Puerto Rico is an island in the Caribbean region in which inhabitants were Spanish nationals from 1508 until the Spanish–American War in 1898, from which point they derived their nationality from United States law. Nationality is the legal means by which inhabitants acquire formal membership in a nation without regard to its governance type;[1] citizenship means the rights and obligations that each owes the other, once one has become a member of a nation.[2] In addition to being United States nationals, persons are citizens of the United States and citizens of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico within the context of United States Citizenship. Miriam J. Ramirez de Ferrer v. Juan Mari Brás (144 DPR 141, 1997). Though the Constitution of the United States recognizes both national and state citizenship as a means of accessing rights,[3][note 1] Puerto Rico's history as a territory has created both confusion over the status of its nationals and citizens and controversy because of distinctions between jurisdictions of the United States.[9][10] These differences have created[9] what political scientist Charles R. Venator-Santiago has called "separate and unequal" statuses.[10]
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