Isla San José (Panama)

Isla San José is the second largest island in the Pearl Islands, and has an area of 44 km². At the 2000 census, it had a population of 10. The privately owned island has an area of about 17 square miles. Thousands of wild pigs and deer populate Isla San Jose, which has a rugged, rocky shoreline and over 50 beaches.[1]

A unit of U.S. soldiers tested chemical arms from 1945 to 1947 on the then deserted island, leaving behind at least eight unexploded 500 and 1,000-pound bombs.[1] A U.S. military text states that the larger bombs contained phosgene and cyanogen chloride, and smaller ones mustard gas.[1] Other reports state that the soldiers also tested VX nerve gas and sarin.[1] Claims of abandoned mine fields containing thousands of armed chemical mines have been made, but no evidence of this has been presented. An unknown but large amount of munitions was also dropped into the sea around the island.[2]

The island is served by San José Airport.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Tim Johnson (2013-10-09). "Panama hopes U.S. will clean up chemical weapons it left on island". McClatchy. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  2. ↑ John Lindsay-Poland. "Test Tube Republic: Chemical Weapons Tests in Panama and U.S. Responsibility Archived 2013-04-15 at the Wayback Machine." San Francisco: Fellowship of Reconciliation Panama Campaign, 1998.
  • David Pugliese, "Panama: Bombs on the Beach," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 58 (July–August 2002)

Coordinates: 8°15′N 79°07′W / 8.250°N 79.117°W / 8.250; -79.117


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