Last week’s protests across Puerto Rico against a new wave of U.S. military operations drew little response from officials or mainstream media. For residents of Vieques and Culebra, ignoring them risks reopening the wounds of contamination, cancer, and colonial disregard. A Protest Wave: Officials Pretended Not to HearIf visibility is power, last week’s marches across Puerto Rico ran into a wall of silence. Vieques, la Isla Nena, still bears the toll: Puerto Rico’s highest cancer prevalence, which residents connect directly to years of bombardment. “When the Navy left Vieques and closed its military bases, it was not voluntarily,” recalled Adrián González, senator for the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP).