[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 104 (Wednesday, July 27, 2005)] [Extensions of Remarks] [Pages E1635-E1636] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] HONORING DR. JOSE CELSO BARBOSA ______ HON. LUIS FORTUNO of puerto rico in the house of representatives Wednesday, July 27, 2005 Mr. FORTUNO. Mr. Speaker, today it is my special privilege to render tribute to a great American and a great Puerto Rican on the 148th commemoration of his birth. Dr. Jose Celso Barbosa was born in Bayamon, Puerto Rico on July 27, 1857, when Puerto Rico was still a colony of Spain. In 1876 he traveled to the United States to continue his studies, and in 1880 he graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in medicine, first in his class and valedictorian of a very distinguished medical graduating class that included the Mayo brothers of Mayo Clinic fame. Dr. Barbosa was the first Puerto Rican to graduate from the prestigious University of Michigan. Upon returning to Puerto Rico, Dr. Barbosa dedicated himself to his private medical practice, became a professor of medicine at one of the institutions of higher learning in Puerto Rico, and made his first incursion in political issues, becoming a firm defender of negotiating increased autonomy for Puerto Rico from Spain. With the change in sovereignty in 1898, in which Puerto Rico was ceded to the United States after the Spanish-American War, Dr. Barbosa envisioned the Federalist system of the United States as the ideal solution to the colonial problem of Puerto Rico, declaring himself an advocate of admitting the Island as a state of the Union. With that lofty purpose in mind, he formed the Republican Party of Puerto Rico on July 4, 1899. Dr. Barbosa was the founder of the newspaper ``El Tiempo'', for which he wrote numerous articles in defense of his goal to have Puerto Rico become a state of the Union. When the United States allowed for the formation of a Senate at the local level in 1917, Dr. Barbosa was elected as a member of that legislative body. He was reelected in 1920. During his stint in the Senate, Dr. Barbosa introduced legislation allowing for trial by jury and introducing the writ of ``Habeas Corpus'' within the Judicial Penal System of Puerto Rico. [[Page E1636]] After a distinguished career as a doctor, teacher, politician, and humanitarian, Dr. Barbosa passed away on September 21, 1921, without reaching his dream of having Puerto Rico become a State of the Union, but proud to have become a citizen of the United States in 1917. On statehood for Puerto Rico, Dr. Barbosa said: ``Puerto Rico aspires to reach all the rights granted by U.S. Citizenship, in the same method, in the same manner, under the same form, and under the full integrity as the one enjoyed by the residents of any of the regions that are called States of the American Union. To that we aspire, that is what we want, that is what we shall have.'' On the political relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States, Dr. Barbosa made the following statement: ``We want, and we ask, for equality. Not colonialism or protection. Since the American Flag first waved over Puerto Rico, those have been the ideals that we have defended.'' Dr. Barbosa's lifelong dream was to have Puerto Rico admitted as a State of the Union. I share that dream, and I find no better way of honoring him today, than to pledge to pursue his goal, to the best of my ability, of having Puerto Rico become an integral part of this great Nation. ____________________