Another PR Independence Leader Dies

Associated Press reporting:  “Juan Mari Bras, an elder statesman of Puerto Rico’s independence movement who gave up U.S. citizenship in an act that inspired hundreds of other activists, died Friday. He was 82.”   Mari Bras’s rejection of US citizenship yielded a political victory, when, as the AP reports, “[a}s the result of legal challenges stemming from that case, the island government in 2007 issued its first certificate of Puerto Rican citizenship to Mari Bras. Some other islanders have also requested the document, which is valid as an ID on the island but not recognized as a travel document outside the island given that Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens.”  For Spanish coverage, check out El Nuevo Dia.  This past summer, Dolores (“Lolita”) Lebrón Sotomayor, who became the leader of a group of nationalists, who proceeded to attack the United States House of Representatives in 1954, died from complications of a cardio respiratory affection.

Delgado on Ohio’s “No on PR’s Birth Certificate”

El Nuevo Dia’s Washington DC correspondent Jose Delgado blogs about news yesterday that Ohio, like New Jersey, doesn’t trust most of the birth certificates issued by Puerto Rico government. (See  9/1, 8/25  PRPolNewsBlog entries.) Delgado’s posting quotes PR’s Secretary of State (equal to Lieutenant Governor in most states), Kenneth McClintock, criticizing Ohio’s actions and claiming the state based its decision on “lack of information” and is “insensitive” to the Puerto Rican population in the state.  If McClintock is right – and this is just a “failure in communication” – then PRPolNewsBlog hopes that sometime soon the Fortuño Administration, and Res. Comm. Pedro Pierluisi, will kick-off a much-needed conversation between the island and the states.

Ohio Joins NJ – No PR Birth Certificate

Last week PRPolNewsBlog reported on New Jersey’s decision not to recognize Puerto Rico birth certificates for certain government transactions.  We expressed concerns about other states joining the fray.  Associated Press today reports that older birth certificates from the U.S. territory are not being accepted when applying for a state ID or driver’s license at the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, a “reaction to concerns about possible fraud that a national Hispanic group said smacks of racial discrimination.”  Not a good trend.  PRPolNewsBlog wonders if the PR Resident Commissioner Hon. Pedro Pierluisi is ready to tackle this matter.  Wonder what Pierluisi can do ….