Chapter 5

The Rape Of Mother Nature

My new civilian life was quite hectic and I didn't seem to have a spare moment of
time between teaching Scuba classes to locals and the tourists in the day,
attending my university classes at night, my Red Cross volunteer work
(teaching First Aid, CPR, Water

Safety, and Lifesaving on the weekends,

and attending to the dozens of calls from Ramey residents as the chairman
of the

Ramey Community Council.

I barely found the time to even see a

movie or mow the grass. But I was having fun and doing something meaningful
for both for my own satisfaction, and for my neighbors. The board directors of
the Ramey Community Council were a great bunch of neighbors, and we
made

great

team

that

always

managed

to

get

all

our community's

problems resolved.

Even though I was the elected Chairman of the board, I was by far the
youngest by at least ten years. Other members included renown and
WWII

photographer

published world-wide.

Robert Allen,

whose

retired

D-Day Normandy photos were

Bob was now in his early sixties but one helluva a nice

guy with war stories that would my ears glued on every word he spoke. Then
there was Dr. Luis Aponte the local family physician whose gregarious and
friendly personality made him everyone's friend. Luis was

very much

respected in the community and he had the patience that I often lacked.

He

would soon become one of my very best friends along with his wife
Mercedes. He was in his mid forties but he didn't act like he was a day over
30. Carmen Rivera was probably about 30 years of age and the only woman on
our board of directors. What a firecracker she was with her fearless charm she
could win almost any argument.

Edwin Medina was the community's local

60

pharmacist and probably the most conservative member of our board despite
his mere 35 years. Last but certainly not least, was Jorge Diaz Sr. the most
senior member of our board, he was without a doubt wisest for all of his
67 years. Indeed, it was old Jorge who wisdom often guided our councils most
important decisions. His ability to completely analyze problems from every
possible angle and predict reactions from local politicians was almost ps yc hic.
It was his coaching that would allow me to do verbal battle with some of the
most powerful politicians in Puerto Rico.

For anyone

who

has ever been to Puerto

explain the importance

everyone

Rico,

of politics on the island

else, it will be hard for them

I don't

need

of five million.

to understand.

to
For

To put it mildly,

island politics dominates all aspects of life if you are not employed by the
U.S. Government,
percent of the
to drastic
held.

who at the time was

population.

changes

probably

For everyone

every four

For depending on which

years

employing

about five

else, your life was subject

when gubernatorial elections

party won either

are

the PNP the New

61

Progressive
was

Party

pro-statehood,

PPD

which

Popular

was

would

social circles.
workers,

Politics pervades

and administrative

inauguration.

be

Party

status)

you

employed

or

licenses,

and join or fall from

and countless

school teachers, social

workers

lose or win jobs with

every

Because of this ugly fact of life it seems everyone

active in politics and fiercely promotes their candidates

Perhaps

the

favored continued

commonwealth

obtain or lose business

or the

Democratic

which

unemployed,

which

you would

too if your career and

income

is

on a daily basis.

depended upon it.

Luckily for me I had my own gig as a PADI Scuba Instructor and I taught
students of all parties and was
me in a unique

not much affected

position. Without

having

by either. This

to pledge

put

my allegiance to

either party, I was free to be vocal and speak my mind on issues without
fear of repercussions
precisely why they

- something
elected

collective concerns without

jeopardy.

Therefore

locals

me as their
identifying

not do.

And this was

spokesman. I could voice

them

it was not uncommon

driveway at 125 E Street

could

their

nor placing their jobs in

to always

find cars in my

with neighbors waiting to tell me their gripes,

concerns, and suggestions because they knew they could trust me to protect
their anonymity and still take up issues with the local pols.

62

63

From the politician's

4,000

votes

constantly

of

perspective, they needed and cherished

the

courting

endorsement

Ramey
the

civilian

Ramey

community

Community

especially the Aguadilla

and
Council

mayorial candidates.

the

they
for

were
our

So when we

brought "concerns' to their attention, they made sure to make the efforts
to help us in hopes of winning our future votes. By virtue of my position as
Chairman, I had to spend time with all of them to see where
interests

lay.

The current Mayor was

their

real

Joaquin Acevedo, a popular and

jovial fellow of the PNP whose son Joaquin Jr. was a personal friend and
diving buddy of mine. Mayor Acevedo was a well-educated and polished
man who was a favorite of Governor Carlos Romero Barcelo. It would be
difficult not to like this man.

His nemisis was Alfredo Gonzalez of the PPO, a

quiet man from the country, but certainly no less intelligent nor politically astute.
I spent many an evening Sipping Pina Colada's with Alfredo trying to discern
his future visions for the Ramey community.

He seemed genuinely more

concerned about the people in the community and the need for better school
and recreational facilities. But he lacked the charisma of Joaquin Acevedo. I
always felt he would make a good mayor, but feared his quiet passive
disposition would never let it happen. Both men became casual friends of mine
but I never gave either of them my unconditional trust. But as elections would
grow near, they would both approach me and other board members to join them
on radio and TV talk

shows to

make

us part of their propaganda.

Whenever asked, we usually declined to preserve our objectivity as a civic

organization.

As a scuba instructor and recreational diver, I was lucky to dive some of the
most beautiful coral reefs and crystal clear tropical waters. Every weekend, I
would try to dive a new site with some of my buddies from the Coast Guard
or my usual dive partner Albert Rivera of Isabela.

Our favorite dive spots

included Crashboat Beach in Aguadilla, Jobos in lsabela which was the best
64

place to grab some bugs (diver jargon for lobsters), and Boqueron which was
the best place to catch tropical fish for our aquariums or incredibly beautiful
helmet, Triton, and conch shells.

Quite often we would make night dives

which are the most tranquil and amazing since the coral polyps on the reefs
open at night to feed, revealing their incredible, electrifying and dazzling
colors.

It would be these

discoveries

that

would

night dives that would

enrage

me

soon

lead

me to

and transform me into an instant

environmentalist.

Aguadilla is a small town of about 250,000 people where everyone knows just
about everyone else, or at least one of their relatives. Gossip and rumors
traveled at light speed in this small community, and
the wealthiest

parts of Aguadilla.

Ramey

was

one of

The happenings at Ramey were often

in the local news, like when we tried to obtain the old Air Force Hospital to
open a rehabilitation Center for the Handicapped.

As soon as word leaked

out, the story was picked up by the San Juan Star and within days we
were flooded with calls and resumes of people who wanted to work at the
new facility which would take at least six months to a year to open. We often
joked that one could not fart in private

in Aguadilla

without

the whole

town knowing about it. So secrets didn't remain secrets for long.

On any

given Sunday you'd find everyone of Aguadilla's six churches filled to capacity.
In General Puerto Ricans are devote Christians and it's unthinkable to miss
services on Sunday. But few tourists would take time to attend mass and thus
Sunday became one of my busiest and most profitable

days. So I would

have to catch the early 8:00 am mass or the 5:00 pm evening mass in
order not to lose business.

65

Most of the tourists were French Canadians from Quebec but there were
always groups of Americans

and Europeans

Puerto Rico was one of the Caribbean's

passing through. Western

best kept secrets since 98% of

Puerto Rico's 12 million annual visitors stay in the San Juan area some
80 miles and a three hour drive away.
moving

Narrow two lane roads and slow-

sugar cane trucks crawling along at 15-20 mph made the trip

slow and aggravating.

Most residents

of Aguadilla were quite happy to

have a minimal flow of tourists - about 2,000 a month. But these tourists
were what kept food on my table and the lights burning at my house.
A group

of four tourists

who

were

already

certified

cave and

night

divers, want to do both a night and cave dive - two dives in one night. This
would be both fun and profitable for me and I agreed to take the group to
Jobos Beach for the adventure.
their late twenties.

It was two couples from Montreal in

The girls would make the second dive night dive with
66

all of us but would stay in the boat for the first 40 minute cave dive.
Each dive would

be no deeper than sixty feet which safely gave us

one hour of relaxing

plethora
beach

of wildlife.
about

7:30

bottom time to enjoy the incredible

We

left on my sixteen

pm and tooled

where we anchored.

views and

foot Zodiac raft from the

out about

one hundreds

off-shore

It was a perfect night for a night dive with a full-

moon, and calm waters. The breeze was faint but enough to refresh in
the 85 degree heat as we watched the last bit of the huge orange sun
slip below the horizon leaving the sky painted with gradient shades of
purple. Only a handful of wispy clouds slept in the sky this night.

After making all of our safety checks and reviewing our dive plan together,
the two

men and

I rolled

over the

side and slowly

made our way

through the depths following our bright beams of flashlights

which probed

and pierced the darkness.

The visibility was so good that we could see

the

feet

bottom

seventy

five

away from

enjoyed this dive and opted to view the

the surface. We thoroughly

magnificent

rather than fill our dive bags with lobsters.

variety of wildlife

There were over a hundred

of the 6 to 10 lbs. orange monsters hunting for food on the ocean floor
and at the mouth of the cave. But on our exit and return we had a change
of hart and decided to grab just four for dinner on the beach. When we
made the second dive we were accompanied
negated the need for flashlights.
all as

I witnessed

the

look

by a full moon which almost

The excursion was very satisfying

of bewilderment

on the

faces

of

for
my

customers. Later they would tell me it was the best dive they had ever made.

By the time we stripped off our equipment in the boat after the second dive,
it was close to 9:45pm.

We wanted to quench our dry mouths before

heading back into shore and reached into the small cooler for relief.

As

we sat drinking I listened as the four chattered away about what they saw.
67

I had heard it all before, each time

night dive.

I took divers down, especially on a

I reflected upon how truly fortunate

I was that I could actually

earn a living doing what I loved most - diving. By now I had accumulated
over 2,000 hours of bottom time after getting my certification
Diver's in Sf. Thomas.

I honestly thought

life working as an Open Water

at USVI

I could spend the rest of my

Scuba Instructor

and Divemaster.

regret now not sticking to that game plan.

Suddenly

we realized we were starving and eager to eat the four

huge lobsters we just

bagged. As one of the guys

anchor, I pulled the rope to start the engine.

noticed the strange lights on shore.

pulled

up the

It was just then that I

I had never seen such activity on the

beach before so I was immediately curious.

I decided we would make a

pass by the moving lights on our way in. At first I had thought it just might
have been some kids in dune buggies

but as we got closer, I could

see the dark outline of huge trucks and some heavy equipment.
I closed to about thirty

yards

off-shore

When

I was shocked to see a front-

end loader scooping up tons of sand from the beach and dumping into
the back of a dump truck with two others waiting I line for a similar meal.
What the hell is going on hear? I thought to myself.
Rico were

The beaches of Puerto

public and I could not imagine why the government would be

taking sand from this beautiful beach. As Chairman of the Ramey Community
council I was plugged into local development plans and knew that there were
no marinas, or docks to be built here, and I never saw any notices posted
by the Army Corps of Engineers. But right now I had a boat full of hungry
customers and decided I would investigate later.

After we devoured our lobsters and washed them down with a cold beer at our
beach campfire, the couple strode off for a romantic walk on the beach while I
packed up all the gear. I could not get the sight of that escalation off my mind
68

This i s the famous Jobos Beach of I sabela, Puerto Rico that was having thi s beautiful sand
stolen by contractors Over 20 tons of sand was stolen and the replaced after we got
involved and exposed them.

and decided that I would drop off the gear, take a quick shower and take a drive
to the beach in Isabela where I had seen the trucks. By the time I had arrived
at the scene, the activity had stopped and the trucks were gone.

But the

damage they had done was left behind. As I walked the beach and followed
the tracks of the trucks, I discovered they had not only skimmed away about a two
foot layer of sand, but they had uprooted and stole about two dozen coconut
palm trees that were easily twenty year old trees. I was growing angry. They had
defaced a beautiful stretch of beach and
next day

I would

inquire

for what

I couldn't imagine. The

at Isabela City Hall only to learn that

no

construction nor excavation permits had been issued for that location. Whatever
was being done there was being done without the knowledge of the local
government. But the mayor of Isabela did not seem very concerned when I
told him about it, and just said that he'd "look into it". Something told me he
already knew about it and was just trying to blow me off. He was from the PPD
and probably resented the fact that a gringo was snooping around in his
back yard.

69

The following day I paid a visit down my street to see Bob Allen and told him
about what I had stumbled upon and asked him if he'd take some
photographs for me. The plan we devised was to stake out the sight that night
and

photograph the

bottom of it all.

activity and

get

license

tag numbers to get to the

Bob agreed, and as we sat along a ridge of sand dunes for

almost an hour the truck arrived and began their nightly chores. After Bob shot
a roll of film, we walked down the slope to the escavation and almost
immediately two men came running towards us and tried in vain to shoo us
away. We pretended to be just two gringo tourists as I carefully memorized two
of the license plate numbers on the trucks and Bob wrote them down on his arm
when we strolled out of site.

The trucks had magnetic signs on the doors of

their cabs that simple said "Official Government Service Only" in Spanish. But
having already visited City Hall, I doubted this was anything but official or it
would be going on during normal working hours in broad daylight. Another two
dozen trees were

missing since

my last visit.

I decided

I would

call

Freddy Valenti n, the director of Natural Resources in San Juan to ask for a
formal investigation.

Freddy and I were friends and had dived together

with Joagquin Acevedo and explored some incredible caverns together. I

knew he would not blow me off as the mayor had done. But when I reached his
office by phone, I was told that Freddy was in the United States for a week
lobbying with Baltasar Corrada, Puerto Rico's unofficial member of Congress. I
calculated how much damage would be done in a week and decided I couldn't
wait that long.

I wrote a letter to the Editor of the San Juan Star (Andrew Viglucci) and sent
him the photos that Bob snapped at the crime scene.

The following day my

letter appeared with one of Bob's photos in the San Juan Star under the title of
"ILLEGAL RAPE

OF NATURE". The San Juan Star is the major business

newspaper on the island which had

circulation of about 150,000 paid

subscribers and another 50,000 copies were sold at newsstands daily.

That
70

day I received two threatening phone calls by people who would not identify
themselves but who basically told me that I was sticking my nose where it
didn't belong.

I was sure the voice on one of the calls was the Mayor of

lsabela, but when I called him by name he simply hung up the phone.

Bob and I visited the excavation site that night and like magic, the trucks were
gone. Would they stay gone, or return after a week or two of recess. I had to
ensure that they would not, so sent a letter to Freddy Valentin about the
whole thing with a copy of the Star article. Freddy and I then played telephone
tag for about a week until his secretary finally reached me and assured me that
Freddy was on top of it and thanked me for the tip.

About

two weeks

newspaper

later I read in EI Mundo (the

largest

Spanish

at the time) that a developer in Isabela was charged for the

theft of public property and was ordered by the court to not only pay a
hefty fine, but actually
absconded with.

had to replace all the sand and trees that he

The estimated damage was about 4,000 tons of sand

and about forty palm trees. The article went on to suggest that the mayor
of Isabela may have had knowledge of the mess and was suspected of
taking a bribe according to a former secretary at the developers office.

But

official

investigation

denials

came

ensued.

the opposition

from

the

Mayor's

office and

further

None the less, the issue was enough to cause

candidate (Vincente of the PNP) to snatch

the next election.

no

city hall in

It was a small but satisfying personal victory for me

and I realized more than ever that one or two people in the world really could
make difference albeit in a small way. I did get a few kudos from the local surfers
and divers who visited and used that beach most often. That was enough for
me as I felt a true sense of accomplishment. Without even being aware of it at
the time, I had become an environmental activist, or so I would discover when
71

local newspapers later gave me that label in a scandal involving Dow Chemical
and yet another elected official.

Not

longer

after

was

tapped

by

the

governor's

office

after

recommendation from Mayor's Acevedo's office to work on a "Accion

Juvenil"

(Youth

In Action) project in Aguadilla, with Waldemar Barnes,

another dive instructor.

Youth in Action was a social program designed by

the government to take teens from poor or one-parent families and teach them
job skills, self-worth, and the concept of teamwork in and effort to divert them
from criminal activity and/or drug abuse.

It was funded by grants from the

U.S. and was acknowledged to be a successful program.

The job

I was

offered, and accepted was to teach a group of some two dozen kids from
Aguadilla, and neighboring Isabela and Aguada how to scuba dive, so they
could all participate in the construction of an artificial reef off the coast of
Aguadilla in an area that was being eroded. So for the next three months, I
took on these kids and turned them into some damn good divers.

I'll never

for get their enthusiasm and gratitude. None of them were in a position to
even afford to buy a scuba tank, much less expensive regulators and other
diving equipment that easily totaled $1,000 per set. The coordinator for the
project was the regional director of Accion Juvenil in Mayaguez, Hernan
Gastambide, yet another

diver

himself

and mutual friends with Joaquin

Acevedo Jr. Our mission was accomplished

handily, and the reef of

truck tires was built less than fifty yards off-shore near Crashboat Beach.
Today it is the main diving attraction
barely recognizable

- covered

in Aguadilla

as the tires are now

with six inches of coral and swarming

with fish, eels, octopus, and all sorts of marine life.

The local fishermen

who first opposed this project are now thrilled at the way the reef has
lured more fish from the sea closer to shore. I had a lot of fun with this
project and made lasting friendships with a handful of the divers I trained
like

Albert

Rivera

of

Isabela

and

Angel

Tirado

of Rincon. Being
72

responsible for twenty four people at 100 hundred feet below the ocean's
surface is a lot of responsibility, but it was all worth it for me and even
today, mark this little project as one of my favorites.

Some

months

Aguadilla's
another

later, and yet another

off the coast

of

beautiful Crash boat Beach, Albert Rivera and I saw yet

strange

set of lights that we never saw before

very close to Parador

Rico Tourism Board.
explore.

night dive

on the hillside

Montemar, the local Hotel run by the Puerto

Again curiosity got the best of me and I had to

But it was impossible for me to get very close by boat due to the

rocky coastline in that area.

But I was relieved not to find any trucks

and didn't give the matter a second thought.

But about a week

Yolanda
asking

on the

later, I got a message

Ramey

me to call her.

Councils

Community
When

from

a woman
message

I did, she spoke great

named
machine,

English and

identified herself as a resident of Aguadilla, and asked me if I had any

knowledge
Crashboat

of

the

Beach.

Dow
When

Chemical

storage

Resources
filed.

being

built

near

I told her that was impossible since there

had been no public hearings, she said "You'd

yourself" and hung up.

site

Immediately

better check it out for

I called Freddy office at Natural

to see if an environmental

impact statement

had been

The office said they would check and get back to me.

In the

mean time I called Luis Aponte and the other RCC board members to
see if they had heard of such a project. None had.

My next call was

to Mayor Acevedo, who for the first time ever did not return my call.
Now I knew for sure Yolanda was on to something, and I quickly recalled
the

mysterious

lights Albert

and

I had

Word came back from Freddy Valentin's

spotted

two

weeks before.

office that there was no

environmental impact statement of file and that a waiver had been granted
73

The red circle is where the toxic chemical tanks were hidden, and the yellow circle is
where we built the largest artificial reef in Puerto Rico. Cra shboat Beach receives over
20,000 touri sts every month from around the world.

by a local Congressman

- Buenaventura

his late fifties from the statehood

Esteves a veteran politician in

(PNP) party.

I asked them to arrange

for me to get a copy of the waiver and they did.

I hopped

in my little Opel GT and made my way to Parador

Montemar

where I met with Attorney Robert Raffols of Isabela who was in the
process of buying the Montemar from the government
partner.

with another

I introduced myself and asked him if he knew anything about a

Dow Chemical

project

in the

neighborhood.

alarmed and replied that he didn't.

He seemed

rightly

We both agreed to investigate. The

reason such a project would be so outrageous is z

areas in Puerto Rico.

urban

sprawl. What

landscaping

We had no skyscapers,
we did have was

huge parking lots, nor

vast stretches

of natural

suitable for framing, with pockets of small towns and three

cities. But by any standard, Puerto Rican cities with the exceptions of San
Juan,

Ponce, Mayaguez,

particular

area of Aguadilla

and Caguas were

was the

relatively

main tourist

small.

attraction

This

centered
74

around Crashboat Beach and Montemar.

for miles with 3 star accommodations,
waterfront,
site

and live

music to dance

in this neighborhood

Montenar was the only hotel

a nice patio restaurant

to.

Putting

a chemical

on the
storage

would be like putting a gas station or movie

theater in the middle of a PGA golf course!

I explored the hillside community where Albert and I had spotted the
lights and after chatting with local residents, one of them led me to an
area about the size of three acres that was fenced
fence.

in by a chain link

Sure enough there was a huge storage tank, about 500,000

gallons in size on a cradle bolted to a concrete foundation,

with yet a

second empty cradle next to it waiting for yet another tank.

There

were small read letters stenciled on the tank but from my distance
couldn't

make it out.

I was beside myself wondering

how such a

large project would exist without any gossip reaching my ears in such a
small community.

I immediately
home

for

drove to Mayor Acevedo's

the

day.

I drove

to

his

office but was told he went

home

in Marbella

where

apparently interrupted his dinner. After e xc ha ng i ng our normal greetings

I got right to the point "What do you know about this
project?"

I asked.

He immediately

Dow Chemical

became nervous and then evasive

as he knew I was not in favor of such a project. "Calm down my friend"

he replied.

"It's no big deal, just a temporary

harmless chemicals.

storage site for some

Come see me at the office tomorrow and I'll fill you

in". Mayor Acevedo had never lied to me before and I had nor reason to
disbelieve him now, so I excused myself and went home. But I couldn't sleep
that night, still wondering how such a project could have magically appeared
there seemingly overnight without anyone seeing anything.
bed and drove back to the site.

I jumped out of

It was about 2:00 am and only four

75

floodlights lit the areas from corner posts on the perimeter of the chain
linked fence.

I looked around nervously as I decided I must know what is in

that tank. I quickly scaled the fence and scurried into the shadows feeling as
if I was breaking into Fort Knox. I made my way over to the
tank

and

immediately saw

huge white

the international danger and toxic chemical

warning signs at both ends of the tank. Near one' of the valves their was yet
another sign that read WARNING - Do not open these valves without wearing
proper safety gear and a respirator".

Son of a bitch! Mayor Acevedo had

lied to me! Upon closer examination' found the words "Sodium Hydroxide"
which at the time meant nothing to me,

But the following day, I went

immediately to the local library following breakfast and postponing a meeting I

had with a local resident about a complaint.

Once at the library, I quickly learned that sodium hydroxide was a caustic
and highly toxic chemical that could be fatal if it's fumes were inhaled or if it
came into contact with the skin. It's common use in the world is in a drain
cleaning product called "Drane" and that is in a highly diluted form.

I was

outraged and immediately called Roberto Raffols at his office to learn that he
had made a same discovery on his own less than an hour ago.

We both spent a few hours burning up the phone lines trying to get more
information
professor

but were
at the

coming

University

up blank.

of Mayaguez

I then spoke
to

see just

with a chemistry

how dangerous

sodium hydroxide would be in the event of a spill. He informed

would not only immediately

contact.

and cause

me that it

kill the reefs upon contact, even if highly diluted,

but would also poison marine life for at least two or three
shoreline,

this

miles

along the

second degree burns on any human swimmers

upon

Those living within a half mile of the spill site (roughly about 250

families) would be asphyxiated

and die within minutes

respiratory failure and the soil would

be contaminated

of the spill from

for decades

to come.
76

The lush green hillside would become a brown dead zone. The bottom line
he told me was that this stuff was really bad news.

I immediately

notified

emergency meeting.

all the

RCC

board

members

called

for an

Fortunately the storage site was not in Ramey itself but

about four miles away in another

part of Aguadilla.

affect us as well, we voted to mount an investigation

formal protests.

and

But since a spill would

and start

filing

some

A group of local fishermen and surfers wanted to file a law

suit but I knew that would drag on for over a year

immediate

action

to

Maximino

Gomez,

stop

the construction

the president of another

in court

NOW.

and

I went

civic group

to

we

needed

meet

with

in Aguadilla,

and

the two of us decided to get some leaders of the PPO opposition party
involved. So we

met with

Rep. Noel

Bermudez and Senator

Tony Faz

Alzamora, who represented citizens of Aguadilla in the local Puerto Rico

Congress. They quickly jumped on board with us. I then recalled how effective the
newspapers had been with the sand escavation episode, and started typing away
into the wee hours of the morning. Within the next three days, my full page expose
editorials appeared in EI Reportero and EI Mundo newspapers under the title of
"POISON IN PARADISE" and now the

Dow Chemical

secret was

no more.

Many Suarez and Allan Pattereau of the San Juan Start came out to interview all the
local civic leaders and helped fuel the fires of protest.

I went to visit Mayor Acevedo and when I was told he was "unavailable" I burst into
his office and put it to him point blank - "Why did you lie to me!?!

How much did

Dow pay you?" I demanded to know. With tears in his eyes he told me that he
honestly had no hand in the deal and just learned about it a few days before I did.
For some strange reason I believed the man and tried to convince all the other
community leaders not to rush to judgment on the mayor.

But it was no use.

They claimed a Mayor's responsibility was to know everything that transpired in

his empire.

I could not argue their point but to this day, I still believe that
77

Mayor Acevedo

was

sidestepped

by Rep. Esteves and a shrewd

lawyer

named Israel Roldan who represented the PNP party and a large number of
American corporations in Puerto Rico.

When the governor refused to take our calls or answer our letters of inquiry,
Raffols,

Gomez,

Yolanda, and myself decided

protest.

Some wanted to chain themselves

we

needed a high profile

to the Dow storage site, and yet

others wanted to simulate a spill and dump dead fish and burned
allover

the beach,

of the Governor's

but ultimately

swimmers

we decided a protest march to the gates

mansion and steps of the Capitol building would be more

symbolic and effective.

So with some 800 plus protesters

Aguadilla's

central

we led our six hour, 80 mile march from

plaza down highway

no. 2 to San Juan, chanting and

holding our banners of protest all the way.

Every TV news helicopter flew

by for news footage as we created a traffic jam some ten miles behind us.
Route 2 is a two lane highway

that follows the

contour

of Puerto

Rico's

northern coastline, and is plagued with sugar cane trucks that crawl along
at a snail's

pace.

sympathized

We marched even slower. People along the way who

with

encouragement.

our cause ran

out

to

give

us

refreshments

and

About two hundred total strangers even joined the march!

We had great fun knowing

that the whole

island would know about Dow

Chemical's sneaky plans.

When

we

demanding
fifty

arrived

in San

the immediate

thousand

signatures.

Juan

we

delivered

petition

closure of the Dow storage

About

three

thousand

of

of protest

site bearing over

those signatures

came from Ramey where we went door to door collecting them.

exception, everyone was horrified at the idea of a toxic chemical
backyard and nobody hesitated to sign off on our petition.

Without

site in their

I had never seen

78

such unity in any community

and was impressed

that neighbors

from every

political quarter were solidly behind us in our battle against Dow Chemical. To
make a long story very short, the protest
and

all the

Within

press

a week the

the facility dismantled

coverage

forced

Dow Chemical

the

march was a huge success

issue

project

about two months later.

on the Governor's

was officially abandoned,

office.
and

Dow chemical was gone and

along with it went the anxiety of our entire town. This was a moral victory for the
people of Aguadilla.

But even though Dow was evicted from Aguadilla, most of the community leaders
including myself wanted a public accounting from the Mayor and Rep. Esteves as to
why no public hearings were held and who officially authorized the construction
permits which were not on file at City Hall as they should be. We asked Governor
Barcelo to order such an investigation but he declined.

He knew the results would

not be pleasant and cause great embarrassment for the PNP less than six months
before elections.

But I did manage to convince a mistress of Esteves to talk with me about what she
knew (her names was Lourdes and she was a local dancer at strip joint).
According to Lourdes, Esteves and the PNP both received $100,000 campaign
contributions, and Mayor Acevedo really had nothing to do with it and even
protested himself when he learned about it.

But this information came to late to do any good as Acevedo lost City Hall to
Alfredo Gonzalez in the elections.

Soon Lourdes story was floating all over town

after I told just three trusted friends.

Esteves also lost his seat and retired in

disgrace. Only Roldan continues to prosper brokering deals for the PNP. This is
not to suggest the PNP is more corrupt than it's opposition as both parties had
their share of scandals and will continue to do so. Corruption is the nature of the
Puerto Rican political beast and frankly the people of Puerto Rico actually grew
79

accustomed and somewhat even tolerant of it.

Romero himself had his own

scandal in Cerro Maravilla where the police had murdered some political dissidents
on the orders of Barcelo and his career immediately went down the tubes as well.
I closed the chapter on this episode by sending Esteves and Acevedo Christmas
cards. The note in Acevedo's card simply said I was sorry he was the last to know
and that I would always consider him a friend. But in Esteves card I wrote that no
amount of money could buy back the honor and respect of the community that he
lost with his betrayal, but suggested that he could at least live in dignity if he could
bring himself to make a public apology. All might not be forgotten, but I believed
the people of Aguadilla would forgive him.

No one ever heard from Esteves

again as he became a recluse in his house and seldom was seen in public. Any
good works he did for the people of Aguadilla will forever be overshadowed by the
Dow Chemical fiasco.

The Dow Chemical and Isabela Beach capers gave me a new appreciation of our
environment and I suddenly became more conscience of it. Up until then, even as
a diver, I had pretty much taken it for granted and never realized how quickly it
could be ruined and endangered. I wondered how many other Dow Chemical,
or Dupont, or Union Carbide projects were secretly being built in other parts of the
world.

I was so inspired by our own Dow victory that I joined Greenpeace and the

Sierra Club for a few years to follow.

I still remain attentive to environmental

issues today and occasionally shoot off a letter to the editor now and then.

These two events had given me a larger profile in the community and I was now
known outside of the Ramey community as a fighter and a gringo who cared about
Puerto Ricans. I was approached by a group of Aguadilla residents who wanted me
to run for Mayor or the Puerto Rican Senate.

Had I accepted the offer, I would

have been the first gringo to do so. But my first child Christian Marie was just born,
and she became my new priority in life.

My public life soon faded to a minimum

in Puerto Rico and I went back to teaching tourists how to scuba dive, sail, and
80

water ski. Within six months, I would move to Miami following a divorce with my
wife who had taken a job teaching in New York where she had an affair. I went to
Miami broken hearted and missing my daughter. Maybe I should have taken my
wife back. But even though the love was still there for her, the trust was gone
and I realized I had to get on with my life and hoped the pain would pass.

To this day, I miss all my friends in Puerto Rico who shared some of the best
times of my life with me. I still stay in touch with Dr. Aponte and his wife Mercedes
with annual post cards and an occasional call. All five of their sons have grown to
become doctors in their father's footsteps, and Luis tells me that politics still reigns
king. A month after I left Puerto Rico, GSA announced they would sell the old air
force homes we had lobbied three years for to the local civilian population.

missed the victory celebration but Luis and Bob Allen called to tell me about it.
My next call from Luis was a sad one to tell me that both Bob Allen and
Jorge Diaz had passed away.
Ramey

Community

Council

With their deaths, and my

lost direction

absence,

the

and eventually disbanded with

only one of our original goals unachieved.

After living seven years in a tropical paradise eating fresh fruits and seafood
every day, and having such wonderful friends,
behind, especially

it was not easy leaving it all

my daughter. But life went on and so did I. In retrospect, I

often wish I remained in Puerto Rico as I do today.

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