[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:09.50,0:00:12.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Vieques, January 2013.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:12.77,0:00:16.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The small Carribean island boasts some of the most beautiful beaches in the world.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:16.92,0:00:21.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That is home to generations of men and women who survive from the bounty of the ocean and the land.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:21.53,0:00:25.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It is also the stomping ground of thousands of feral horses.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:25.29,0:00:29.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Vieques is a municipality of what is now known as Puerto Rico,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:29.04,0:00:32.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a colony of the United States of America.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:33.26,0:00:36.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Viequenses like all Puerto Ricans are citizens of the American empire,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:36.82,0:00:40.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but this so-called privilege does not guarantee them the right to their land.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:41.27,0:00:47.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the 1940's the US Navy forcibly evicted the people of Viques out of the east and west sides of the island.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:47.29,0:00:53.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And installed naval bases and uses pristine beaches as heavy weaponry target ranges.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:53.12,0:00:58.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They tested experimental weapons, fired missiles with depleted uranium, and deployed napalm and agent orange.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:58.83,0:01:04.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,NATO member nations also had access to these lands for bombing military excercises.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:04.40,0:01:10.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,At the end of the 20th century, a navy bomb struck and killed civilian security guard David Sanes.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:14.58,0:01:18.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,After 50+ years of bombings, abusive behavior by US service men,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:18.75,0:01:24.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and general disinterest by the Puerto Rican government, \Nthe people of Vieques had had enough.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:24.51,0:01:27.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Go back to your home, back you motherfucker!
Dialogue: 0,0:01:27.66,0:01:33.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They launched a campaign of civil disobedience and sabotage, that was joined by thousands of international sympathizers,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:33.30,0:01:35.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with the departure of the navy as the main objective.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:35.91,0:01:38.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Vieques's feral horses aided in this effort.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:47.08,0:01:54.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,On May 1st, 2003, as US president George Bush boasted about victory over Iraq aboard a navy aircraft carrier,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:54.82,0:01:58.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the same navy was quietly closing it's doors on Vieques.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:58.42,0:02:02.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This year people in Vieques are supposed to be celebrating the 10th anniversary of this victory.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:13.22,0:02:19.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The navy did not return the lands that were stolen, and instead transferred them to the US Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:19.90,0:02:26.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This federal agency set up rules that prohibit the locals from harvesting coconuts and trapping crabs and other sea animals.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:38.45,0:02:46.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Notwithstanding the navy's withdrawal, the presence of US customs and border agents reminds us that the militarization of the zone continues.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:46.31,0:02:53.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,While videotaping a border patrol vehicle we were told by a border cop that if we didn't delete the footage we would be arrested.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:03.24,0:03:10.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Even though the navy abandoned its large military basis and bombing ranges, it still retained a key piece of military infrastructure:
Dialogue: 0,0:03:10.03,0:03:13.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the navy's ROTHR installation,stands for:
Dialogue: 0,0:03:13.03,0:03:15.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Relocatable Over the Horizon Radar
Dialogue: 0,0:03:15.51,0:03:20.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a communications surveillance facility that allows the US to intercept communications past the equator
Dialogue: 0,0:03:20.86,0:03:25.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and deep into South America, with the pre-text of fighting the war on drugs.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:26.91,0:03:30.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the biggest legacy that the navy left behind is the thousands of unexploded missiles and bombs
Dialogue: 0,0:03:30.62,0:03:35.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that litter the beautiful coastal ecosystem of the island.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:35.28,0:03:38.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Missiles the navy promised to clean up 10 years ago.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:38.15,0:03:41.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We took a fishing boat to one of the bombing ranges to see for ourselves,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:41.27,0:03:44.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it didn't take long before us to be meters away from undetonated munitions.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:44.75,0:03:49.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The same munitions, that some say cause the abnormally high cancer rate in the local population.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:11.23,0:04:17.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The people we met admit that the battle is not over and that the future of Vieques doesn't lie in petitioning the government.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:17.79,0:04:24.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But in the same efforts of self-organization and resistance that kicked out the world's most powerful navy off their land.