| Santiago Iglesias | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Puerto Rico Senate from the district |
|
| In office 1917–1932 |
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| Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico | |
| In office 1933–1939 |
|
| Preceded by | José Lorenzo Pesquera |
| Succeeded by | Bolívar Pagán |
| Personal details | |
| Born | February 22, 1872 La Coruña, Galicia, Spain |
| Died | December 5, 1939 (aged 67) Washington, DC, USA |
| Occupation | Politician, Senator, Cabinet maker, Labor leader |
Santiago Iglesias Pantín (February 22, 1872 – December 5, 1939), a supporter of statehood for Puerto Rico,[1][2] was the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico in the U.S. Congress from 1933 to 1939, a period that saw significant political turbulence in Puerto Rico, both by Puerto Ricans seeking more freedom and autonomy, and by the military governor in the Island, Blanton Winship, seeking to clamp down on those seeking autonomy and independence.
Iglesias was born in La Coruña, Galicia, Spain, where he attended the common schools, and was apprenticed as a cabinet maker. At a young age he stowed away on a ship which landed in Cuba. There he organized workers and, beginning in 1889 was secretary of the Workingmen Trades Circle in Havana. Because of his organizing the island strongman forced him to leave the island.
Iglesias then moved to Puerto Rico, and was the founder and editor of three labor papers:
He was a very active labor organizer in Puerto Rico and was often arrested and jailed for his activities, and was considered American Federation of Labor (AFL) president Samuel Gompers' ally on the island. In fact, Gompers appointed him general organizer of the American Federation of Labor for the districts of Puerto Rico and Cuba in 1901.
In 1915, he founded the Puerto Rico's Socialist Party, a pro-statehood, pro-labor party (not to be confused with the Puerto Rican Socialist Party founded in the 1970s). His Socialist Party, unlike its namesake, did elect its candidates to elective office during many elections.
He also served as secretary of the Pan-American Federation of Labor from 1925 to 1933. In 1936, he was wounded during an assassination attempt by Puerto Rican Nationalist Party partisans.
After losing a race in 1908 against Tulio Larrinaga for Puerto Rico's non-voting delegate seat in the United States Congress, Iglesias was elected as a Coalitionist Resident Commissioner on November 8, 1932, and was reelected in 1936 for the term ending January 3, 1941. He served in the 73rd, 74th, 75th, and 76th Congresses, from March 4, 1933 until his death.
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Iglesias served as a member of the first Senate of Puerto Rico in 1917, and reelected several times, until his election to Congress in 1932.
He pushed for many social reforms, many of which did not become law, either as part of the PDP's reform agenda in the 1940s or as part of the Constitution of Puerto Rico in 1952.
Iglesias unsuccessfully pushed for legislation to enable Puerto Ricans to elect their own Governor, a concept that did not become law until 1947.
He was able to have Puerto Rico included in many New Deal assistance programs, including road construction, the Bankhead-Jones Act that enabled agricultural experimentation, the fight against malaria and the Jones Act exclusion regarding the taxation of shipping between Puerto Rico and other U.S. ports.
In Congress, he served on the Insular Affairs, Agriculture, and Labor committees.
Married to Justa Pastora Bocanegra in 1902,[3] he had three sons and eight daughters, including labor activist America Iglesias Thatcher and career military officer Edward Iglesias.
He died in office in Washington, D.C. on December 5, 1939 and was interred in Santa Maria Magdalena de Pazzis Cemetery in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
In Ponce there is a government housing development named in his honor.
A plaza named after him, and located on the south side of the Puerto Rico Capitol complex, has a larger-than-life-sized bronze statue of him , as well as several plaques, all designed by Puerto Rican sculptor José Buscaglia Guillermety. It is the venue for the official Labor Day ceremonies every year.
As recently as May, 2010, new books about his life and legacy were still being written and published, the most recent Santiago Iglesias Pantín-Un político circunstancial gallego en Puerto Rico by Manuel Mourelle de Lema,[3] a professor at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid and founder and president of the Galician Cultural Group in the Spanish capital.
Approximately 200,000 people are said to have filed by his casket when he lay in state at the Puerto Rico Capitol, after his remains were brought back from Washington, DC, for interment in Puerto Rico. Fifty thousand are said to have gridlocked the streets of Old San Juan during his funeral.[3]
| United States House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by José Lorenzo Pesquera |
Resident Commissioner to the U.S. House of Representatives from Puerto Rico 1933-1939 |
Succeeded by Bolívar Pagán |
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