I have been visiting Vieques since 1973. I love this island and love living in Puerto Rico. However, something is terribly wrong with the relationship between Vieques and the Commonwealth.
As a full-time resident of almost fifteen years, I joined the community in the realization that Vieques is treated like the bastard stepchild, or as my friends and neighbors say: “the tail of the dog”. It truly hurts to see our citizens discriminated against and abused by those who think us unsophisticated or jíbaros, and I’m outraged that we are constantly treated that way by our own government.
Naturally, life on a small island comes with limitations and inconveniences associated with the difficult logistics of transporting people and cargo back and forth. While the isolation can be a hassle, it also contributes to the quality of life one enjoys away from the hustle and bustle of more mainstream communities. As our Commonwealth has become more socialistic and our citizens more dependent on government to provide services and opportunities, the progress made to offer some of these services in Vieques has been reversed. Under the current economic situation, cutbacks have caused the reduction in municipality funding & services, closing of local offices, and increased demands requiring us to visit offices located throughout Isla Grande. With the destruction of our hospital (CDT), we are even more dependent upon main-island medical services.
Our road to government, medical, and commercial offices passes through 9 miles of ocean. This road is controlled by Ports Authority and barely accessible, therefore, we are fully dependent on the Autoridad de Transporte Maritimo. The entire ferry system (ATM) is now, and has been, so totally mismanaged and dysfunctional that it has almost single-handedly crushed the economy of Vieques, and its stated plans for reduced services are further dashing the hopes for our future. This has the opposite result of the implied intent of the many programs that La Fortaleza has claimed will turn around the economy.
The economy of Vieques is fundamentally rooted in tourism (we have absolutely nothing else at this time), and to that end, we need to develop our island’s infrastructure and amenities in a sustainable manner. We want to improve our quality of life without losing our way of life or damaging our natural resources. Unfortunately, the current cargo ferry system makes this utterly impossible. Under the long-term, government enforced embargo, the shipment of goods and vehicles between Vieques and Isla Grande has been so constrained that our community is not economically viable. The extreme restriction of cargo services denies us the ability to live normal lives, start and run businesses, and grow the community as we see fit.
Until 2010 or so, Vieques had 15 ATM cargo ferries allocated to service the island per week, which equated to about 320 vehicles. During the ferry maintenance crisis at that time period resulting in the loss of several boats, the PR Fast Ferry was hired by Gov Fortuño to augment the service with their own boats and crews. Because the passenger ferries were out of service, the ATM substituted cargo ferries (with limited passenger space) for all Vieques runs. Although meeting schedules was still most often impossible, the seven ATM round trips a day (4 each on weekends) were all cargo vessels and brought the intended total ATM cargo trips per week to a total of 43 – almost three times the normal allotment – and with a far more useful range of departure times. The 15 supplemental trips by PRFF resulted in just under 60 round trips per week – almost four times the vehicle capacity of previous years and over twice as many as currently scheduled. Assuming that the boats all ran, we had the capacity to move 1200 vehicles. Some ATM personnel resented (and still do perform “sabotage” on customer service) the PRFF and often would not allow reservations, forcing many to waste time going standby. On other occasions, agents refused to sell tickets while the boats had space available. Despite this subversion, the boats tripled the cargo volume to an estimated 800 vehicles. The point here being that there is significantly more demand than the current horrible level of service can meet. With a more reliable, better scheduled service, the pent-up demand could fund a significant increase in service.
While not caused by the current Director, Mara Perez Torres, ATM management has been so politically corrupted, incompetent, and/or delusional for decades that they use the same old arguments to justify holding back Vieques services. In April of 2018 the ATM published a criminally fallacious D&C study as a preliminary to the RFQ process for ferry privatization. My personal response addressed the fraud they were attempting to wage. When the actual RFQ was released, some of the issues were corrected, but the lies and misconceptions remain today at every level of the ATM. The final issued RFP remains secret.
Each new gubernatorial administration claims to be appalled by the disservice to the island communities, and each appoints a new director (or multiple directors as the situation reoccurs ad nauseum). With each new director, we start over with promises. Without exception, the directors have no meaningful operational experience and drink the Cool-aid fed to them by the ATM organization. Without exception, there is no long-term improvement.
Vieques has one of the highest unemployment levels in Puerto Rico, with a very high rate of population decline. We cannot create jobs for our residents or start and run businesses without adequate cargo service. We have lost existing jobs because the ferry system did not offer the capacity to export containers of materials under federal contract. Growth of existing businesses is constrained and starting new businesses, that require the regular delivery of products and/or materials, is generally impossible under our allocation of ferries.
As our government and medical services are cut back on Vieques and moved to big island locations, we cannot afford to rent cars every week to make repeated visits to offices and clinics. We have some of the worst health statistics in Puerto Rico. Many locals without credit cards and students currently cope with very lengthy and circuitous routes of public transportation. A simple visit to a doctor or government office burns a day of work.
Household goods, food, fuel, building materials, services, etc. are only available here in limited quantities and with limited selection. Monopolies are the rule. Monopolies form for one of two reasons: either there is inadequate market support for multiple competitors, or the existing merchant works to prevent competition from gaining access to the market. In either case, Vieques suffers from higher prices, reduced customer service, and inadequate product availability. Without competition there is no advertising. Without advertising, there is no newspaper. Without a local newspaper, we are kept in the dark: divided and conquered.
The core cause of the issues outlined above is INADEQUATE CARGO FERRY SERVICE! Demands for a bridge by some residents reflected the recognized needs for reasonable access to and from the island. An improved ferry system is one answer at a fraction of the cost.
Just a cursory review of the existing ferry system shows inadequate and inappropriate locations, facilities, equipment, and operations. As a person who spent a few years in aviation operations and maintenance, I can cite many, many details of failure here. Keeping this discussion as a “top down”, overall perspective, political management of this technical operation has been a disaster. The ATM demonstrates an appalling lack of competence, as well as a lack of sensitivity and concern for the wellbeing of thousands of Puerto Ricans. It is hard to believe that the past operation of the system was anything less than an attempt to punish Vieques for something, or an indication of some criminal scheme by ATM officials.
Government’s role is to provide adequate transportation infrastructure to foster commerce and public access to services. The entire road and highway system of Puerto Rico is provided for these same purposes. The road is not a profit center; it is not a business; and it does not make money. We know that the Central Government is broke. We know that the myriad of problems of the ATM are not caused by the new Governor, Wanda Vazquez Garced. We believe that she must want to rid her administration of the constant recurring failed ATM. But the solution offered by the Roselló administration is horrific and unsatisfactory as efforts are being made to opaquely implement it.
Requests by local residents, as the primary stakeholders, to have a seat at the planning and oversight table have been denied. Local attempts to establish a cooperative to create, own, and oversee the operation of a ferry service have been rebuffed by Omar Marrero, who claims that the plea is too late and that proposals cannot be accepted during the period an existing RFP is pending. Since the term of the contract he is letting is 23 years, the islands are going to be sentenced for more than an entire generation to:
- failed economic development,
- inaccessible medical services,
- severely constrained education, and
- deprivation of the pursuit of happiness.
The ferry service required to sustain our island is key. If government can’t do the job, it should quit! Give us time and support to set up a cooperative. Or, if preferred, consider some innovative solutions that reach well beyond the ferry and provide economic development for Puerto Rico otherwise unachievable.
