23 Facts About Vieques

Vieques, officially Isla de Vieques, is an island and municipality of Puerto Rico, in the northeastern Caribbean, part of an island grouping sometimes known as the Spanish Virgin Islands.

Vieques is part of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and retains strong influences from 400 years of Spanish presence in the island.

Vieques is best known internationally as the site of a series of protests against the United States Navy's use of the island as a bombing range and testing ground, which led to the Navy's departure in 2003.

Archaeological evidence suggests that Vieques was first inhabited by ancient Indigenous peoples of the Americas who traveled mostly from South America perhaps between 3000 BCE and 2000 BCE.

European discovery of Vieques is sometimes credited to Christopher Columbus, who landed in Puerto Rico in 1493.

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In 1832, under an agreement with the Spanish Puerto Rican administration, Frenchman Teofilo Jose Jaime Maria Le Guillou became Governor of Vieques, and undertook to impose order on the anarchic province.

Vieques was instrumental in the establishment of large plantations, marking a period of social and economic change.

In 1816, Vieques was briefly visited by Simon Bolivar when his ship ran aground there while fleeing defeat in Venezuela.

Vieques issue became something of a cause celebre, and local protesters were joined by sympathetic groups and prominent individuals from the mainland United States and abroad, including political leaders Ruben Berrios, Robert F Kennedy, Jr.

Kennedy's son, Aidan Caohman "Vieques" Kennedy, was born while his father served jail time in Puerto Rico for his role in the protests.

Family of Jaideliz Moreno Ventura, 13, whose 2020 death was blamed on the lack of a functioning hospital and lifesaving medical equipment in Vieques, is suing the government for violation of human and civil rights.

Vieques is a municipio of Puerto Rico, translated as "municipality" and in this context roughly equivalent to "township".

Vieques belongs to the Puerto Rico Senatorial district VIII, which is represented by two Senators.

Vieques is divided into eight, including the downtown barrio called Isabel Segunda.

Vieques has a terrain of rolling hills, with a central ridge running east–west.

Sixty years the majority of Vieques was closed off by the US Navy, and the island remained almost entirely undeveloped for tourism.

Vieques is promoted under an ecotourism banner as a sleepy, unspoiled island of rural bucolic charm and pristine deserted beaches, and is rapidly becoming a popular destination.

Vieques is famous for its paso fino horses, which are owned by locals and left to roam free over parts of the island.

Vieques flag, approved in 1975, contains a representation of the municipal coat of arms and maintains its same symbolism.

Vieques is served by Antonio Rivera Rodriguez Airport, which currently accommodates only small propeller-driven aircraft.

Milivi Adams was a girl from Vieques who developed and died of cancer and became a symbol in the battle against the US military presence in Vieques.

Vieques was flown to the United States by her parents, in hopes that treatment would help her; she fought infections, and after the last one, doctors told her parents that her body would not resist another infection treatment.

Centro de Salud de Vieques has now been turned into a health care center, leaving the island with no emergency care facilities.