U.S. Navy officials dismantle buildings erected by protesters. An intense struggle to stop the use of the naval bombing range there went on for years. Photo: Wikipedia.org

Suzanne Gelderman, political director, and Ray Rivera, campaign director for Obama in Colorado; Temo Figueroa, national Hispanic director of "Obama for America"; and Javier S. Cuebas, advisor to "Latinos for Obama Grassroots," participated in the dialogue, together with lawyer John Arthur Eaves, who has worked for several years petitioning for compensation for Viequenses related to heath damages.

During the conversation, which lasted more than an hour, they heard personal stories about the crisis caused by U.S. Navy activities. Armando Torres of CRDV, whose wife died two years ago from cancer, described the lack of basic services for Vieques patients.

Armando suggested that Obama, if he gets into the White House, could do justice for Vieques with adequate attention to educational and health facilities. Andrés Nieves, Viequense filmmaker, explained how the death of a friend from a rare type of brain cancer motivated him to join the struggle to end the military presence. For her part, Vieques activist, Nilda Medina of CRDV mentioned the need to make up for the grave violation of basic human rights suffered by Viequenses for decades under Navy domination.

The Obama team's visit to Vieques coincides with recent declarations by the presidential candidate in which he promised a total environmental cleanup and attention to the demands about health issues. The visit points to the interest of important U.S. politicians - in this electoral context - toward Vieques, conscious of the solidarity that still exists among millions of Hispanic voters who participated in the Peace for Vieques movement. Hillary Clinton also mentioned Vieques in recent statements and it is expected she will send representatives to the island in the near future.

It is important to also mention the support for the environmental cleanup of Vieques we received in recent months from powerful sectors in the U.S. Congress.

Congresswoman Hilda L. Solis, D-Calif., a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Health and chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Task Force on Health and the Environment, sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt today regarding the impact of military contamination on the health of people living in Vieques.

According to the El Paso Times, Solis "doubted the validity of U.S. government assertions that the Navy maneuvers held for 60 years on Vieques did not have any negative impacts on the health of this Puerto Rican island municipality." The congresswoman called for resolving contradictions between studies done by the federal government and independent studies and called on agencies to insure the protection of the public health during the current cleanup and decontamination process.

Also, early this year, Congressman Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y., member of the House Ways and Means Commission of the Foreign Affairs Committee, sent a letter to the general accountant of the Government Accountability Office about the process of cleanup on Vieques.

The congressman expressed, among other things, that "the Navy presence is still felt on Vieques through the grave contamination of land and water ... and agencies responsible for the cleanup have not worked adequately."

We learned long ago not to confide in politicians - because history does not allow it. However, we also learned to take advantage of the power of politicians whenever possible, to move forward the work for justice and peace. Therefore, if Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton want Puerto Rican and Latino votes in the U.S., they will have to talk about Vieques on several occasions between now and June 1 and until November. For us, this attention is important to pressure for decontamination, return of our lands and for the health of our people.

While we applaud the commitments with Vieques from Sens. Obama and Clinton in the midst of their campaigns, we are very aware and remember the several other politicians and elected officials who acted on behalf of Vieques not only with words but with actions: Luis Gutiérrez, Nydia Velázquez, José Serrano, Bob Menéndez, Joseph Crowley and Hilda Solís, among others.

Whether Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton wins the election, we demand from this moment that their promises not remain mere words once in the White House. The people of Puerto Rico in general, and Viequenses in particular, deserve to see these presidential candidates' promises become reality.

In Vieques we celebrated the designation in February of Flavio Cumplan, Esq., to direct the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration (PRFFA) in Washington, D.C. Between 1999 and 2003, Cumpiano represented, pro bono, the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques and succeeded, among other things, in getting dozens of congresspersons to write letters in favor of ending the Navy presence on Vieques.

In response to expressions by Congresswoman Solís, the new PRFAA director stated: "This letter tells us that we cannot forget the daily suffering of the Viequenses due to contamination left by the Navy and there should be renewed efforts from Washington about this still pending Puerto Rico situation."

The expressions by members of Congress and, in particular, by Barack Obama, together with the designation of Flavio Cumpiano to head the PRFAA, offers us a new opportunity to place the topic of Vieques in decision-making circles that can contribute to the reconstruction of a Vieques freed from the Navy. We face a great challenge: Convert these opportunities into concrete steps toward decontamination, health for our families, the return of our lands and an economy in the hands of the people of Vieques.

Other Brown and Black communities contaminated by neighboring military bases, most especially Hunters Point, have long been inspired by the people of Vieques - all 10,000 of them activists, or so it seems. Black-Brown solidarity helped stop the Navy bombing when well known Blacks, including the Rev. Al Sharpton and Jackie Jackson, the Rev. Jesse Jackson's wife, were imprisoned for protesting there - Sharpton for 90 days. Robert Rabin can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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