U.S. Military Use of Culebra
From 1901 to 1975, the U.S. Navy used the island of Culebra for military exercises, displacing residents and contaminating the environment before community resistance forced the Navy's departure.
The U.S. Navy began using Culebra for target practice and military exercises in 1901, just three years after the U.S. invasion. Over the following decades, the military:
- Appropriated approximately two-thirds of the island for military use
- Conducted naval bombardment exercises, air-to-ground bombing, and amphibious landing drills
- Displaced residents from their homes and agricultural lands
- Contaminated soil and waters with unexploded ordnance and toxic materials
In the 1970s, Culebra's residents launched a sustained protest movement demanding the Navy's departure. Led by Mayor Ramón Feliciano and supported by the Puerto Rican Independence Party and environmental groups, the protests included civil disobedience, occupation of bombing ranges, and legal challenges.
President Richard Nixon ordered the Navy to cease operations on Culebra by July 1975. The Culebra victory was significant because it demonstrated that sustained community resistance could force the U.S. military to leave — a lesson that would be applied to the later Vieques campaign.
Sources
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Culebra and the U.S. Navy - Encyclopedia of Puerto Rico
https://en.enciclopediapr.org/content/culebra-and-the-u-s-navy/