8/6/2019 A Little History of Vieques

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-little-history-of-vieques 1/4

 A little history of Vieques.........

Until about 250 years BC the 'Archaic Indians' lived in the chain of islands todayknown as the Antilles, including Vieques. They did not make any ceramics nordid they cultivate agriculture, but lived from the sea and were hunters andgatherers. They used stones and sea shells.

Then the Saladoid Indians moved up from Venezuela and brought with them,throughout the island chain, their knowledge of ceramics known by their use of engobes and the predominate use of the colors white, red and salmon. Theirceramics were very thin and fine, almost like porcelain, and they used smooth,refined clays. The Saladnoid Indians specialized in carving small, intricateobjects out of jade, aventurine and other semi precious stones. They livedbetween 250 BC to approx. 400 AD. There are many important archeologicaldigs in Vieques in which Saladnoid artifacts have been found in Vieques,especially in 'Sorcé'. The Salanoids moved up the island chain as far as easternDominican Republic only, where they stopped or were stopped, perhaps, byother peoples moving down from the north.

Amazingly, the Saladnoids valued their dogs as mascots and buried them in'fetal' positions, showing great respect for them. Not like the later Tainos, whodid not bury them.

It is not known for certain whether the Salanoids disappeared completely orevolved into the Ostionoids (Pre Taino and Taino) around 400 AD. It could bethat another wave of emigration brought new peoples into the area and theyconverged with the Saladnoids. The pre Taino Indians ceramics becamecourser, made with less refined clay and the use of colors disappeared. Thesmall cemis that the Saladnoids had made became large stone cemis. Thecemis represent various Taino gods.

The Tainos emerged around 1200 AD and were considerably more organizedsocially, they lived in larger groups and had chiefs or 'Caciques' and this is whatColumbus found when he landed in Puerto Rico in 1943 (though he did not stayat this time). Many of the present day towns of Puerto Rico were named afterIndian Chiefs. Such as Caguas, Yabucoa, Arecibo.

One important find in Vieques is in Lujan and consists of an entire 'Huecan'Village, called a 'yucayeque'. Another important find is called the 'Hombre Ferro'which is dated as 4,000 years old. Another skeleton called the 'Hombre Caño

8/6/2019 A Little History of Vieques

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-little-history-of-vieques 2/4

Hondo' dates to 1,500 years BC. The Huecan Indians made carvings of condorsand a beautiful jade condor was found in Vieques, many other condors werefound in a dig in Puerto Rico. ( The use of the condor as an important carvingwas well known in ancient Peru).

In the early 1500's almost all of the Taino Indians were killed by the Spanish.There is, however, a colony of Caribbean Indians living in a reserve on theisland of Dominica. More than 61% of Puerto Rican women have presently beenfound to have elements from Taino Indian DNA. The Taino heritage lives on inpresent day Puerto Rico.

  Vieques was not settled by the Spanish invaders until much later than the rest of PuertoRico. In the early 1500's two brothers in Vieques were Taino Indian chiefs 'Yaurebo'and ...... They went to the mainland of Puerto Rico to help their fellow indians and,

allthough they won a battle, they were pursued and killed. The Governor of Puerto Ricothen sent warships to kill all the remaining Tainos on Vieques.

For several hundred years Vieques was a lawless place, at one time both the English andthe Danish attempted to settle 'Crab Island' but both were driven off by Spanish soldierssent from the main island. At that time the Governor did not establish a Spanish colony in Vieques and the island was populated by brigands, pirates and runaway s.. Cofresi was one such (Puerto Rican) pirate. Blackbeard and others spent time around Viequestoo.

In 1823 a Frenchman named Le Guillou moved to Vieques and in 1932 persuaded the

Governor of PR to give him 10 years to bring law and order to the island, and allow himto rule Vieques. He was known as the 'founder' of Vieques. He created vast plantationsin Vieques and 'civilized' Vieques by inviting other Frenchmen, from Guadaloupe andMartinique, to come to Vieques. Under the conditions of the 'Cedula de Gracia' they  were given land grants to start their plantations, under the Spanish crown. Exportscould only be sent to Spain. Sugar plantations covered every part of Vieques. Vieques was very prosperous at that time and was reknown throughout Puerto Rico as the'Golden Cup'. People moved to Vieques to find work and then returned to their homes inother parts of PR after the sugar cutting season.

The Golden Age of Vieques, where prosperity ruled, lasted from 1854 to 1880.

The area near Esperanza ( across from the entrance to Inn on the Blue Horizon) was atown with an opera house, cinema and generally a cultural center in the 1820's and 30's.Originally it was thought to make this area the capital of Vieques but the woods were very thick and difficult to clear, Isabel II ( on the north shore) became the 'capital'instead and was founded in 1844, the same year that the Commander Le Guillou died.

8/6/2019 A Little History of Vieques

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-little-history-of-vieques 3/4

The sugar economy and its' plantations collapsed in the late 1920's and 1930's as sugarcould be puchased more cheaply elsewhere. US Agricultural policies changed and thesugar subsidy was eliminated. This proved to be an economic disaster for Vieques, thelarge plantations went bankrupt. The last plantation to collapse was Playa Grande. Afterthe collapse of the sugar industry there was no economy to speak of in Vieques. Many 

 Viequenses moved to St. Croix to work in the sugar plantations still operating there, theonly work available.

 After the Spanish - American War, which Spain lost, Puerto Rico was given to the US asone of the 'spoils of war'. The desire of the US for Puerto Rico ( instead of Cuba) was fora strategically placed military outpost.

During the Second World War the US Military acquired 72% of the land in Vieques formilitary use. The story of the aquisition. The land was puchased from landholders andfrom the bankruptcy court. The US was concerned that England might loose the war.The idea to save the British fleet by building a harbor to protect the British fleet fromsubmarines was abandoned after the disaster at Pearl Harbor showed that putting anentire fleet in one place was a mistake. Military lands on Vieques and Culebra were thenput to a different use.

Present day politics in Vieques started with this 'invasion' of the US Navy. Many  Viequenses were displaced. Although the Navy bought the lands from the titled owners,most of the inhabitants of these lands had lived there for many generations but were notthe 'titled' owners. The US Government established several programs to try tocompensate these displaced peoples. These programs were administered by the PuertoRican Government and did not entirely answer to the needs of all the displaced people.The arrival of the Navy created many needed jobs for an economy with no jobs. Along with the good jobs, a lot of bars and prostitution developed and brought with it a lot of 

ill will.

The Navy lands in Vieques eventually turned into a bombing and practice range, whenCulebra protestors caused the Navy to stop the bombing of Culebra. The Eastern Vieques bombing range was also used for G.E. and Raytheon Corporations todemonstrate their missiles in order to sell them to other countries.

 A history of the land acquisition by the Navy in the early 40's and the loss of the sugareconomy of Vieques is well documented by César Ayala, Ph. D., Department of Latin American and Puerto Rican Studies Lehman College–City University of New York andSociology Department, City University Graduate Center. Read it here.

The US Navy officially left Vieques entirely in April, 2001, after many years of protest,and turned the lands over to US Fish and Wildlife with a small parcel going to themunicipal governement and a smaller parcel to the Conservation Trust of PR. US Fish & Wildlife now oversees the Vieques Wildlife Reserve and the famous 'Blue' and 'Red' beaches are accessible now .

8/6/2019 A Little History of Vieques

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-little-history-of-vieques 4/4

 Vieques is a very tranquil and peaceful island to visit, you will not easily witness any evidence of the protests that took place for many years to force the Navy to stop using Vieques as a bombing target, which local residents feel was injurious to their health.

 A big issue now is increasing access to the eastern half of Vieques, effiicient cleanup of 

contaminated areas (and better ferry service to Vieques). Although US Fish & Wildlifehas opened a very small amount of the reserve to the public, the residents of Vieques feelthat US F & W is acting too slowly and too rigidly.

The present economy of Vieques is based primarily on fishing for local Viequense andtourism for a mix of North Americans and Viequense people.

How that tourism is developed is now the 'matter at hand' for Vieques. With the Navy gone, Vieques is an unspoiled, undeveloped and relatively unexploited gem of an islandin the Caribbean, on US soil. Presently, there is a of 'gold rush' for land in Vieques, withnew emigrants arriving daily for the 'good life'. Some are happy here, some leave after a year because this is still a 'backwards kind of place' without the infrastructure andamenities of other islands. Transportation to and from mainland Puerto Rico being the biggest impediment to most residents. Lack of sufficient ferry service is a constant issue.there is not even one movie theater!

 A little horse history of Vieques...

Playa Grande Sugar Central ruins, closed in 1940