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The Statehood Movement: 100 Years of Evolution
Report presented during Puerto Rico Week, in "la
Casa de América" (the House of America), Madrid.
Panel: The Cultural-Political Future of Puerto Rico
by Gonzalo F. Córdova
November 4, 1998
©Copyright 1998 G. F. Córdova
Within a few days of the beginning of the Spanish-American
War, the Autonomic Cabinet published a manifesto affirming that
Puerto Rico would never renounce the Spanish flag and would forge
ahead for a victory. The Cabinet was comprised of local followers
of the peninsular monarchical Fusionist Liberal Party and by republicans
from the Island's Historical Autonomist Party. Luis Muñoz
Rivera directed the Fusionists, while José Celso Barbosa
took charge of the Historical Autonomists. Due to the pressure
of the naval blockade, the Spanish government on the island began
to weaken. The Institute of Volunteers (a group made up of those
who favored Spain), which had been one of the main pillars of
society, disintegrated in an alarming fashion. The American invasion
took place on July 25th, and by the 12th of August, the hostilities
had ended.
So began the process of sovereignty change. Leaders began to
adapt to the new political realities. The Historical Autonomists,
with Barbosa, drew up a document on August 27th upholding American
sovereignty and also aspired to make Puerto Rico a state of the
"Union, in order to affirm the personality of the Puerto
Rican people". Muñoz Rivera (Fusionist) declared himself
to be in favor of statehood in the New York Herald and called
the United States the "new fatherland". Evaristo Izcoa
Díaz, allegedly pro-independence, wrote to President William
McKinley and informed him that the Spaniards "when they departed,
left us with their language, some of their traditions and many
of their vices" and that the people had "received as
heavenly envoys the saving troops of the American Union, who had
broken the chains of slavery to a degenerate and immoral country
once and for all". The letter continued, "The people
of Puerto Rico come before you for the first time, and solemnly
bestow upon you their most sincere pledge of unity and affection
for the new Fatherland which now redeems them..."
In a newspaper interview, Eugenio M. De Hostos declared that
Puerto Rico should be an American territory and not just a colony
with ample autonomy; that we should be first-class Americans,
and not second-class citizens as in the days of Spanish rule.
At the White House, Muñoz Rivera pointed out to President
McKinley "that all Puerto Ricans" were "addicted
to the American Union." Later in San Juan, he affirmed that
"in order for us to be good and loyal Puerto Ricans, we cannot
be, we must not be, we do not want to be, by any means and without
reservation, anything but good and loyal Americans."
The reason why Barbosa and his followers of the Historic Party
founded the Puerto Rican Republican Party on July 4th, 1899, was
not because the leaders were dazed by the governmental institutions
of the United States, neither was it due to the country's great
economic strength nor to Barbosa's Americanization"during
his time of studying medicine at the University of Michigan. The
factors which forged the ideal of Puerto Rican statehood can be
found in Spanish republicanism during the second half of the 19th
century, whose main ideologist was the Catalan federalist Francisco
Pi y Margall. The majority of the members of the Autonomist Party
of 1887 were federalist republicans. For their leader Román
Baldorioty de Castro, "federative assimilation" was
"the autonomy of the province" of Puerto Rico. For that
reason, the majority of our political leadership at the beginning
of the 20th century believed in the ship of federated statehood.
Muñoz Rivera led the American Federal Party since October
1, 1899. Thus, among the Island's politicians, there was a consensus
regarding what the status, or rather, the definitive political
condition of the island should be. Republicans and federalists
enthusiastically accepted annexation to the United States. Unfortunately,
however, they were divided by procedures, personalities and past
actions.
Although the Puerto Rican political leadership and other liberals
in Washington -- among them, Senator Joseph Foraker -- wanted
a territorial government (which included American citizenship),
the charter which was approved followed the parameters of the
conservative mentality which reigned in the United States at that
time. Puerto Rico had an illiteracy rate of 85% of its population
(65% in Spain), and it was considered that the island was prepared
neither for independence, nor for broad self-government. The Foraker
Act was an American version of the Spanish special laws of 1837.
This Act changed Puerto Rico into an unincorporated territory,
free from the responsibility of paying federal taxes.
The Republican Party was supported by the professional class,
the middle class, the artisans and the Blacks. The Republican
Party obtained the legislative majority from 1900 to 1904 and
had the responsibility of using their limited powers granted to
them by the Foraker Act to help administrate the Island together
with a governor appointed by Washington. The Republicans had the
difficult and delicate task of adopting the American political
system to the colonial reality of the Island. During those four
years, the legal foundations for 20th Century Puerto Rico were
approved. The most significant legislation included: trial by
jury; writ of habeas corpus; beginnings of the first labor legislation;
freedom of religion, speech and the press; the political, civil,
penal, criminal and procedural codes; tax law; the new electoral
law which granted a vote to the illiterate; Spanish and English
as official languages; the establishment of the public school
system, and scholarships to study in the United States; the establishment
of industrial schools and the University of Puerto Rico; the position
of official historian of Puerto Rico; and the creation of the
Island police force.
In 1904 the Union of Puerto Rico (the reorganization of the
Federal Party) won the elections and the Republicans became a
legislative minority. From 1906 to 1914 the Unionists swept the
elections, removing Republicans from the legislature. Nevertheless,
the Republicans maintained a dozen and a half mayoral seats, from
a total of approximately 60 municipalities. The laws approved
by the Unionists generally continued with what was already legislated
by the Republicans.
Barbosa continued his political battle via his newspaper, El
Tiempo. He never believed in Puerto Rican independence, and he
detested domination by political bosses, militarism and the unending
revolutions which destroyed Spanish-American republics. He believed
that the government system of Anglo-Saxon nations was vastly superior
to that of Latin nations. For Barbosa, Americanization was not
incompatible with island patriotism, but rather it was the vital
instrument by which to obtain social justice and economic progress.
For him, political unity with the United States did not imply
dissolving the cultural personality of the Puerto Rican people.
Political assimilation was not synonymous with cultural assimilation.
He was convinced that Calderón's native tongue could coexist
with that of Shakespeare, thus creating a more educated and dynamic
people. It was not his objective to erase the positive aspects
of Spanish heritage in Puerto Rico, as many have said so many
times.
During the first two decades, the Republicans battled endlessly
to obtain American citizenship and greater political power. The
Republicans found an important ally in Santiago Iglesias. Since
1896, this Spaniard, admirer of Pi y Margall and refugee of Weyler's
Cuba, dedicated himself to organizing a labor movement with the
help of the American Federation of Labor. In 1915, he founded
the Socialist Party, forging an electoral force principally among
the rural proletariat. In US citizenship, the Socialists saw a
guarantee of economic and political freedom. In bestowing the
Jones Act upon Puerto Rico in 1917 which, among other things,
granted American citizenship, the Socialists entered into the
legislature and mayoral seats and progressively changed the politics.
The red flags greatly frightened the Unionist leadership and the
sugar and tobacco industries, as well as the needle-making industry.
Washington was also concerned. The Republicans and Socialists
began to seek political agreements.
José Tous Soto was the president of the Republican Party
and since 1920, he had been negotiating a political understanding
with Iglesias. After a trip to Washington in 1924, he formed an
alliance with the Unionists, with the governor's approval. As,
at that time, the Unionists had in their political program a form
of commonwealth, the Republicans became divided. Rafael Martínez
Nadal took the leadership, defending statehood due to its ideological
abandonment by Tous Soto. The Pure Republican Party was founded,
and formed a coalition with the Socialists.
Martínez Nadal dedicated his life from 1924 until his
death in 1941, to consolidating statehood ideal. In spite of having
lived in Barcelona between 1891 and 1904, there was never a more
authentic, creole leader in the history of Puerto Rico than he.
For him, statehood was not a matter of dollars and cents, but
a legitimate desire for freedom. From Senate leadership (1933-1940)
and together with Iglesias in Washington, the first statehood
bill was introduced. It had congressional hearings in 1935, after
it was approved by the legislature in San Juan.
The 1930's were turbulent throughout the world, and Puerto
Rico was no exception. The Nationalist movement advanced greatly
under Pedro Albizu Campos. He severely criticized the United States,
the American governors in San Juan and the Socialists. It's important
to point out, however, that he never launched a single attack
against Martínez Nadal.
During this decade, Luis Muñoz Marín, son of
Muñoz Rivera and Iglesias' collaborator during the 1920's,
began to forge a new political arena uniting socialism with his
father's pragmatism. His independence beliefs moved down to a
second place when he founded the Popular Democratic Party. According
to Muñoz Marín, the Island's status would not be
decided in elections. The role of elections would be to elect
a government of social change. Status, on the other hand, would
be decided in referendums and plebiscites separate from the elections.
The death of Iglesias in 1939 and the illness of Martínez
Nadal caused division in the Socialist and Republican parties.
The Republican-Socialist coalition lost control of the legislature
and mayoral seats in 1940. This gave rise to Muñoz Marín's
changes which would achieve modernization on the Island. The agricultural
economy began to decline, making room for industrialization. The
middle class displaced the humble peasants, Muñoz Marín
became the first elected governor in 1948, and the Commonwealth
was established in 1952. During almost two decades the "populares"
won in the 76 island municipalities.
With the death of Martínez Nadal, a vacuum was created
in the statehood leadership. In the 1952 elections, pro-statehood
forces wound up in third place, obtaining fewer votes than the
Puerto Rican Independence Party. Furthermore, the Socialists disappeared.
The "populares" accused pro-statehooders of being associated
with the old sugar industry which so exploited the peasants.
Moreover, they affirmed, statehood would never be granted to Alaska
or Hawaii, since they were not part of the continuous 48 states
and they had other cultural and racial roots. This declaration,
formerly believed as if it were a dogma of faith, was destroyed
in 1959 when statehood was granted to them.
In the 1956 elections, the Republican Statehood Party presented
Luis Ferré as a gubernatorial candidate. An engineer who
graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1920's,
he belonged to a family of new industrialists. Ferré paid
great attention to the issue of cooperation between the worker
and capital during a time in which this was not very common. Little
by little, he started to be recognized as a progressive industrialist,
who in addition, always found time for the arts and cultural life.
He began a long career as a civic leader in the Lions Club which
would take him all over the Island. He helped to found the Pontifical
University of Puerto Rico in 1948, and the acclaimed Ponce Museum
in 1956, which contained paintings acquired for his personal collection.
At the end of the 1950's, the Popular Party began to look for
a way to perfect the commonwealth, by eliminating its colonial
vestiges via legislation in Congress. In this way, it also intended
to put an end to the increase in the pro-statehood voters among
the growing middle class, which was searching for a guarantee
for their new prosperity. To do this, the Status Commission was
established in the middle of the 1960's, after Muñoz Marín
abandoned the governor seat in 1964. This Commission recommended
that a plebiscite take place to decide between the three options:
commonwealth, statehood and independence. In the 1960 and 1964
elections, Ferré had obtained the greatest support yet
in favor of statehood. This began in 1952 with 13% and in 1964
it had risen to 35%. Support for the Commonwealth steadily continued,
although it had decreased from 64% to 59% during that time.
The growth in the pro-statehood forces was due, in part, to
the increase in Federal funds for the Island. With President Franklin
D. Roosevelt's "New Deal", and the work of Iglesias
in Congress, the great supply of Federal funds to the Island began.
These funds continued to increase over the following decades,
lowering the poverty rate and strengthening the middle class.
The main leadership of the Statehood Party did not support
the plebiscite, as they viewed it as a strategy to strengthen
the Commonwealth and also, of course, it did not obligate Congress
to take any action. Instead of being an authentic plebiscite,
everything was reduced to a contest of sympathies. Ferré
argued that the statehood ideal should not be abandoned, and he
organized a group known as the United Statehooders to launch a
campaign. The Commonwealth obtained 60% of the votes, statehood
increased to 39% and independence to .6% (the Independence Party
did not participate). The great surprise was that the statehooders
won a number of municipalities and representative districts, principally
urban, which was something which had not happened in decades.
As a result, Ferré founded the New Progressive Party in
1968 and in this way, he recasted the statehood ideal for the
contemporary era.
The party's successful slogan was to achieve the "estadidad
jíbara", or "peasant/creole statehood".
The party's goal was to obtain reforms for the middle class by
supplying government bureaucracy and public corporations with
the dynamic power of private industry. Imitating the "populares",
the issue of status would no longer be decided during elections.
Ferré ran for the fourth time in 1968, expecting to lose
yet again. But in the Popular Party, a divisive internal struggle
had erupted. The New Progressive Party obtained 42% of the votes,
winning the governor seat, the House of Representatives (they
lost the Senate), the post of Resident Commissioner in Washington
and some very important municipalities among which were San Juan,
with the young Carlos Romero Barceló as mayor. The pro-statehood
supporters emphasized the role of the infrastructure, tourism
and solidifying relationships with Washington. The era of bipartisanship
was beginning. The "populares" mounted a strong opposition
in the Senate under the young, effective leadership of Rafael
Hernández Colón. The Popular Party united once again,
successfully allowing Hernández Colón to defeat
Ferré in 1972, obtaining 46.5% of the votes against Ferré's
40%.
Romero Barceló continued as mayor of the capital and
took the party reins. The campaign was based on the idea that
statehood was for the poor, as they did not receive all the social
welfare funds available to them being second-class American citizens.
For Romero Barceló, a professional attorney, statehood
was a matter of civil rights. According to him, Puerto Rico did
not have a complete democracy and did not enjoy the right to vote
on issues in Congress which were vital to the island. Even today,
Puerto Rico only has a voice in Congress, but no vote, via the
Resident Commissioner. In the 1976 elections, Barceló triumphed
in the race for governor, and indeed, in the entire legislature.
In 1976 the statehooders were, for the first time, able to
participate locally in the primaries of the national Democratic
Party. In this way, the ties between Island politicians and those
of the continental United States were strengthened. Traditionally,
the statehooders were associated with the national Republican
Party and in a more limited way, with the national Democratic
Party. From then on, the statehooders were active in the two national
parties due to the presidential primaries which continue until
today.
During the greater part of the 1970's and at the beginning
of the 1980's, the economic situation in Puerto Rico was difficult.
This negatively affected the electoral results of the governors,
and strengthened the idea of bipartisanship. During his first
four years, Romero Barceló could not advance the cause
for statehood to any significant degree. In 1976 he had won with
48% against 45% for the "populares"; but in 1980, he
regained the governor seat by 3,137 votes, losing the legislature.
Meanwhile, since 1968, all the parties began to search for
a way to decolonize the Island by way of free determination. Between
1972 and 1976, Hernández Colón tried unsuccessfully
to obtain a "New Pact" with Congress. The subject of
colonial status acquired importance again in the United Nations
at the end of the 70's.
The New Progressive Party confronted a division in the elections
of 1984, and Hernández Colón recovered the governorship
with 48% of the votes against 45% for Romero Barceló. Four
years later, Hernández Colón obtained a third victory
with 49% of the votes.
The national Republican Party had been in favor of statehood
over the course of several decades. Beginning with President Dwight
Eisenhower, all the Republican presidents have made declarations
in favor of the statehood status. All Democratic presidents, since
Jimmy Carter, have propelled the idea of free determination for
Puerto Rico.
After the 1988 elections, President George Bush had intended
to petition Congress to approve a law so that a referendum would
take place regarding the island's status. The day he took office,
however, Hernández Colón announced the convocation
of a plebiscite. The three parties began to debate.
In the Federal Senate, the Johnston Bill was introduced. After
several studies and hearings, another defeat occurred in the summer
of 1991. It was believed that the reason for this defeat in Congress
was due to the fact that the conservative Republicans and a few
Democrats were afraid that statehood would win in Puerto Rico.
They thought that the U.S. was not prepared to accept a Spanish-speaking
state. In addition, certain important American economic interests
in the Island, which enjoyed freedom from federal taxes, were
also firmly opposed to statehood, as were the organizations of
the Puerto Rican bourgeoisie, and they both influenced the centers
of power in Washington.
In order to keep the status debate alive, Hernández
Colón proposed, in August, holding a referendum in December
to amend the Constitution. This initiative was termed the "Democratic
Rights Law". Among the things which it proposed were guaranteeing
that the Spanish language would be Puerto Rico's only official
language, and protection of Puerto Rican culture and identity.
The Popular Party, the Independence Party and the other anti-statehood
groups united in a block in favor of the "yes" against
the New Progressive Party which was fighting for "no".
The polls gave the victory to the "yes" vote. Despite
the unified block, the "no" vote earned 53% of the votes,
and to everyone's surprise "yes" got 45%. This contest
"baptized" Dr. Pedro Rosselló as the new leader
of the statehooders.
Senator Victoria Muñoz, daughter of the celebrated Muñoz
Marín, was the Popular Party's candidate for governor in
the elections of 1992. Her opposing candidate for the New Progressive
Party was Rosselló. His platform proposed making reforms
to health and education, strengthening tourism and the infrastructure,
and reducing crime. He also promised a plebiscite. The result
yielded 49% for Roselló, 45% for Muñoz and 4% for
the Independence Party candidate. Romero Barceló was elected
to Congress as Resident Commissioner.
The three parties developed their own status definitions to
be included on the status ballot of 1993. The results were: 48.6%
for commonwealth; 46.3% for statehood; and 4.4% for independence.
In 1996 Rosselló again ran for governor and obtained
51.1% (more than a million votes). The "populares" earned
44.5% and the Independence Party, 3.8%.
One vitally important fact which must be mentioned is the budget
of the Puerto Rican government. In the fiscal year 1996-1997,
it totaled $7.5 billion. Of that amount, 75% came from income
made on the Island, and 25% was contributed by Congress. Moreover,
the Federal government has a number of agencies on the Island
(mail, immigration, Federal Court, etc.) which spent $814 million.
If these two amounts of Federal moneys are added, Washington's
contribution to Puerto Rico's budget rises from 25% to 48%.
In the US House of Representatives, the Young Bill was introduced
in 1997. Its goal was to have a congressional plebiscite in 1998.
The same, countless hearings and political arguments repeated
themselves. It was approved by one vote. The bill did not pass
in the US Senate. Rosselló then promised a local law so
that another plebiscite could take place. On this occasion, unlike
1993, the legislative majority wrote the definitions for each
of the options, to the displeasure of the "populares".
While this report was being written, the Popular Party finally
defined once again its formula for development of the commonwealth.
It also agreed to participate partially in the plebiscite.
With these words, I have attempted to present the historical
development of the Puerto Rican statehood ideal, as we commemorate
the centennial of the sovereignty change. What does the future
hold? As I am an historian, and not a political forecaster, I
cannot predict the future. This is in the hands of the active
Puerto Rican voters and Congress.
Córdova holds a doctorate from Georgetown University
and is a Professor at the Department of History, University of
Puerto Rico, Río Piedras.
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