Puerto Ricans are mounting a dual-front campaign of street protests and formal lobbying to oppose the United States’ major naval deployment in the Caribbean island. While diaspora organizations formally petition the Pentagon to halt all military expansion on the island, activists in San Juan have taken to the streets to resist the surge of warships and advanced aircraft they see as part of a broader, coercive US foreign policy that they refuse to support thus challenging the military’s use of the island as a strategic forward base.

A coalition of nine Puerto Rican and US-based diaspora groups has formally requested that US Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth halt all recent military expansion and activity in unincorporated US territory of Puerto Rico. In a letter, the organizations argued that removing the US military presence would be a bold measure to reduce the island’s dependency, avoid unnecessary political conflicts, and foster a future based on mutual respect and lasting peace. They cited the historical precedent of the successful movement that forced the closure of the Navy base in Vieques after a civilian death in 1999, warning that the Puerto Rican people are prepared to act again if the current militarization continues.

This demand comes amid a significant US military buildup in the Caribbean, linked to regional tensions and counter-narcotics operations, with military facilities seeing renewed activity. While the increase has support from some local Puerto Rican officials, it faces opposition from the Puerto Rican Independence Party, local activists and diaspora organizations. Hense the diaspora groups are advocating for an immediate cessation of military activities, a halt to expansion plans, and a full environmental cleanup of former military sites across the territory.

Resisting US Remilitarization

In a demonstration of solidarity and rejection of Puerto Rico being part of any military deployment, various organizations belonging to the Venezuela Solidarity Network in Puerto Rico protested today in front of the US federal courthouse in San Juan. The action, joined by about a dozen groups, was framed as a reminder that “Venezuela is not alone” in the face of what protesters termed a US policy of military intimidation under President Donald Trump. Their central aim was to defend Venezuela and the constitutional government of Nicolás Maduro from imperialist aggression, specifically denouncing extrajudicial executions on Caribbean fishermen and the seizure of oil tankers.

Speakers at the protest vehemently rejected the premise of US military intervention, arguing that such actions are driven by a desire to control Venezuela’s oil and other resources, not by anti-narcotics concerns. The participating coalition, which included feminist, nationalist, human rights, and anti-war groups, emphasized that their solidarity was an act of people-to-people support, transcending specific cleavages and demanding sensitivity and rational soberness.

The recent US military deployment to the Caribbean represents a significant and multi-faceted force projection, centered on carrier strike group capabilities and rapid-response assets. The centerpiece is the USS Gerald Ford, the Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier, which serves as a mobile airbase and command hub. Its air wing includes advanced F-35B Lightning II stealth fighter jets, capable of short takeoffs and vertical landings, alongside F/A-18 Super Hornets. This naval presence is augmented by approximately a dozen supporting warships. The deployment also features a substantial contingent of around 15,000 personnel, supported by AC-130 gunship aircraft, KC-130J Super Hercules tankers for aerial refueling, C-130 Hercules transport planes, and surveillance drones. This consolidated force, operating from both sea-based platforms had remilitarized and revived land bases like Puerto Rico’s Roosevelt Roads, which is positioned to conduct a wide range of missions, from air dominance and maritime patrol to power projection and special operations support across the region.

Colonial Dependence Masquerading As Economic Salvation

Puerto Rico’s governor, Jenniffer González’s last remaining strategy amid her disastrous term is to push for remilitarization and increase Puerto Rico’s dependence on US military investment. She and the party she belongs to the PNP, who are pro-statehood, are counting on Elmer Román, who oversees these matters, as a key pawn to achieve this goal. Elmer Román, as a former Secretary of State of the island and former Secretary of Public Safety, was sworn in as the US Navy’s principal deputy assistant secretary for Energy, Facilities and Environment. And according to sources in Washington, he is in the midst of a discreet, under-the-radar campaign to orchestrate this remilitarization which involves planning, designing, and constructing infrastructure at military bases to strengthen US military dominance.

In Puerto Rico, the recent US military expansion has reopened deep and painful historical fissures on the island. The deployment of advanced warships and increased personnel to naval installations in the island evokes a fraught militarized past, where vast military land holdings, environmental contamination, mistreatment, assaults by drunk US soldiers against Puerto Rican woman and social disruption defined the US presence for decades. The buildup directly challenges the legacy of a hard-won victory by Puerto Rican civil society, which successfully mobilized to eject the Navy from Vieques and Culebra after prolonged protests against bombing exercises that harmed health, ecology, and sovereignty. Now, as geopolitical calculations bring a renewed surge in military activity, the population is starkly divided, as some mainly from the statehood factions view it as vital for economic investment and regional security, while others condemn it as the reimposition of a militarized past, fearing the return of a painful era many believed was closed.

The argument that a surge in military spending constitutes a “critical injection” of jobs and investment is a dangerous mirage, mistaking temporary economic activity for genuine, sustainable development. This model is fundamentally extractive and neofeudal in nature as it does not build local capacity or diversify the island’s economy but instead reinforces a debilitating dependency on a single, volatile federal sector. The jobs created are often specialized, going to imported personnel, or are low-wage service positions that fail to catalyze broader prosperity. Moreover, this “investment” is not in Puerto Rico’s self-determined future but in its utility as a strategic platform, ensuring that the island’s economy remains tethered to and distorted by Washington’s geopolitical whims.

True development is not measured by a small number of transient payrolls or lackluster construction contracts but by the long-term health, sovereignty, efficient production and investment flows and resilience of a society. The military’s legacy of profound contamination in Vieques, Culebra, and elsewhere, an ongoing public health crisis, demonstrates that the cost of this so-called investment is catastrophically high, burdening future generations with poisoned land and sickness. Real development would invest in rebuilding Puerto Rico’s crumbling civilian infrastructure, fostering renewable energy independence, strengthening its agricultural sector, and supporting education and entrepreneurial ecosystems owned and led by Puerto Ricans.

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Miguel Santos García is a Puerto Rican writer and political analyst who mainly writes about the geopolitics of neocolonial conflicts and Hybrid Wars within the 4th Industrial Revolution, the ongoing New Cold War and the transition towards multipolarity. Visit his blog here. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Featured image is from the author

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