Puerto Rican independence activist Juan Mari Brás dies

SAN JUAN - Juan Mari Brás, an elder statesman of Puerto Rico's independence movement who tried to give up U.S. citizenship, died Friday. He was 82.

Mari Brás died at his home in Rio Piedras, said Elaine Mulet Hocking, a spokeswoman for his movement that seeks independence from the United States.

A writer and law professor, he founded the now-defunct Puerto Rican Socialist Party. Gov. Luis Fortuño, leader of the opposing pro-statehood party, on Friday called him a leader who fought for his ideals. In 1994, Mari Brás renounced his U.S. citizenship. The State Department initially approved the petition, but later told him he was again a U.S. citizen because he hadn't registered as a resident alien. He is survived by his wife and five children. A son was killed in 1976. - AP