Culebra
Pirate refuge turned Navy bombing range (228 missile days in 1969 alone). Successful 1970-75 protests expelled military; became wildlife refuge and conservation success. Flamenco Beach's rusted tanks symbolize how occupation scars became tourist attractions.
Culebra exists because its geography made it ungovernable. The Spanish named it Isla Pasaje—Passage Island—and throughout the 18th century, pirates used its hidden coves to ambush ships in the Virgin Passage. When Taínos fled the main island after the 1511 rebellion against Spanish rule, they found refuge here and allied with Caribs for raids on colonial estates. The island's function was resistance, not settlement.
Formal colonization came remarkably late. In 1875, Spain appointed its first governor—a black Englishman named Stevens. The first organized settlement didn't arrive until 1880, when Don Cayetano Escudero established San Ildefonso de la Culebra. The Culebrita lighthouse began construction in 1882 and operated until 1975—the oldest functioning lighthouse in the Caribbean during its era. When the Spanish-American War ended in 1898, Culebra's 700 residents became American subjects.
President Theodore Roosevelt transformed the island's purpose in 1901, allocating all public land to the Navy. By 1903, the Culebra Naval Reservation controlled approximately 80% of the island. What began as test landings and ground maneuvers escalated: in 1936, bombing practice began. By 1939, the archipelago served as a gunnery and bombing site. The peak came in 1969, when Navy pilots training for Vietnam dropped missiles on Culebra for 228 days of the year. Live-fire exercises occurred more than 100 additional days.
In 1970, residents chose confrontation over evacuation. When the Navy attempted to forcibly remove the entire population, Culebrans organized seven months of marches, sit-ins, and blockades. Mainland Puerto Ricans joined in solidarity. By 1975, the Navy withdrew—the first successful demilitarization campaign in Puerto Rican history. Operations transferred to Vieques, which would fight its own battle for another three decades.
The bombed island became a conservation success. The Culebra National Wildlife Refuge, established by Roosevelt in 1909, now protects over 20% of the island as endangered sea turtle habitat and one of the Caribbean's greatest seabird breeding sites. Flamenco Beach—ranked third-best beach in the world by TripAdvisor in 2014—features rusted M4 Sherman tanks half-buried in white sand, monuments to military withdrawal. With only 1,792 residents (2020), Culebra remains Puerto Rico's least populous municipality. The deliberate absence of large hotels and resorts preserves what bombing couldn't destroy. By 2026, Culebra exemplifies how islands scarred by occupation can heal into ecological refuges—the anti-tourism model that attracts tourists precisely because it rejects them.