US territory MAGA once called a 'floating island of garbage' considers rejoining Spain
Puerto Rico has put forward several proposals over the years to cut ties with the United States and realign with its mother country.
But now a movement to reintegrate with Spain is gaining steam on the island of 3.2 million people, according to The Mirror.
The Adelante Reunificacionistas movement, founded in 2017, has even presented its proposal to the United Nations Decolonization Committee, 20 Minutos reports.
It claims that Puerto Rico is different from other former Spanish territories, as it never actually ceded from the European country - and was just handed over to the United States following the Spanish-American War in 1898.
'Puerto Rico never wanted to separate from Spain,' said the organization's president Jose Lara.
In fact, in the more than 100 years since, Spanish has remained the primary language of the island - spoken by more than 95 percent of inhabitants who use it in education and businesses.
Now, the Adelante Reunificacionistas movement claims approximately 13 percent of its residents support the idea of rejoining Spain, which they see as a pathway to prosperity.
Lara has argued that since becoming a US territory, Puerto Rico has experienced over a century 'of subjugation' and stagnation under American governance that has not granted Puerto Ricans full citizenship rights.
Its residents cannot vote in presidential elections, for example, and they lack voting representation in Congress.
Puerto Rico has also been ridiculed by Americans, with comedian Tony Hinchcliffe infamously joking about the territory at a rally for then-Republican nominee Donald Trump in October.
'I don't know if you know this but there's literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it's called Puerto Rico,' he said at a rally for Trump in New York City - which has the largest number of Puerto Ricans outside of the US territory.
The Trump campaign was then forced to walk back the comments, with Danielle Alvarez - a senior adviser to the campaign - saying the 'joke does not reflect the vies of President Trump or the campaign.'
Senator Rick Scott of Florida also disavowed the joke, saying it 'bombed for a reason.
'It's not funny and it's not true,' the Republican lawmaker wrote on X. 'Puerto Ricans are amazing people and amazing Americans!'
But Hinchcliffe argued he was just making a joke.
'I love Puerto Rico and vacation there. I made fun of everyone … watch the whole set. I'm a comedian,' he wrote on X.
Now, Lara says emphasizing Spanish as the primary language and preserving Hispanic cultural traditions are key to persuading locals about the benefits of rejoining Spain.
He has also shared merchandise online reading 'Make Puerto Rico Spain Again,' an apparent jab at Trump's 'Make America Great Again.'
'We want a future of progress and we believe that future lies in Spain,' Lara explained.
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