Reparative Spanish citizenship has legal consequences for US citizens

“The proposed reparative action for Spanish citizenship is discriminatory because until 1898 it was only granted to Spaniards, but not to people of color and Taino people in Puerto Rico,” columnist Gregorio Igartúa writes. (discoverpuertorico.com)

By GREGORIO IGARTÚA

Special to The STAR

A group of American citizens, mainly supporters of independence for Puerto Rico, are promoting that Spain grant so-called reparative Spanish citizenship to U.S. citizens from Puerto Rico with Spanish ancestry. Some residents in Puerto Rico are showing interest in the proposal, so it is pertinent to evaluate its legal consequences.

For a few in Puerto Rico, dual American and Spanish citizenship is a matter of loyalty. For others, it’s a matter of cache, or a mere pretension (dual citizenship allowed under Afroyim v. Rusk).

Dual citizenship loyalty is neither viable nor feasible in principle. One cannot be completely loyal to two citizenships that have different national or patriotic rights and obligations. Dual citizenship will close doors to American citizens in federal government positions, and the same could happen with public positions in the other country. If you accept Spanish citizenship, nothing prevents you from being required at some point to pay taxes to Spain or comply with other obligations because you are a Spanish citizen, with legal consequences for nonpayment or noncompliance under a different legal system (rigorous tax system). In a conflict between Spain and the U.S. and/or between the U.S. and another country, you may find yourself in the embarrassing and conflictive situation of being a citizen of both countries and having to renounce the citizenship of one of them.

The surrender of Puerto Rico by Spain to the United States was a consequence of the Spanish American War. Spanish citizens in Puerto Rico could return to Spain or remain in Puerto Rico. The United States offered them the free and voluntary option of becoming American nationals; that is, to be under its Custody and Parens Patriae authority. 99.9% requested to become American nationals and renounced their Spanish citizenship. There was no need then to claim reparation citizenship, nor is there to do so 127 years later, or to implement reparative measures five and six generations after the fact (Treaty of Paris, Art. IX). This action was never before requested. In 1917, we were offered American citizenship. Freely and voluntarily, 99.9% accepted American citizenship. In 1941, we were made American citizens by birth. Today, more than five million Puerto Ricans (American citizens) reside in the states.

The proposed reparative action for Spanish citizenship is discriminatory because until 1898 it was only granted to Spaniards, but not to people of color and Taino people in Puerto Rico. Men and women of African, or of Taíno descent, or of Jewish ancestry, were not allowed to become Spanish citizens. The excluded became, overnight, foreigners in their own country. This happened in Nazi Germany with the Jews in the 1930s, including many who were WWI veterans of the Kaiser’s Army.

In 1898, U.S. Army troops under the command of Gen. Nelson A. Miles landed in Guánica. They were welcomed. The American flag was raised in Plaza de Armas in San Juan. Very few shed tears. For the first time in 400 years residents of Puerto Rico acquired the freedom of speech, the press, assembly, and religion and the right to habeas corpus. All had been denied to our grandparents before Puerto Rico became a U.S. territory. American citizens in Puerto Rico, since 1917, are of African, Spanish, Taino and American descent without any discrimination. Anyone who renounces American citizenship will become a foreigner in Puerto Rico upon obtaining Spanish citizenship.

Going on vacation to Spain as an American citizen is not the same as being a Spanish citizen visiting Spain.

Thousands of Dominicans have entered the country in boats off the coast of Aguadilla to become American citizens. No boat has left Aguadilla for Santo Domingo to seek another citizenship on Dominican soil. The reparative action being attempted today is nothing more than a cover-up for a false representation of the independence movement to create confusion and weaken our loyalty to American citizenship. Some support it out of ignorance, others in good faith, both without understanding the legal conflicts such a claim entails and the consequences that may arise. We demand full equal rights in Congress, and dual citizenship will only create more confusion. United States and Puerto Rico, one nation, two flags.

Gregorio Igartúa is a lawyer and a longtime advocate of statehood for Puerto Rico.