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==Navy Culebra protests== {{Main|Navy–Culebra protests}} The '''Navy–Culebra protests''' is the name given by [[United States|American]] [[Mass media|media]] to a series of protests starting in 1971 on the island of Culebra, [[Puerto Rico]] against the [[United States Navy]] use of the island.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/puerto-ricans-expel-united-states-navy-culebra-island-1970-1974 |title=Puerto Ricans expel United States Navy from Culebra Island, 1970-1974 |publisher=[[Swarthmore College]] |access-date=February 9, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130719141514/http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/puerto-ricans-expel-united-states-navy-culebra-island-1970-1974 |archive-date=2013-07-19 |url-status=live}}</ref> The protests led to the U.S. Navy abandoning its facilities on Culebra. The historical backdrop was that in 1902, three years after the U.S. invasion of Puerto Rico, Culebra was integrated as a part of [[Vieques, Puerto Rico|Vieques]]. But on June 26, 1903, U.S. President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] established the Culebra Naval Reservation in Culebra. The suitability of Culebra and its topography for the technical requirements of naval gunfire and aircraft weapons exercises was recognized in 1936, and the Government of the United States declared Culebra and its adjacent waters as the Culebra Naval Defensive Sea Area in 1941. This military defense area included all coastal waters from high-tide elevation to three miles off shore. The naval gunnery and aircraft weapons ranges at Culebra played a considerable role, along with other gunnery facilities near Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, in the combat readiness of Allied Naval Forces during the [[World War II|Second World War]]. These Caribbean ranges again served as primary weapons training grounds for both Naval Gunfire Support Exercises and aircraft weapons systems proficiency during the critical period of the Korean War starting in the summer of 1950. The United States Naval exercises reached a peak in 1969, as many ships and air units were attached to the [[Atlantic Fleet (United States)|Atlantic Fleet]] for gunnery and aerial ordnance proficiency prior to their ultimate assignments to naval task forces stationed in [[Southeast Asia]]. In 1971 the people of Culebra began the protests for the removal of the U.S. Navy from Culebra. The protests were led by [[Ruben Berrios]], President of the [[Puerto Rican Independence Party]] (PIP), a well-regarded attorney in international rights, President-Honorary of the [[Socialist International]], and [[Law]] professor at the [[University of Puerto Rico]]. An ecumenical chapel was built on [[Flamenco Beach]], in an action led by [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] Bishop Antulio Parilla Bonilla, [[Baptists in the United States|Baptist]] minister, Luis Rivera Pagán, and George Lakey of the [[Quakers|Quaker]] Action Committee.<ref>Comité Clérigos pro-rescate de Culebra, Culebra: Confrontación al coloniaje, (PRISA: Río Piedras), 1971, p. 24.</ref> Berrios and other protesters [[Squatting|squatted]] in Culebra for a few days. Some of them, including Berrios, were arrested and imprisoned for [[civil disobedience]]. The official charge was trespassing on U.S. military territory. The protests led to the U.S. Navy discontinuing the use of Culebra as a gunnery range in 1975 and all of its operations were moved to Vieques. The case against the Navy was led by [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]] lawyer Richard Copaken as retained pro-bono by the people of Culebra island. The cleaning process of the island has been slow. At the end of 2016, the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers]] sent letters to the residents of Culebra citing active removal of undetonated explosive material still present on the island.<ref>http://www.primerahora.com/noticias/puerto-rico/nota/limpianaculebrademuniciones-1207918/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170304114158/http://www.primerahora.com/noticias/puerto-rico/nota/limpianaculebrademuniciones-1207918/ |date=2017-03-04}} (Spanish)</ref>
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