guy with a machete, but it would've cost you three bucks to get to San Juan and Tony Tursi's Riveria Club where the revolving bar has a steel drum band playing in the hub.

[Fresh Wind]

Yeah, we will close the base but we will end up sending the $300 million per year there anyway. The only difference is that money won't be getting anywhere near the people who used to work at the base.

[Long Cut]

I spent my first week in PR on Roosey when we blew a turbine after our last mission on a FLEETEX in the mid-90's. Sheesh! Rum was $3.00 a bottle, and I don't think we spent one night sober.

Then, I got to ride out Hurricane Georges when it scoured the island in '98. The eye passed right over the base, winds hit 130 mph, and the duty van, the skipper's car, and the hangar were totalled. The van took a direct hit from a coconut which went in one window and out the other like a cannon shot. Skipper's ride was sandblasted to bare steel by flying gravel and was flooded after its windows blew out. My pilot then drove the soggy wreck to the hangar and had to call the skipper to tell him. His response? "Is the XO's car okay? Good...it's not his anymore..."

Fortunately (or unfortunately for our livers) the infamous Papa Joe's, outside the back gate, remained open.

[Green Knight]

Gov. Sila Calderon wanted Roosevelt Roads to remain open even after the end to Vieques military exercises.

[HIDEK6]

When ever there is a "peoples" before "Democratic" thats a dead commie give away.

Hell, you don't even need the "People's", anymore to know where the commies are.

They're blatant about it.

[Non-Sequitur]

Acevado Vila, who is running for governor in 2004 from Calderon's People's Democratic Party, said the base's closure would open opportunities for tourism and other investment.

At least he's taking a positive attitude towards the closing. The current governor wants the base to remain open to no purpose.

[Dog Gone]

I agree with your comment, but I think the only way to replace the $300 million would be to turn the base into a casino resort.

[Non-Sequitur]

I doubt that even casinos would do it. Gambling is everywhere in the U.S., there isn't the need to go overseas for it anymore. Tourism development of some sort would help but is there really any pent-up demand for that large a development in the Puerto Rico area. Well, it isn't the first military base closed with disasterous results to the surrounding area. Welcome to the real world.

[chimera]

I wonder if Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Rev. Al Sharpton and actor Edward James Olmos are going to pony up the $300 Million a year thet PR will lose because of their actions?

I don't think they will, but they'll probably blame Bush for not increasing the welfare allocation to PR to make up for the $300 million the PRicans pissed away by agitating against the US military. After all, why work when you can have the US taxpayer give you welfare?

[kabar]

At least he's taking a positive attitude towards the closing. The current governor wants the base to remain open to no purpose.

What choice do they have? It is a fait acompli. The current governor's failure of leadership contributed to the loss of the base. We should cut Puerto Rico loose and let it become an independent Carribean nation, which is in the its own best long-term interests and ours as well. The US doesn't need a colony.

[chimera]

Acevado Vila, who is running for governor in 2004 from Calderon's People's Democratic Party, said the base's closure would open opportunities for tourism and other investment.

Whistling past the graveyard. Tourism? Hell, when I go on vacation, the last place I want to stay is in a barracks on a military base.

"Other" investment? Like what? That sounds like our personnel office when they lay someone off (We'll really try hard to find you "other" work. What "other" work is that, digging cow$hit?).

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Having lived in Hampton Roads, I often think that NOB should pull out, too! The locals would wither away, and no longer have the Navy to blame for all of their troubles.

[Travis McGee]

Yank the bull's tail, get the horns. Too bad for the towns around Rosy Roads though.

Asi es la vida.

[oyez]

I don't remember a lot but, we were on a short teather ar Rosey and didn't get off base. My E-6 buddy and I were asked to leave the AceyDucey club because I was E-5. Then there was the universal transportation, "cattle cars". I never knew why the Navy was slow to catch on to the concept of buses.

[cookcounty]

I wonder if Jesse Jackson and Luis Guitierrez will show up all smiles and claim victory at the de-commissioning ceremony? ----probably not.

[battlegearboat]

Now, why would a E-5 be asked to leave the Acey/Deucy club?

The very name implies that it is a club for Second and First Class Petty Officers.

[rabidralph]

the base's closure would open opportunities for tourism and other investment.

Oh yeah, like South Africa's economy took off after the country was turned over to the majority race.

[Okies love Dubya 2]

My husband was stationed at RR from late 96 to early 99. We had the great 'fortune' to experience Georges too (from enlisted housing POV). My sis in law was visiting at the time (lucky her), and our first child was 3.5 months old. I remember watching tree limbs, signs, etc. go flying or floating past our house. We were lucky enough to have a generator but we still lost a fridge full of food and an area rug due to incoming water. The worst part of it was being without power for 2 weeks and the smell that came from dead fish and mangroves. Since we had no A/C, we had to keep the windows open (great for the appetite). Ah, memories :)

Everyone who came to visit us had to make a trip to the Bacardi factory, although they got their cheap rum at the Exchange to take back home. My mom bought enough that I think she still has a bottle or two in the liquor cabinet, lol (and we left there over 4 years ago). Drinking and barbequing seemed to be our two favorite pasttimes down there!

[solo gringo]

Mabe they can get hillary and sharpton or mabe jesse and mrs jesse to turn off the lites and lock the gate when we leave.