Cancer on the paradise island: how the US base in Portugal bears death from oncology

The US military presence in Portugal has turned tragic consequences for the local residents. As it was found out to agency Ruptly, in the vicinity of the American base Lajesh on the island of Terceira a surge of oncological diseases was recorded. Since the Cold War, the region's population suspects Washington of the secret deployment of nuclear weapons, destructive to the environment. As Ruptly was told by Portuguese scientists, it is impossible to explain the soil contamination that leads to mass illnesses.

The Portuguese insist on an investigation. The United States, alarmed by the high mortality of its servicemen on Terceira, back in the 1990s sent a special commission there. However, the results of her work were strictly classified.

However, the lack of a legal framework hinders the plans for a large investigation. Although Terceira recorded a 50-fold excess of pollution standards, Portugal lacks environmental legislation that allows the process to proceed.

The former Mayor of Lima points to the Bald Hill - a natural hill that has become a symbol of environmental problems. Over the years, local farmers have sown the slopes of this hill, but without the slightest result. "Imagine our fertile soils, usually everything grows on them that you do not sow, but it's not like that, it seems that something crops up in a vague manner for us," Lima argues. In the vicinity of the Bald Hill are the remains of the US military base.

They do not believe that the surge in morbidity in Terceira is just an accident. "Local people have the same genes, the same culture, the same eating habits as the other Portuguese, the only difference is pollution from the US base in Lajes," says Norberto Messias, a professor at the Graduate School of Health in Lisbon.

The American airbase on Terceira was founded even before the Cold War as a point of refueling the US aircraft bound for Europe. There were no cleaning systems, the pouring jet fuel was absorbed into the soil of the island, causing large-scale pollution.
However, as many in Portugal believe, US logistics were not limited. Washington was developing plans for emergency operations in the event of the USSR's advance to Western Europe. And the Azores were recognized as strategically important in deterring the communist threat.