Peaceful Dia de los Muertos Demonstration Planned at Trinity Site Entrance on Saturday, April 5th

(THEME UP AND UNDER)  This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety.  Here is this week’s top headline:

*  Peaceful Dia de los Muertos Demonstration Planned at Trinity Site Entrance on Saturday, April 5th

The Trinity Test Site, the location of the first test explosion of a nuclear device on July 16, 1945 on the White Sands Missile Range, is open to the public one day a year. It will be open on Saturday, April 5th.

The Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium and Las Mujeres Hablan, two advocacy organizations, are working together to tell the rest of the Trinity Test story that is not found in history books.  They have been working with local communities, congressional members , and New Mexico legislators to bring attention to the tragic health effects suffered by those exposed to the first atomic test.  The cancer rates in the counties surrounding the Trinity Site are among the highest in the nation.

The groups are bringing attention to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), a federal law that provides compensation to those who were exposed to radiation from above-ground tests and uranium mining and milling.  They are supporting the proposed RECA amendments, which are sponsored by the entire New Mexico Congressional delegation, to expand it to include those who were exposed to the Trinity Test.  http://www.tomudall.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=1272, http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d113:3:./temp/~bdM6D0::|/home/LegislativeData.php|, http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d113:2:./temp/~bdM6D0::|/home/LegislativeData.php|

The advocacy groups are organizing a peaceful Dia de los Muertos demonstration at the Stallion Range Station, on Highway 380, east of San Antonio, New Mexico, beginning at 9 am on Saturday, April 5th and asking participants be on-site for two hours. The theme is to remember and honor the dead and recognize and expose the pain that secrecy imposes.  http://www.wsmr.army.mil/PAO/Trinity/Pages/default.aspx

The organizers ask that participants paint their faces with skeletons or bring cardboard skeleton masks.  Please bring your own water, snacks and posters.

Organizers will be providing information about the need to expand RECA and the National Institute of Health study to understand the lifestyles of those living downwind and downstream of the Trinity test.

Tina Cordova, one of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium organizers, said, “Sixty-nine years have passed.  It’s time to recognize those who were unknowing, unwilling, uncompensated, innocent participants in the world’s largest science experiment.  People in New Mexico have been suffering in silence ever since the bomb was detonated in July 1945.  It’s time we reveal the rest of the story and people are made aware of the complete legacy of Trinity.”

Everyone who has been affected, who has had a family member that has been affected, or who has an interest in the issue are invited to attend.  Videographers will capture the event for inclusion in a documentary that is in production.

For more information, please contact Tina Cordova at (505) 897-6787 or tcordova@queston.net or Joni Arends, CCNS, at (505) 986-1973 or ccns@nuclearactive.org.

 
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