AGUADILLA, Puerto Rico — One day after the United States attacked Venezuela and captured its ruler, Nicolás Maduro, beachgoers on the northwestern coast of Puerto Rico heard the rumbling noises of flying military aircraft overtake the peaceful sounds of waves lapping onto the shore.
For those in this city known for its surfing and beach life, the sights and roars of fighter jets and Reaper drones were a reminder that, just a few miles away, the air facilities of a once-shuttered U.S. military base have gained renewed importance in President Donald Trump’s plan to assert “American dominance in the Western Hemisphere.”
While Puerto Rico has long been considered a crucial U.S. military asset because of its location, much of the robust military infrastructure and training facilities established on the island shuttered after the end of the Cold War because of cuts in military spending and local opposition over the environmental and health effects of the artillery and hardware used in target practices for decades.
The forgotten military facilities are now being revived amid Trump’s new military push in the Western Hemisphere and his warning following Maduro’s capture of the possibility of new U.S. military attacks in Venezuela.
“Puerto Rico is the center of gravity for continuing to advance national policy in the Caribbean and in Latin America,” Puerto Rico’s secretary of public safety, National Guard Brig. Gen. Arthur Garffer, said at a news conference Tuesday.
He added that based on the priorities outlined in Trump’s most recent national security agenda, “it is perfectly clear that Puerto Rico plays a crucial geostrategic and geopolitical role in that national security policy.”
In the southwestern city of Ceiba, the deafening sounds were familiar to Marisa Carreras, 75.
“It doesn’t bother me. I grew up with that,” she said, noting that many of her relatives had worked at Roosevelt Roads Naval Base, which closed in 2004.
Last weekend was the most active it has been since then, she said.
On the week following Maduro’s capture, thousands of Army Reserve soldiers were descending on the island for previously scheduled military exercises to ensure they'd be ready to be deployed, if needed. The Navy just leased part of another airport in the southern city of Ponce for military logistics practices and maneuvers.
Air facilities at Ramey Air Force Base in Aguadilla were reactivated in late August, more than 50 years after it was closed. The long-abandoned Roosevelt Roads Naval Station in Ceiba, closed over two decades ago following mass protests over civilian deaths and environmental concerns, was also reactivated.
Reusing the bases was the precursor for a vast U.S. military deployment throughout the Caribbean over the past five months, which overlapped with dozens of U.S. strikes on boats the Trump administration claimed were smuggling drugs.
It reached a turning point Saturday. In the immediate hours after the U.S. military captured Maduro in the early morning strike, social media users in Ceiba began posting videos of military aircraft flying over the base. The next day, a dozen Air Force F-22 Raptors were seen departing Puerto Rico after having landed there following the attack on Venezuela.
For residents, the activity is a profound change from the quiet of recent decades, with many recalling a time when the bases were a central part of the region's economy and employment.
Carreras, a native of Ceiba, reminisced about going to the base when she was younger to celebrate July 4th. “I still have a little bracelet I bought at the exchange store one of those days," she said.
The Navy Exchange building Carreras referred to now sits empty, with a dramatically deteriorating facade and fading glimpses of the busy department stores and food court it once had.
Sitting outside his small business which sells the popular Puerto Rican turnovers known as empanadillas, Osvaldo Medina Flores recalled how “everyone in Ceiba used to work at the base.”
“It was a tremendous economic boost,” said Medina Flores, who has lived in the city for 32 years.
Despite several efforts to repurpose and redevelop Roosevelt Roads, the 8,000-acre base remained mostly abandoned for the past 20 years. Still, peeking through the overgrown vegetation that has consumed many of the dilapidated buildings are remnants of what once was a bustling military hub that housed one of the largest naval facilities in the world.
Fishing at one of the base’s abandoned docks Wednesday afternoon, Navy veteran Orlando Rocafort reminisced about his time stationed in Roosevelt Roads. He recalled his 24-year-old son’s birth as he pointed across the water to the base’s neglected hospital building.
“He was born right there,” Rocafort said in Spanish. “It was beautiful — there were times when I would spend months without leaving the base, because they had everything.”
“It’s sad to see how the buildings look now — you can't even see what used to be the commissary from the road anymore because of all the overgrown vegetation covering it," he said.
Across the serene waterfront where he was fishing, Rocafort said he spotted several F-35 fighter jets taking off from the base Wednesday. It made him wonder whether the growing military presence in Puerto Rico will be “a temporary thing” and whether it will remain “relatively small,” compared with Roosevelt Roads back in the day.
Higinio Diaz was near an abandoned gas station inside the base Wednesday afternoon, racing his Speedrun cars, a hobby he has taken on for the past month. Diaz, 49, has been traveling from Guaynabo, a town 50 miles away, to race his battery-operated car there for the past month.
“Today is one of the most active days I’ve seen since I started coming here,” he said.
A sign advertising the Puerto Rican government’s latest effort to redevelop Roosevelt Roads stands on the sparsely trafficked road where Diaz races his Speedrun cars. The initiative promises to focus on “the economic, social and tourism redevelopment of Roosevelt Roads, with civil projects underway such as infrastructure reconstruction,” according to a news release.
Asked about the ongoing revitalization program, Medina Flores said he's skeptical, since he has seen how many of those initiatives don’t have the continuity to make lasting changes.
"More needs to be done," Flores said, though there may be a glimpse of hope with the partial reactivation of the base.
