In the 1950s, the US Navy intensified its military activities in Vieques. Sometimes the US Navy would leave dangerous explosive artifacts in areas that had not been restricted and were still accessed by civilians. As a consequence, some Viequenses…
In 1965, María and Carmelo took their machetes and began cleaning a piece of land to establish their home in the area of Pueblo Nuevo, which became known as Bravos de Boston, one of the first rescues of federal land in Vieques. María narrates the…
In 1963, María Velázquez moved to Vieques with her husband, Carmelo Félix Matta. In the coming decades, María and Carmelo would become the protagonists of various land rescues in Vieques that would challenge the US Navy control over Vieques's…
In Feb. 26, 1976, a group of Viequenses rescued some federal land that was part of the US Navy territory in Vieques. The area became known as Villa Borinquen.
"I had the last one in Fajardo:" María discusses the birth of her last child, who was not born in Vieques but instead in Fajardo, and links the birth of his child to the US Navy's attempt of trying to control Vieques's population rate.
