Iglesias Pantín, Santiago, 1872-1939

Santiago Iglesias Pantín (February 22, 1872 – December 5, 1939), was a Spanish-born Puerto Rican socialist, trade union activist, and politician. Iglesias is best remembered as a leading supporter of statehood for Puerto Rico and as the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico in the U.S. Congress from 1933 to 1939.

Born in A Coruña, Galicia, Spain, he left school at age 12 to become a carpenter’s apprentice. Early in his training, he took part in a violent strike, his first act in a lifelong struggle to reform labor rights. In 1887 Iglesias joined the Spanish Socialist Party and moved to Cuba, where he took a job in a furniture factory. His work with organized labor led to his frequent dismissal from and constant movement between jobs. Iglesias’s involvement with the Cuban War for Independence in 1895 drew the ire of Spanish authorities. He attempted to escape to England in 1896; however, after arousing the suspicions of his fellow passengers aboard the ship, which was to route through Spain on its way to Great Britain, he disembarked in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

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's 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. He was the founder and editor of three labor papers, Porvenir Social from 1898 to 1900, Union Obrera from 1903 to 1906, and Justicia from 1914 to 1925. In 1915, he founded the Puerto Rico's Socialist Party, a pro-statehood, pro-labor party. He also served as secretary of the Pan-American Federation of Labor from 1925 to 1933.

Iglesias entered electoral politics as a member of the first Senate of Puerto Rico in 1917. He was reelected several times, until his election to Congress in 1932. During his time there, He pushed for many social reforms, many of which did 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 won election as Resident Commissioner to Congress primarily because of a coalition between his Partido Socialista and the Partido Unión Republicana (Union Republican Party). Sworn in on the Opening Day of the 73rd Congress (1933–1935), he became the first Resident Commissioner to receive committee assignments in addition to a seat on the Insular Affairs Committee, traditionally reserved for the representative from Puerto Rico. Iglesias was also named to the Agriculture, Labor, and Territories Committees. During his two terms in office, Iglesias doggedly pursued Puerto Rico’s inclusion in New Deal legislation for the financial relief of banks and individuals.

It was Iglesias’s response to the debate over Puerto Rico’s status that drew the most attention during his career on Capitol Hill. On January 3, 1935, on the Opening Day of the 74th Congress (1935–1937), Iglesias introduced a bill granting Puerto Rico statehood. Iglesias’s second term was quieter than his first; he was less active on the House Floor but provided lengthy treatises in the Congressional Record Appendix. In late 1939, he contracted malaria while on a trip to Mexico and Cuba; weakened by a fever, he died in Washington’s Garfield Hospital. Iglesias was buried in San Juan Cemetery.