 During the colonial period, the British name was "Crab Island".Vieques is best known internationally as the site of a series of protests against the United States Navy's use of the island as a bombing range and testing ground, which led to the Navy's departure in 2003.Today the former navy land is a national wildlife refuge; some of it is open to the public, but much remains closed off due to contamination and/or unexploded ordinance that the military is slowly cleaning up.