SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Rick Santorum came to Puerto Rico and promptly waded into the emotional debate over the role English should play in the island’s future, sparking a furor that led the former Pennsylvania senator to insist his remarks were misreported.

Santorum was forced to repeatedly clarify remarks he made Wednesday, when he said English would have to be the «main language» for Puerto Rico to become a state.

«I never said only English should be spoken here. Never did I even intimate that,» Santorum told local reporters gathered in El Capitolio, the island’s Capitol building. «What I said was that English had to be spoken as well as other – obviously Spanish is going to be spoken, this would be a bilingual country.»

In an official statement as he left the island, Santorum emphasized his roots as the descendent of Italian immigrants who spoke both Italian and English when they first lived in the U.S.

«As the son of an Italian immigrant myself, I continue to believe that English is the language of opportunity in America, under statehood or the current status,» Santorum said in the statement. «What I want is for every child in Puerto Rico to speak English fluently, in addition to Spanish of course.»

But that paragraph was left out of the farewell statement Santorum sent to national reporters. A Santorum spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on why the statement was changed.

Santorum told El Nuevo Dia newspaper Wednesday that English is key to developing Puerto Rico’s economy. «I have no doubt that one of the requirements that will be put forth to Congress is a requirement that English would be universal here on the island,» he said. «That doesn’t mean that people can’t speak Spanish in their homes, or in their business, or on the street, but that everyone would have a proficiency in English.»

The English language issue is tied to whether Puerto Rico should become the 51st state, a highly charged question that divides politics on the island. Many Puerto Ricans do not speak English, and some worry becoming a state would mean they would have to learn.

«It’s an issue that the opposition party has always used to combat statehood here in Puerto Rico,» said Henry Neumann, a local official who favors statehood, backs Santorum and has toured the island with him for the past two days. «The majority of Puerto Ricans don’t speak English so they would feel threatened if a candidate would come backing statehood and say everyone needs to speak English.»

It’s riled some of the establishment in Puerto Rico. Jenniffer Gonzalez, president of the island’s House of Representatives, told Univision on Thursday that she was upset by Santorum’s comments.

«We are not going to stop speaking Spanish,» she said. «They cannot require us to do something that they have not required any other state in the U.S. to do.»

Santorum’s stand already has cost him some support. One statehood backer who had signed on as a Santorum delegate, Oreste Ramos, told the El Vocero newspaper he’ll no longer be willing to do so because of Santorum’s comments about the English language.

Santorum told reporters Thursday he would replace Ramos with Carlos Baerga, the retired Puerto Rican professional baseball player.

The Caribbean island of 3.7 million people is a U.S. territory acquired in 1898 following the Spanish American War. Spain had controlled the island since Christopher Columbus claimed it for the Spanish crown in 1493. Even though Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, they pay no federal income tax and cannot vote in presidential elections. Its political parties are largely built around disagreements over its political status. The island divides its politics over its status more than it does over the traditional Republican-Democratic split. One aspect of the statehood fight is whether English only should be made the official language in the former Spanish colony.

Spanish and English are the official languages though the majority of people speak Spanish as their primary language. Santorum on Thursday said having the country use English should be a «condition» for the island to become a state, a position advocated by tea party groups.

«This needs to be a bilingual country, not just a Spanish-speaking country. Right now, it is overwhelmingly just Spanish,» Santorum told reporters Thursday.

Those who attended Santorum’s events here – he’s spent two days in Puerto Rico, meeting with the governor and holding town hall meetings in addition to visiting an evangelical church – were overwhelmingly concerned about statehood and English. At a town hall Wednesday focused on veterans’ issues, Santorum was asked about statehood. And during a Thursday morning visit to a special needs school, one of the invited parents changed the subject away from caring for a special needs child to the island’s political future.

«How would you see the possibility of a dual language state in Puerto Rico?» she asked.

Santorum said he would back statehood, but he didn’t answer her question about language.

___

Associated Press writer Danica Coto contributed to this report.

Tags: inglés, Rick Santorum

Jenniffer Gonzalez – Acabo de recibir a Santorum en mi oficina y le manifeste mi molestia con sus expresiones. De frente le dije porque en el 1917 ni en el 1941 le preguntaron a nuestros soldados si hablaban espanol o ingles cuando reclutaron a 100,000 pr para ir a ww1 ww2 ni vietnam. Me bajo con el requerimiento de oklahoma sobre el idioma a lo que riposte que en el 1812 y en el 1912 se le hizo ese requerimiento por el analfabetismo que habia en la region pero el 2012 es bien distinto y nuestros 2 idiomas son espanol e ingles. Me dijo que debiamos ser fluidos en ingles si queriamos ser estado…. Creo q se fue molesto de mi oficina porque al salir no saludo a nadie y yo no lo acompane en su conferencia de prensa…..

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Señores:Rick Santorum y sus políticas son sencillamente segregacionistas! Este es el tipo de político que retrasó la adopción de la Ley de los Derechos Civiles.!
Este tipo de político es responsable de la explotación de los Afro-Americanos. Se visten que los símbolos de la democracia y la libertad para luego
denegársela a la minorías que forman parte del conglomerado de etnias que forman nuestra Nación. Este tipo de político pretenden imponer una Nación de un sólo
idioma con la intención de atrazar lo que es inevitable una mayoría fuerte hispana-parlante. Favorezco que se enseñen múltiples idiomas que preparen
a nuestros niños para una economía global pero combato que se trate utilizar el Idioma como un instrumento de segregación y limitación. El mejor ejemplo de esto es la educación
en la comunidad Europea. Favorezco el fortalecer la enseñanza del Inglés. El «English Only» es como imponer una sóla religión con sus dogmas a una Nación integradas por componentes étnicos diferentes.El gesto patriótico que hizo el amigo Orestes Ramos de renunciar a representar a ese tipo de político que está fuera de sitio en un mundo que busca la unidad
de intereses y propósitos echando a una lado las políticas arcaicas y afixiantes del nacionalismo! Mario Ramos Méndez debe emular la acción de Orestes!Lo que si prueba Rick Santorum es el hecho de que la estadidad tiene enemigos fuertes que hay que neutralizar o ganarse explicando como Puerto Rico contribuye
y fortalece la Unión de etnias en nuestra Nación. Vuelvo a insistir que tenemos que cultivar gestos como el de Orestes. Gestos que fortalecen el compromiso por la igualdad!Mientras el PNP que representa el movimiento de la igualdad política esté «atollado» en el lodazal de los contratos gubernamentales no tendremos unas mentes libres
de su narcótico que nubla la mente y nos descarrila y nos desenfoca.Saludos

Franklin D Lopez
franklinlopez46@aol.com

Jennifer González rechaza la postura de Rick Santorum

La vicepresidenta del partido republicano en Puerto Rico fustigó su postura sobre la estadidad

Por ELNUEVODIA.COM