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The Second Round of Expropriations in Vieques, 1947-48
César Ayala Casás
Sociology Department
University of California, Los Angeles
cjayala@ucla.edu
We Want a Sugar Mill
Vieques
U.S. Navy Historical Land Tenure Patterns
S a nta
M aría
Reset tlem ent
Tract
Mo nte sa nto
Reset tlem ent Tract
Airport
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Mart ine au Trac t
E xce s se d in 1 9 4 4 . A ss ig n e d b y W a r A ss ets
A dm i n istr a tio n to th e De p a r tme n t o f In te r io r f or
di sp o sa l . L ice n ce d to G o v e rn m e n t o f P u e rto R ico
by Fe d e ra l W o r ks A dm i n istr a tio n . S a n ta M ar ía
Re se ttl e m en t T ra c t Re c al le d a n d Us e P e rm it R e vo k e d
in 1 9 47 . M o n te sa n to Re s e ttle m e nt T r ac t a n d M a r tin e a u
Tr ac t a ls o r e ca l le d b u t tem p o r ar y r e vo ca b l e l ic e nc e
in 1 9 44 r e m a in e d in e ffe ct. M a rti n e a u T ra c t u se d b y
P ue r to R ico A g r ic ul tu ra l Co m p a n y.
Te m p o ra r y G r a nts to th e D e p a rtm e n t o f In te ri o r i ssu e d
Ju ly 1 9 4 4 a n d Ja n u ar y 1 9 4 6 a nd r e vo k ed S e p te m b e r 1 9 4 7 .
A cq u ir e d fro m 1 9 4 1 -1 9 4 3 .
O cc up i e d P en d i n g A c q u isi tio n a s o f 1 9 4 7 -4 8 : A c q ui re d 1 9 5 0
No n - Na v y O w ne d L a n d .
SO UR CE : D epa rtme nt of the Na vy. 197 9. Con tin ue d U se of th e A tlant ic Flee t
W ea po ns Training Facility In ner Ran ge (V iequ es): D raft E nviro nm ent al
Imp ac t S ta tem en t. N .p. , Tipp etts -A bb ett-M cCart hy-S tra tton :
Ecolog y and E nviro nm ent .
Four Periods
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Expropriations and Prosperity Fall 1941 to
July 1943
Misery– July 1943 to January 1946
PRACO, Partial Recovery, January 1946 to
Fall 1947 (only 18 months)
Second Expropriations Oct 1, 1947 onwards
Second Expropriations
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In the Fall of 1947 Viequenses learned that
the Navy wanted Vieques for amphibious
landing practices.
This was justified with the doctrines of the
Cold War
Truman Doctrine was announced in March
1947
Local Expression of Truman Doctrine
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Vice admiral Barbey laid out the new cold war policies of the
United States to Lions Club held at the Condado Hotel in San
Juan, the 15th of October, 1947.
There was “dangerous communist infiltration” in the world.
The Atlantic was a possible future theater of conflict.
This delicate situation called for preparation for a “possible
attack from overseas.”
The Navy would benefit Vieques economically, but even if
both PRACO and the economy of Vieques where affected,
“above all else there is the issue of our security in the face of
the serious situation which we are living”
Local Government had already been
told
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[…]the transfer to the Navy is already settled
and the only point under discussion is how to
bring it about, especially the issue of the
relocation of the families which have to be
resettled in another place in Vieques or in
Puerto Rico.” [1]
Van Vranken, Jean. 1947a. “Piñero discute hoy el caso de isla de Vieques:
la Marina desea las tierras antes del día quince de noviembre.” El Mundo,
10/1/1947.
Meetings at Navy Ships
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The meetings between Governor Jesús T.
Piñero and the Navy took place in Navy ships,
not on land in La Fortaleza. This was
emblematic of the power relations and the
pecking order.
Puerto Ricans were not admitted to the
US Navy
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Navy asks Piñero what would be Puerto Rico’s position on
the sugar quotas, an issue of major concern to the island’s
main export industry.
U.S. Congress had ultimate economic power over the island’s
economic fate.
Governor Piñero, on his part, pointed out to the press that
Puerto Ricans were in fact barred from joining the U.S. Navy,
because there was no recruiting station in the island
Piñero was pointing to the colonial paradox of the Navy
wanting the land of a people it was not eager to admit into its
own ranks.
The news of the coming expropriations
stirred up conflicts in Vieques
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PRACO had invested in Vieques
It nevertheless behaved like a paternalistic
landowner, Vieques cattle ranchers considered
it as such
This was also a characteristic of the Puerto
Rico Land Authority and of the “agrarian
reform” program of the Populares in 1940-45.
PRACO as well as the Land Authority
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“The Land Authority’s acquisition of land from
corporations under the 500-acre limitation has
represented little more than a transfer of land from
one big owner to the other. And in the process of
operating this large holding of land, the Land
Authority unwantingly has had to assume many
of the characteristics and the problems of the
very same corporate entities it was obliged under
the law to destroy.”
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Nathan Koenig, A Comprehensive Agricultural Program for Puerto Rico (Washington, D.c.:
United States Department of Agriculture in Cooperation with the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico, GPO, 1953: 257-258.
The cattle ranchers organize…
Leoncio T. Davis and Juan A Gómez
Complex conjuncture
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The local Puerto Rican government was struggling to gain the right for
Puerto Ricans to elect their own governor.
The insular authorities had to renegotiate the sugar quota, they were
hard–pressed to oppose the federal authorities.
PRACO faced the opposition of the cattle ranchers, as they were not
content with the existing contract between themselves and PRACO.
The Navy faced both the opposition of the insular government and the
potential opposition of a social movement of the displaced ranchers of
Vieques.
All of these conflicts were unfolding under the rapidly changing political
climate in Washington, which instead of continuing the expected policy of
disarmament, was beginning to rearm for the Cold War.
Three way struggle
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Navy Expropriates PRACO
PRACO tries to liquidate accounts with
ranchers
Ranchers oppose PRACO and meet with
NAVY
Navy senses big division between PRACO
and government of PR on the one hand vs.
ranchers of Vieques on the other
Navy offers land to ranchers… for
“free”
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PRACO operated under the profit principle and
charged the cattlemen a rent of 50% by weight to
graze its cattle
The magnanimous Navy was offering to let the
ranchers graze their cattle on its land for free.
This was a unilateral agreement in which the Navy
had no obligations whatsoever to continue their land
services to the ranchers
Faced with economic ruin, how could the cattlemen
of Vieques contemplate refusing the terms offered by
Admiral Barbey?
Ranchers break their contract with
PRACO arguing “breach of contract”
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When the conflict
erupted, the Navy was
able to woo the
ranchers to its side
Cattle is fenced in in
Western part through
Navy-Rancher
Cooperation
Get Vieques ready for
maneuvers
Vieques is now ready for maneuvers…
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Maneuvers Begin… with 65th InfantryIn February of
1948
The Navy brought to the island the 65th Infantry of
the U.S. Army, a Puerto Rican force of seasoned
veterans from World War II, to participate in joint
maneuvers with the Marines.
The local press then reported on the excellent work
done by the 65th Infantry during the maneuvers.
1951 Navy : “we are not in the
business of cattle ranching.”
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But in 1951, with Vieques secure and after 3 years of
maneuvers, the Navy did not feel pressure to defuse a social
movement of small ranchers. The Navy answered through a
spokesperson that PRACO had offered a higher sum than the
Asociación de Pequeños Ganaderos de Vieques[1] and that, in
any case, the Navy “was not in the business of grazing cattle”
and furthermore that it had determined that “temporary
agreements with a private association had to be renegotiated
with a government agency” (Santana, 1951).
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[1] The leadership of the Asociación de Pequeños Ganaderos
de Vieques indicates that it was the same organization
previously referred to as Asociación de Ganaderos Menores
de Vieques.
Problems with Maneuvers begin
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The first reports of the press highlighted a problem which would
henceforth plague Vieques residents for decades
The proximity of the explosions and their effect on the civilian population.
An immense explosion in Vieques during the maneuvers caused a stir in
the town of Isabel Segunda
“The tremendous explosion caused such a great shudder in the
surrounding zone and the boom was so strong that many people in the
town of Isabel Segunda thought an atomic bomb had been detonated”
(Combas Guerra, 1948).[1]
[1] “La explosión tremenda ocasionó un gran estremecimiento en la zona a
su alrededor y el estampido fue tan fuerte que mucha gente en el pueblo de
Isabel Segunda creyó que se había procedido al lanzamiento de una bomba
atómica.”
Eliseo Combas Guerra, “ Boricuas hacen excelente labor en maniobras. Arbitros que intervienen en l
as mismas así lo han expresado. Aproximadamente 16,000 hombres participan en los ejercicios de la parte
este de Vieques. Práctica de desembarco dio impresión de verdadera guerra.” El Mundo, 2-19-1948
Statement about agrarian reform of
Populares
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Parcelas on the one hand (in Vieques, slums)
Proportional profit farms in PR, PRACO in
Vieques, both government owned and run
No local initiative or local control
Grassroots farmers and ranchers against it
Little land to independent farmers
Inefficient state owned, paternalistic
corporations
About resistance to Navy
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Puerto Rican interests split, Ranchers vs. PRACO/
Government of Puerto Rico
Navy Exploited these divisions successfully
55 years after these events the Navy withdrew from
Vieques
A movement of Puerto Ricans in Vieques, Puerto
Rico, and the Puerto Rican diaspora in the United
States pressed for its withdrawal
Unlike 1947-48, impressive unity and scope of the
movement or resistance
For article, list landowners, maps
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http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/ayala/vieques/