Lily pads still generate local harm and protest despite their small footprint.

Evidence

Although lily pads seem to promise insulation from local opposition, over time even small bases have harmed local communities and have often led to anger and protest movements. Crashes at drone bases in Djibouti and the Seychelles have already caused local apprehension and opposition. Military personnel operating from a lily pad in Colombia have committed rape. In Ecuador, U.S. Coast Guard counternarcotics operations sank several fishing vessels and may have been responsible for the deaths of fishers aboard at least one boat. And in Australia’s Cocos Islands, where U.S. officials have considered a lily pad, some locals fear they might suffer the same fate that befell the Chagossians exiled from Diego Garcia. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 1019

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the Diego Garcia/Chagossian exile narrative that runs through this book.