cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/10317317
San Juan, Jan. 8 (Prensa Latina) The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) today categorically rejected the conduct of military exercises in public spaces in Puerto Rico, following an announcement by the U.S. Army Reserve.
The executive director of the ACLU of Puerto Rico, Annette Martínez Orabona, warned that the military presence in civilian areas is unjustified and poses a direct threat to the constitutional rights of citizens.
Since August 2025, there has been a steady increase in the U.S. military presence on the coasts and in the airspace of the Puerto Rican archipelago, a situation that now extends to public roads.
"The pattern of increased military presence shows an unprecedented remilitarization, which has turned the entire territory into a floating military base," said the lawyer, arguing that there is no reason to justify the military presence in civilian areas, from main roads to squares and any other public space.
The organization she represents is making an urgent appeal to citizens not to "normalize" the presence of soldiers, military vehicles, and war material in areas of civilian use, while warning of the dangers of militarization in this country, which has been under Washington's colonial rule for 127 years.
"Puerto Rico already experienced a similar military presence for decades in Vieques and Culebra, experiences that were marked by multiple human rights violations and whose effects still persist," Martínez Orabona pointed out, noting that this motivated a strong mobilization of the people to end the practices of the U.S. Navy in the island municipalities and the closure of the Roosevelt Roads naval base, which has once again been used to attack the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
According to the ACLU, the Trump administration favors the normalization of military policing as a control strategy, a practice that aims to weaken fundamental constitutional protections, particularly freedom of expression.