Puerto Rican tourism officials found themselves scrambling this week to respond to a two-part report on CNN titled "Poisoned Paradise" that revealed lingering health concerns about Vieques, an island that lies seven miles off the east coast of Puerto Rico.
The series offered evidence of widespread health problems among Vieques residents that have been widely attributed to the U.S. Navy’s 62 years of shelling the eastern end of the island for target practice.
It took decades of protests, occasionally violent, and legal maneuvering to force the U.S. government to pull the Navy out of Vieques, after which it was widely assumed that the island’s many miles of pristine beaches would attract a wealth of tourism investments.
This is not the first time that the high cancer rate among the Viequenses has been linked to the Navy’s activities. In fact, the issue has surfaced repeatedly over the years. CNN’s on-air interviews with afflicted islanders were compelling and troubling, and they elicited strong comments, pro and con, from viewers.
Following the CNN airing, Jaime Lopez-Diaz, executive director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Co., issued a statement urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Navy "to aggressively step up their important work on Vieques, because our first and primary concern is the health of its residents."
He also acknowledged that a crucial need "remains to ensure that Vieques’ natural beauty is preserved and affected areas restored" so that the island can evolve into a world-class destination, which "can only be accomplished with the EPA’s environmental restoration experts leading the way."
Lopez-Diaz called Vieques the "jewel of the Caribbean, a beautiful and natural tourist destination" and said that areas of the island already are benefitting from hotel and other tourist-related development.
No response from Starwood
That development includes the scheduled May opening of the 157-room W Retreat & Spa, Vieques Island, the first W resort in the Caribbean and only the second W Retreat & Spa anywhere.
The W is situated on the site of the former Martineau Bay resort, roughly 10 miles from the bombing site on the eastern end of the island. Following a $100 million renovation, it will feature all the bells and whistles of a luxury resort with four restaurants, a 6,000-square-foot spa, two beaches and round-the-clock concierge services.
W’s parent company, Starwood, did not comment directly on the CNN report.
In a statement, it described Vieques as "a destination where one can go to discover the undiscovered. We are confident that the Retreat will enable travelers to experience the natural beauty of Vieques while also bringing economic development to the island and to its residents."
But realizing that vision could prove to be a significant challenge amid health concerns.
From 1941 through 2003, the U.S. Navy used Vieques as a bombing range and weapons testing site. In addition to using the island for its own target practice, it leased the range to the navies of other countries that purchased munitions from U.S. weapons manufacturers.
In its report, CNN asserted that "62 years of exposure to napalm, depleted uranium and agent orange leaves an alarming toxic health legacy for the Vieques people, 9,000 U.S. citizens."
The former bombing range, which ran down the eastern edge of the island, is now a wildlife refuge, but the residue from the toxins remains in the island’s air, water, soil, marine life and residents, according to the CNN report.
In fact, one expert claimed that the munitions left behind continue to leak, particularly on land that once comprised the bombing range.
The leftover bombs are leaching high levels of toxic heavy metals and carcinogens, researcher James Porter of the University of Georgia said in the CNN report.
The Environmental Protection Agency designated parts of Vieques a Superfund toxic site in 2005, requiring the Navy to commence a cleanup of the former bombing range.
The Navy then identified thousands of unexploded munitions, but when it began blowing them up to destroy them, many islanders were outraged, claiming that the "cleanup" was releasing still more toxic chemicals.
Findings backed by numbers
In addition to interviews with residents afflicted with various illnesses and forms of cancer, CNN cited numerous statistics to bolster its findings.
Representative Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) testified last April at a hearing addressing the failures of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry that "infant mortality in most of Puerto Rico is decreasing, but in Vieques it is increasing and has been since 1980. A 2001 study showed that 30% of the children under 10 years old show toxic levels of mercury."
More than 7,000 island residents have filed a multibillion-dollar lawsuit against the U.S. government, claiming that what the U.S. military did on Vieques has made them sick. They want help and compensation for the numerous illnesses they say they suffer.
The government’s response to the lawsuit was to invoke sovereign immunity, arguing that residents have no right to sue the government, according to CNN.
The government also cited a 2003 study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that found no link.
CNN reported that the CDC plans to take another look at the study and continue trying to determine if residents might have been sickened by contamination from the Navy range.
Another medical specialist, Dr. John Wargo, a professor at Yale who studies the effects of toxic exposures on human health, described Vieques "as probably one of the most highly contaminated sites in the world. This results from the longevity of the chemical release, the bombs, artillery shells, chemical and biological weapons, fuels and flame retardants which have all been released on the island."
Wargo is expected to testify as an expert witness in the lawsuit.