Puerto Rican citizenship
A 1918 official report from the American colonial governor of Puerto Rico to the U.S. Secretary of War, this one after the Jones Act of 1917, had become law, states that the "passports...[are used to] prove a person's nationality," thus making clear that Puerto Rican citizenship and Puerto Rican nationality were one and the same. The United States government also recognizes this status in its own records. For example, the CIA World Fact Book, states that the nationality of Puerto Ricans is not "American" but, in fact, ""Puerto Rican"." The Spanish Government also recognizes Puerto Ricans as a people with Puerto Rican, "and not American," citizenship. It also provides Puerto Rican citizens privileges not provided to citizens of several other nations, such as Haití, Jamaica, Trinidad y Tobago y Guyana. Since 2007, the Government of Puerto Rico has been issuing "Certificates of Puerto Rican Citizenship" to anyone born in Puerto Rico or born outside of Puerto Rico with at least one parent who was born in Puerto Rico.
Juan Mari Brás
On July 11, 1994, Mari Brás renounced his American citizenship at the American Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela. "He did this to test a technicality in United States citizenship laws.", according to writer Mary Hilaire Tavenner Brás believed that a person holding United States citizenship and who subsequently renounces his citizenship would be deported to his country of origin. As Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States, Brás theorized the U.S. Department of State would have to deport him or any Puerto Rican who renounced his or her U.S. citizenship to Puerto Rico. The U.S. State Department approved Mari Brás' renunciation of his American citizenship on November 22, 1995.