Peaceful Demonstrations to Support Trinity Downwinders at Entrances to Trinity Site on Saturday, April 2nd

The Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium is organizing two peaceful demonstrations to support those who have been negatively affected by exposure to radiation as a result of the July 16, 1945 Trinity Atomic Test in south central New Mexico at the entrances to the White Sands Missile Range at the Stallion Range Station and Tularosa Gate on Saturday, April 2^nd.  The White Sands Missile Range holds an open house twice a year for the public to view the site of the Trinity Test.  http://www.wsmr.army.mil/PAO/Trinity/Pages/Home.aspx

On July 16, 1945, just before dawn, the government of the United States of America conducted the first test explosion of a nuclear device in the Tularosa Basin in central New Mexico at the White Sands Army base.  Without warning, the 40,000 people living in the immediate vicinity were engulfed in a radioactive cloud that continued to rain down radioactive particles for days.  Please read this flyer – April 2nd flyer-2

After the test, the US Government packed their bags, turned their backs and walked away. For 71 years the US Government has taken no responsibility for the health repercussions and the effects of exposure to radiation from the Trinity Test for the People.  The cancer rates in the four counties surrounding the Trinity Site are four to eight times higher than the national rates.

The Consortium has been working for 11 years to expand the federal Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) to provide compensation and medical care to the people of New Mexico, and particularly to the Trinity Downwinders.  The fund has paid out over $2 billion in claims thus far to the downwinders of the Nevada Test Site, and more importantly, has provided lifetime health care coverage, with no co-payments, no deductibles and no premiums to those affected.  Proposed amendments to RECA include the Trinity downwinders.

Senate Bill 331 https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/331?q={%22search%22%3A[%22\%22s331\%22%22]}&resultIndex=1 and House Bill 994 at https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/994?q={%22search%22%3A[%22\%22hr994\%22%22]}&resultIndex=1

Beginning at 9 am, some members of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium will gather at the Stallion Range Station entrance to the Trinity Test Site at White Sands Missile Range, Hwy. 380, east of San Antonio, New Mexico.

Beginning at 7:30 am, other members of the Consortium will gather at the Tularosa Gate in Tularosa, New Mexico.

You are cordially invited to join the Consortium in their peace demonstration.  Please bring your own water, chair and poster.

Tina Cordova, of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, said, “The peaceful demonstration will be a somber occasion to recognize and expose the pain that secrecy can impose.  At all times, we will remember that our message is conveyed out of love and remembrance, honoring the suffering and death from this atrocity.”

For more information, please contact Tina Cordova at tcordova@queston.net   or call her at 505-897-6787.