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The San Juan StarBURGOS WILL NOT CERTIFY P.R. CITIZENSHIPEfe News Agency(06/06/98, Copyright © 1998 The San Juan Star)Secretary of State Norma Burgos has spoken out in defense of her position not to certify the Puerto Rican citizenship of pro-independence lawyer Juan Mari Brás following his renunciation of U.S. citizenship. Secretary of State Norma Burgos has spoken out in defense of her position not to certify the Puerto Rican citizenship of pro-independence lawyer Juan Mari Brás following his renunciation of U.S. citizenship. Burgos said the decision of the U.S. Department of State to annul the certification of Mari Brás' loss of U.S. citizenship supports her position in the case. She also said it is clear that people born in Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens and that Puerto Rican citizenship, as established by the Jones Act, "is a recognition of the domicile of the person and not of a nationality based on the sovereignty of Puerto Rico which does not exist under commonwealth". Burgos reiterated that the Puerto Rico State Department is not empowered to certify Mari Brás' status as a Puerto Rican citizen. Burgos was answering a letter sent to her last week by Mari Brás' lawyer, Juan Santiago Nieves, in which he requested certification for is client as a citizen of Puerto Rico.
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