If the Bomb Hits San Juan
(The War Resister's League and Vanguardia, a "rebel" group of Popular Democratic Party mneubers, have begun ooo-peatirg in the c.rculAtion. f petitbiis cIllin..or the'rerlova1 o f nuclear...
...On board too were the 214 officers and 2,737 men of the ships...
...It would be inconsistent for the U.S...
...If a bomb were dropped on Florida, the people of Puerto Rico would then be protected from the resulting fallout...
...in U.S...
...James A. Dare, USN...
...But it is necessary to consider the question of civil defense and nuclear weapons in uerto Rico in greater detail...
...iieves Falc6n pointed out that the U.S...
...PUERTO RICAI BASES FOR RSERVIYG DiOCRACY I SALTO DOIINGO "In the evening of 24 April 1965, Task Group 44.9, the Caribbean Ready Group, had completed re-embarkation from Vieques Island, Puerto Rico, one of the 6th ilarine Expeditionary Unit into the six ships of the Ready Group...
...to deny Puerto Rico the right to be included in the nuclear free zone if that is what the majority of the people Tant, ' iieves Falc6n said...
...to top off with aviation gasoline and black oil...
...The USS Ruchamkin (APD-89), Wood County (LST-1178), Raleigh (LPP-), Fort Snelling (SD-30), Rankin (AIKA-103) and Boxer (LPHI-4) ere anchored south of Vieques...
...Therefore it is theoretically possible for the Commlonwealth to have sufficient autonomy to declare itself a part of the nuclear free zone and to remove the nuclear weapons...
...Another leader of the War Resisters League, Luis ieves Falcon, said that it should be possible to include Puerto Rico in the nuclear free zone by wray of an affirmative vote in the Commonwealth Legislature...
...Several decisions by the Suprerme Court have established the fact that Puerto Rico belongs to the United States but is not part of the .S.,%said Siieves Falc6n...
...iontilla* said that the goal of Civil Defense is to persuade each citizen to build at least one family shelter...
...Newspapers, radio, and television have presented some aspects of the controversy...
...The suggestion that you should throw yourself on the ground when the bomb falls is fantastic," IMuenzli said...
...We hope that ultimately there can be a nuclear-free world in which we can all find some of the serenity that iiuhoz ilarin and others have talked about," Kuenzli said...
...On board were the 3rd Batallion of the Sixth marines, iarine ihedium iIelicopter Squadron 264, the headquarters of the .arine expeditionary Unit, a provisional iarine air group, and some force and division attached units with tanks, Ontos, LVT's, artillery, etc...
...probably would be required...
...Ideally each individual should have his own shelter, according to liontilla...
...Critics of Civil Defense say that some of the proposals for surviving a nuclear attack are an insult to peoples intelligence...
...f petitbiis cIllin..or the'rerlova1 o f nuclear -?ealons front iuerto R1ico...
...aval Institutue-Proceedings Dec., 1965...
...Inside the fort a meeting of high government officials twas taking place to determine what resources would be available in uerto Rico folloiing a nuclear attack...
...Te regard the denuclearization of the Caribbean and Latin Aerica as an important step in that direction...
...from a report on the Dominican Republic operation by Capt...
...The position of the lal Resisters League", according to Kuenzli, "is that the only defense against nuclear war is to do aay with war itself...
...La defensa civil no es defensal" This phrase appeared recently on a picket sign at the gates of Fort San Cristobal in Old San Juan...
...Alfred E. uenzli, a leader of the local iar Resisters League, objected to a statement in a Civil Defense pamphlet being distributed in Puerto Rico...
...The participants in the protest, lead by Reverand Thomas Dorney, a Roman Catholic priest from Senldfario San Ildefonso in Aibonito, called the meeting of the officals "absurd" and claimed that there iw-ould be no survivors if a nuclear bomb exploded on the island, Colonel Rafael Montilla, director of Civil Defense and Emergency Planning, called the demonstrators "misguided" and claimed that there would be some survivors.1i A C L A E Jw S L T T R Thus a controversy of considerable importance was brovuiht to the attention of t~he pople f Puerto Rico...
...Altogether, 131 officers and 1,571 marines were assigned to the 6th liEU...
...Early next morning the Boxer was moved to RoosevelL Roads (also in Puerto Rico, ed...
...has taken the position recently, in the United Nations, that Puerto Rico has a high degree of autonomy as a self-governing corimlonwealth...
...The presence of nuclear weapons has brought the question of "civil defense" to the island and has raised the question of Puerto Rico's relation to the nuclear-free zone of Latin America and the Caribbean...
...About midnight of the 24th, word Las received alerting the group to the potentially dangerous situation in Santo Domingo...
...As a practical, political matter," Nieves Falcon continued, "the consent of the U.S...
Vol. 1 • July 1967 • No. 5
