Update on Reunification with Spain

The Puerto Rico Status Act gives voters a choice among the viable non-territorial options for Puerto Rico’s political status: U.S. statehood or independence with or without a Compact of Free Association with the United States. Puerto Rico could also remain an unincorporated territory of the United States indefinitely. But these are not the only possibilities in the universe. There is also the “enhanced commonwealth” fantasy, which has been declared unconstitutional by all three branches of the federal government. Since the U.S. Constitution is the law of the land, this is not a possibility in real life. Then there is reunification with Spain.

This option got back into the headlines by speaking up at the U.N. meeting on decolonization. For the 42nd time since the U.N. agreed that Puerto Rico was not a colony in the 1950s, the committee resolved that the territory should be decolonized. For the 42nd time, the United Nations as a while did not agree and the United States government did not participate. People spoke up for independence and for statehood.

But there were also, for the first time, representatives of the group desiring reunification with Spain. The idea here is that, having been a colony of Spain for 400 years, Puerto Rico could return to that relationship. Since Spain gave Puerto Rico to the United States in 1898, it is clear that Spain still owned Puerto Rico  at that time. However, there were stirrings of autonomy and those who favor reunification believe they could have something like statehood under Spain. That, not a return to slavery and government by Spaniards, is the goal.

Does Puerto Rico want this?

Obviously, there is a lack of popular support for this notion in the Island. The last time we wrote about this, there were two Facebook groups on the subject; one still exists. There is a website for a group supporting the idea, though Impacto reports that they have just 36 members.  There is even a book advocating this suggestion.

Reunification with Spain is much less popular than independence, which has only a very small supporter base.

The speakers at the U.N. meeting claimed that “In Puerto Rico, there are a lot of people who follow and tune in to the reunification, but they are not in the streets and they do not present themselves as such because they are afraid of repression and of losing their jobs.” Judge for yourself how likely this is.

Does Spain want this?

Thoe favoring reunification with Spain have suggested that the United States government get together with the government of Spain to hammer out the details. They are proposing that the U.S. federal government, which has so far been unable to take action on either U.S. statehood or independence for Puerto Rico, should initiate talks with Spain to offer to give back to them the possession they lost more than 125 years ago. It’s hard to see any advantage for either the U.S. or Spain in this scenario.

Spain has not at this point shown any desire to retake its former colonies in the New World. Millions of Americans speak Spanish, and this fact has not launched any plans to reconnect the former colonies with Spain as autonomous provinces or anything of the sort. Puerto Rico is one of the most prosperous parts of the former New Spain, but there is really no reason to imagine that this will persuade Spain that what they really need right now is a New World possession.

England hasn’t approached the United States with any invitations to resume the colonial relationship, either. We looked hard for any indication that any European nation is feeling nostalgic for the 17th century, but we find no evidence of this.

Would it be beneficial?

As far as we can tell, the only way that being a province of Spain would be better than being a state would be less pressure to learn English. About 27% of Spaniards currently speak English. Becoming citizens of Spain would certainly not square with keeping U.S. citizenship and Puerto Rico, as part of Spain, could not expect financial support from the United States. The U.S. and Spain are on good terms these days, but Puerto Rico would definitely be a foreign country. This could be a hardship for the majority of Puerto Ricans who currently live in the states. Travel to visit family would be more complex and they could, like citizens of the Philippines after independence, find themselves in a hurry to get travel documents or to go through the naturalization process.

Supporters of the idea have not gone into these details.

There may be other proposals we have not heard of. If so, please share the information in the comments. However, it is clear that the real options are statehood, which would safeguard U.S. citizenship and provide the full protection of the U.S. Constitution, or independence. After becoming independent, Puerto Rico could approach Spain about reunification directly if they chose to do so.