The old “commonwealth” party has largely given up the old idea of “enhanced commonwealth.” Many are now talking about free association as if it were in fact their idea of improved commonwealth, and some are taking up the terms “autonomists” and “autonomism.”
Dr. Christina Ponsa-Kraus of Columbia University, whose book on the Insular Cases contains the chapter, “When Statehood Was Autonomy,” sat down with George Laws Garcia of the Puerto Rico Statehood Council to discuss the original autonomists of 19th century Puerto Rico and the latter-day autonomists trying to mold that term into a new version of “commonwealth.” What would being an autonomist really mean?
Ponsa-Kraus points out that “autonomy” is a very positive word. We use it for individuals, who have autonomy rather than dependence. We use it for groups and organizations that make their own decisions rather than being under the control of outside forces. As long as Puerto Rico is under the plenary control of Congress as described in the Territory clause, we can’t use it for Puerto Rico.
The original autonomists of Puerto Rico
“What the autonomists in Puerto Rico wanted was greater self-government under Spain,” said Ponsa-Kraus, speaking of the original autonomists movement in 19th century Puerto Rico. “They really didn’t have self-government under Spain.”
There were Spaniards at the time who argued that Spain should have a federal system like that of the United States, rather than its provinces and colonies. Spain had constitutions “on and off,” said Ponsa-Kraus, several different ones during the 19th century. None promised equality for Puerto Rico, but some referred to some kind of special laws for the colonies…someday. Puerto Rico’s autonomists were fighting for that vision: true local self-government with representation in the central government of Spain. “That’s full and equal integration in a federal system.”
Different members of the autonomist group had different ideas about how to attain that, she continued. “They disagreed as to whether autonomy just meant local power for us Puerto Ricans or,” said Ponsa-Kraus, “or a Republican form of government and genuine power for the people.” They often boiled it down to “the maximum decentralization within national unity…one nation within another nation.”
Sovereignty
“Commonwealth” supporters in Puerto Rico now talk about autonomy, she continued, but often “what they mean is local self-government with no federal representation…it’s not autonomy and it’s not sovereignty.”
“Does statehood mean sovereignty?” asked George Laws Garcia.
It does, said Ponsa-Kraus. In fact, the early autonomists saw it that way. “The autonomists all came together around the goal of statehood within the United States,” she said. They thought, “This is a path to the kind of autonomy we’ve all been seeking.”
States have local self-government and representation within the federal government, just what the early autonomists had hoped to achieve. “They all wanted statehood; they put it in their party platforms.”
Misstatements
Now, “commonwealth” supporters like the resident commissioner may call themselves autonomists or sovereigntists, but in reality they are neither.
“The language they use to talk about statehood is that statehood is assimilation or annexation,” said Laws Garcia. “Did the autonomists of the 19th century see achieving statehood as abandoning Puerto Rican culture and identity?”
“The autonomists did not see any tension between being a state of the Union and being autonomous,” Ponsa-Kraus explained. “On the contrary, they saw it as the culmination of what they had sought. They said, ‘You know what? Spain would not go there. Now we’ve been annexed and we can achieve that kind of status under the American flag.'”
The true heirs of the original autonomist movement are statehood supporters. Statehood provides true local self-government and true representation in the federal government. Reach out to your legislators and help them understand that statehood is the political status that gives Puerto Ricans the relationship with the United States that they want — and have wanted for more than a century.
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