They take our money and nothing comes back. Humans aren t the only ones under the gun. Before the Navy arrived, the eastern end of Vieques consisted mostly of wetlands, and rare animal varieties thrived. It was easy for species to go from one side of the island to the other, naturalist Lirio M rquez says. Now much of the land, pocked with craters, evokes apocalyptic destruction.
Contamination ranges from the spent uranium to the rusty remains of target vehicles.
Miles of white-sand beaches are littered with shrapnel and shell casings. Coral reefs surrounding the island are disrupted or ruined. And, thanks to a Navy road that blocks sea access, a lagoon is dried up. They don t care if they killed the lagoon, says ecologist Jorge Fern ndez Porto. That s not their problem.