Roosevelt Roads Naval Station (1943-2004)

Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, located in Ceiba on Puerto Rico's eastern coast, was the largest U.S. Navy installation in the world and the hub of the Atlantic Fleet Weapons Training Facility (AFWTF), which included the Vieques bombing range.

Scale:
- Over 32,000 acres of land (approximately 50 square miles)
- 1,600-acre airfield
- Deep-water port facilities
- Housing for thousands of military personnel and dependents
- The station employed approximately 6,000 people (military and civilian)

Strategic Use: Roosevelt Roads served as:
- Command center for Caribbean military operations
- Training facility for the Atlantic Fleet
- Drug interdiction operations center
- Staging area for military interventions in Latin America and the Caribbean
- The base from which operations against Vieques were coordinated

Closure: After the Vieques bombing range was closed in 2003 following sustained protests, the Navy announced the closure of Roosevelt Roads in 2004, arguing that without Vieques, the base had lost its primary training function. This announcement was seen by many as punitive — retaliating against Puerto Rico for the successful Vieques campaign.

Economic Impact: The closure eliminated approximately 6,000 jobs and an estimated $300 million in annual economic activity. The town of Ceiba and surrounding municipalities were devastated.

Environmental Legacy: The former base has significant environmental contamination:
- Petroleum contamination from fuel storage and operations
- Heavy metals in soils
- Unexploded ordnance in some areas
- Groundwater contamination

Redevelopment: The former base has been partially redeveloped as José Aponte de la Torre Airport and a mixed-use development zone, but progress has been slow and the area has not recovered the economic activity lost with the closure.

Roosevelt Roads illustrates the colonial economic trap: the military presence brought jobs and economic activity but at the cost of environmental contamination and complete dependency on a single employer — the colonial government. When that employer left, the community was left with the contamination but without the economic base.