SAN JUAN, P.R. — Rick Santorum had hoped that by visiting Puerto Rico this week, he might pick up some of the commonwealth’s delegates to add to his column in his race against Mitt Romney for the Republican presidential nomination.

“Every delegate counts,” he told reporters Thursday.

But he managed the unusual feat of alienating one delegate after he created a firestorm by asserting that if Puerto Rico opted to become a state, it would have to make English its primary language.

“Like any other state, there has to be compliance with this and any other federal law,” he told the newspaper El Vocero.

His remarks drew immediate criticism, and prompted one delegate who had been pledged to him to quit, saying he was offended. There is no rule in the Constitution requiring the adoption of English for the admittance of new states, and the United States does not have an official language.