Santiago Iglesias

Santiago Iglesias Pantín (February 22, 1872, La Coruña, Spain - February 5, 1939, Washington D.C., United States) was a Puerto Rican politician, worker leader, and organizer of the first socialist party of Puerto Rico.

Biography

Born in the city of La Coruña in the current autonomous community of Galicia, northwest of Spain, his desire to see the world led him to embark in 1887, at the age of fifteen. He arrived in Havana, the capital of the then General Captaincy of Cuba, where he participated in the organization of union activities. In 1896 he left Cuba at the request of the Spanish authorities due to his adherence to the Cuban revolutionary movement.

He embarked again to travel to England; however, she landed in Puerto Rico. In May 1897 he founded Ensayo Obrero , a newspaper in favor of the unionization of Puerto Rican workers. He was imprisoned by the newly instituted autonomist regime. After spending 8 years in prison, he and other political prisoners were released at the request of the United States Government after the occupation of the island by US forces.

After his release from prison, Santiago Iglesias continued his union activities, which caught the attention of the military governor, General John R. Brooke, who interceded on his behalf when Spain requested his extradition. Brooke also allowed her to continue his organizing in the union world. In October 1898 he helped found the Federación Regional de Trabajadores y Porvenir Social, a newspaper that was published until 1900.

Plaque commemorative of Santiago Iglesias in his house of birth, in La Coruña.

That year he traveled to the United States, where he met and established relations with the president of the American Federation of Workers (AFL), Samuel Gompers, who appointed him general organizer of the AFL for Puerto Rico and Cuba.

He returned to Puerto Rico, where he organized unions throughout the island, and in 1903 founded the newspaper Unión Obrera. Three years later he became one of the founders of the Free Federation of Puerto Rican Workers, which affiliated with the AFL. In 1908 he was a candidate for this Federation for Resident Commissioner of the United States Congress, but was defeated by Tulio Larrínaga.

Santiago believed that statehood - for Puerto Rico to become part of the United States - was necessary to improve conditions for workers in Puerto Rico. In accordance with this postulate, in 1914 he founded the Social Justice newspaper, which was published until 1925. In 1915 he organized the Socialist Party, which campaigned for statehood. Under his leadership the party grew rapidly. In 1916, as a socialist leader, he was elected senator for the island, a position he held until 1932. During this time he participated in the international workers' movement as secretary of the Pan-American Workers' Federation from 1927 to 1933.

On November 8, 1932, he was elected to a four-year term as Resident Commissioner in the United States House of Representatives. His victory was the result of a coalition between the Republican Union Party and the Socialist Party. In Congress, he belonged to the Committee on Insular Affairs, Agriculture, the Workers' Committee, and the Territorial Committee.

Introduced numerous bills to improve the economic, political, industrial, and agricultural life of Puerto Rico, including a measure to amend the Organic Law to grant the people of the island the right to elect their own governor. He also presented bills that would allow the Puerto Rican people the form of Constitution and government, as well as be admitted into the Union with equal opportunities as other states. However, these proposals did not progress.

As Resident Commissioner, he continued the work of his predecessors to expand entitlement and federal law. He was successful in including numerous benefits and laws, such as the Federal Highway Act, the Bankhead-Jones Act which financed the development of agricultural experimentation, the Suburb Control Act, which helped reduce malaria infection of the poorer neighborhoods, and the exemption from paying a tax on steamboats between Puerto Rico and the mainland, which helped the growth of tourism.

Santiago Iglesias would die in Washington D.C. on December 5, 1939.