PUERTO RICO: U.S. MILITARY BUILDUP CONTINUES DESPITE PROTESTS

SAN JUAN, Feb 15 (IPS) - In spite of protests by environmental, peace and
pro-independence groups, the United States military is proceeding with wh
at is being described as an anti-drug radar system and the installation of
the U.S Army Southern Command (USARSO) in Puerto Rico.

The U.S Navy's Relocatable Over the Horizon Radar (ROTHR), which is
supposed to spot clandestine airplanes carrying drugs from South America to
the United States, consists of two antenna arrays, both currently under
construction in the towns of Juana Diaz and Vieques.

ROTHR opponents are concerned about the impact its electromagnetic waves
might have on the health of nearby residents. They also suspect that the
real agenda is not to fight drugs but to perpetuate the U.S military
presence in Puerto Rico.

The Juana Diaz Pro-Quality of Life Committee (Comite Juanadino Pro-C alidad
de Vida), which opposes the radar, is engaged in a strategy centred aroun d
participation at public hearings, litigation in the courts and lobbying i n
Washington DC, says Committee spokesman Juan Rosario.

Radar opponents went to the courts to stop its construction. Their case is
now before the Puerto Rico Appeals Court.

"The Appeals Court could sit on the case for months, and then make a
decision after the radar's construction is finished," says Juan E. Rosar io
(no relation), spokesperson of Mision Industrial, a San Juan-based
environmental group.

As for lobbying, Rosario of Juana Diaz travelled last year to Washingt on
DC as part of a Puerto Rican delegation that spoke with U.S government
officials and members of congress. Delegation members asked the Bill
Clinton administration to stop the radar's construction at least until the
Puerto Rico Appeals Court decides on the case.

The spokesman of Mision Industrial points out that organising communit ies
at the grassroots level is the most important part of the campaign.

"What good is speaking to a member of the U.S congress if you do not spe ak
with the people in the area around the radar construction site?

"You have to organise the communities because you can go to a hearing or to
court with the best arguments and the best scientists, but if you don' t
have a movement to back you up, your struggle goes nowhere," says Juan E.
Rosario.

The other ROTHR facility is being built in the island-town of Vieques,
which lies right between the main island of Puerto Rico and the Virgin
Islands. Two-thirds of Vieques has been occupied by the U.S Navy since
World War Two.

The anti-radar campaign in Vieques builds on decades of anti-Navy
organising and activism.

Vieques residents are concerned about the effect that the ROTHR's
electromagnetic waves might have on their health.

"Our mayor, Manuela Santiago, has admitted publicly that she does not kn ow
what will the radar's impact be on our health. Meanwhile, the majority of
the population opposes the radar because they understand that there's a
relationship between electromagnetic waves and cancer," says Vieques
resident Robert Rabin.

On the other hand, the U.S military has begun USARSO's move from the Panama
Canal Zone to Puerto Rico's Fort Buchanan.

Sources inside the Teamsters Union, which represents Puerto Rican truck
drivers, informed a local weekly newspaper that there has been a dramati c
increase in the number of trucks going to and from Fort Buchanan these last
few weeks.

The U.S Department of Defense (DoD) carried out an environmental evaluation
(EE) of USARSO's relocation and concluded that it will not hav e a
significant environmental impact. Therefore, argues the DoD, there is n o
need for an environmental impact statement (EIS).

An EIS would require much more thorough studies as well as public hearings.

Rabin, who read the EE, reached the opposite conclusion: "According to this
document, the U.S Army Southern Command will carry out in Vieques a large
number of manoeuvres, which involve ships, tanks, helicopters and
airplanes, and the use of live ammunition of different calibres.

"As if by magic, the EE's authors, who happen to be in USARSO's payroll,
conclude that the bombing and the traffic of helicopters, tanks and
warships will not have a significant impact on Vieques," says Rabin.

The U.S military says USARSO's move to Puerto Rico will bring great
economic benefits to the town of Guaynabo, where Fort Buchanan is located.
But local peace activists are quick to dispute that claim.

"The economic benefits have been greatly exaggerated. USARSO really won' t
contribute to our economy because the soldiers will shop at stores inside
Fort Buchanan," says Wanda Colon, coordinator of the Caribbean Project for
Justice and Peace.