The Puerto Rican leftist organization maintained that, contrary to what spokespersons for the United States Department of Defense and its Armed Forces express, nowhere has it been proven that this technology is safe for the population.

“We do not want our territory and our people to be used again for experiments by the United States government, as they have done in the past,” the MINH national leadership said.

He indicated that the accidents with nuclear reactors occurred mainly in their use for military purposes, but that “our Nation is already aware of the effects of the use of enriched uranium by the Armed Forces of the United States, on the environment and the health of our compatriots” .

In this sense, the political group stressed that the island of Vieques, where weapons were tested for more than six decades, “is a constant reminder of this.”

The US Navy had to leave on May 1, 2003, forced by a widespread protest, from the island of Vieques, whose population suffered enormous hardships and countless abuses from the Marines over 60 years.

Even today, much of its land has not been decontaminated by Washington and the almost 10,000 inhabitants of Vieques suffer from health complications, mainly cancer, due to the use of agent orange and reduced uranium there, among other harmful elements.

For this reason, the MINH warns that the establishment of a nuclear mini-reactor in any part of Puerto Rican territory would have catastrophic consequences for the environment and the population in the event of an accident.

This situation can occur, said the political group, in the transport of the materials to be used in the reactor, in the facilities themselves due to malfunctions in the installation or human error, or in the handling of the waste that would be generated by its operation.

“It is not superfluous to indicate that it would place us as a target of possible military attacks in the event of a conflict or other type of event related to the United States armed forces,” he said.

The national leadership of the MINH warned that it will closely follow the processes and the development of this matter and will maintain a militant opposition against the location for any purpose of a mini-reactor in Puerto Rico.

In addition, he anticipated that “we will join the claim of our people who are already organizing to say no to nuclear energy in our archipelago.”

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