OUTSIDE the capitol building in San Juan, Puerto Rico, two flags flutter side by side in the Caribbean breeze. One is the island’s own; the other, that of the United States.
The arrangement reflects what has been Puerto Rico’s much-discussed political status since 1898, when Spain ceded the island to the US following the Spanish-American war.
Now classified as a US ‘unincorporated territory,’ Puerto Rico’s future has been debated for years – with some pushing for full US statehood, others for independence, and many preferring to keep things as they are.
But a small group is now reviving a far more unexpected idea: that Puerto Rico should one day return to Spain as its 18th autonomous community.
The proposal is being pushed by Adelante Reunificacionistas, a movement founded in 2017 and led by Jose Lara.
“Puerto Rico is a colony with US citizenship,” Lara has said, adding that the island was stuck in what he called a ‘political limbo.’
Puerto Rico residents cannot vote in US presidential elections and have only limited representation in Congress, Lara has stressed.
And though San Juan has had its own government and constitution since 1952, the US congress still enjoys broad discretion over its affairs.
For Lara and his supporters, reunification with Spain could offer a way out of that democratic dead end.
“The Spanish sentiment of Puerto Ricans never died,” he told El Español.
Rather than a nostalgic gesture, Adelante frames its proposal as a practical alternative that could restore a clearer structure to Puerto Rico’s fragmented political identity.
And this is particularly important for Annette Falcon, another prominent figure associated with the movement.
Falcon argues that Puerto Rico has never lost its Spanish roots, pointing to the island’s language and traditions as evidence of a shared heritage that still runs deep.
“We have not lost our connection to Spain,” she has said. “We have preserved the customs that the Americans tried to strip away from us.”
“Olives are always in the house, tortilla is never missing, and neither is olive oil,” she added.
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But to support its eyebrow-raising push for reunification with Spain, Adelante also harks back to a lesser-known chapter in Puerto Rico’s history.
In 1897, the island was granted a degree of autonomy under Spain through a Carta Autonomica – a measure that introduced a form of self-government before Puerto Rico was transferred to US control the following year.
Reunification supporters often describe that moment as a path that was cut short rather than a conclusion – arguing it could have eventually led to full independence.
Despite that historical argument, the idea of rejoining Spain remains firmly on the fringes of political life.
There is no major party backing reunification, and the proposal rarely features in mainstream debate.
Public discussion continues to centre on the more established options of statehood, independence, or maintaining the current status.
But even so, Lara insists the conversation should not be limited.
“People assume there are only three options,” he has said, “but history shows there are more possibilities if people are willing to consider them.”
For his portrait photos, Lara likes to pose against the background of a Spanish flag.
And he is not the only one to hope that flag could one day flutter in the Caribbean breeze in front of San Juan’s capitol.
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