The island of Puerto Rico is slowly rediscovering its European roots. After more than a century under U.S. control, part of the population is now looking toward Spain with new eyes, proposing a bold and surprising reintegration.
This vision is also shared by the Puerto Rican political movement Adelante Reunificacionistas, which advocates for abandoning the current U.S. territorial status in favor of becoming the eighteenth autonomous community of the Iberian Peninsula.
The organization, founded in 2017 and increasingly present in the local public debate, has long been nurturing this idea. According to its president, José Lara, around 13% of Puerto Ricans would support this option, seeing it as a possible escape from the economic and democratic stagnation that has affected the island for over a century.
Lara openly denounces “a century of subjugation” under American authority. Although they are U.S. citizens, boricuas cannot vote in presidential elections and enjoy only symbolic representation in Congress. According to the movement’s leader, this status condemns them to a kind of limbo in regards to political rights and identity.
The devastating impact of hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 exposed and exacerbated existing tensions and disputes between the U.S. federal government and Puerto Rico. These disputes largely stemmed from the island’s colonial status, or what critics commonly called its “second class citizen” status. The flashpoint in 2017 was insufficient aid and respect shown to the island by the U.S. after it was devastated by two hurricanes within a short period of time. The long-standing tensions bubbled over in the spectacular and publicly acrimonious “feud” between President Donald Trump and Carmen Yulín Cruz, the then-Mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Maria in September 2017. Cruz made impassioned pleas on national television and social media, famously stating, “We are dying, and you are killing us with the inefficiency. I am begging, begging anyone that can hear us, to save us from dying.”
Supporters of the initiative believe that reunification with Spain would bring tangible benefits: full access to the European Union, official protection of the Spanish language, spoken by 95% of the population, and a renewed valorization of Hispanic cultural identity.
“Puerto Rico never truly wanted to part ways with the Iberian Peninsula,” claim the group’s spokespeople, citing the island’s historical roots as a Spanish colony since 1493, when Christopher Columbus renamed it San Juan Bautista. Only in 1898, following the Spanish-American War, did it come under U.S. control.
The movement proposes a model inspired by the Canary Islands or Catalonia, offering strong internal autonomy and the potential to serve as a cultural bridge between Europe and Latin America.
For now, however, the proposal appears more symbolic than concrete. No formal negotiations have been initiated with either Washington or Madrid, and Spain itself has yet to issue any official statements. Still, the growing interest in an alternative to the current status quo reflects an identity-driven restlessness that cannot be ignored.
With a population of about 3.2 million and a struggling economy, Puerto Rico has been experiencing a silent yet deep crisis for years. The poverty rate, nearing 40%, and continuous emigration to the U.S. mainland reflect a persistent social malaise. Despite a GDP per capita higher than that of many Latin American countries, the island remains heavily reliant on U.S. federal subsidies and a public sector often under scrutiny, with its debt monitored by a federally imposed oversight board in Washington.
