October 21 marked one year since the Law of Democratic Remembrance (LMD) came into effect, granting thousands of Cubans Spanish citizenship.
As is known, on October 20, 2022, Law 20/2022, of October 19, on Democratic Memory was published in the Official Gazette of the State. This regulation, which came into force on October 21st, contains an additional provision on the acquisition of Spanish nationality.
The instruction that Spanish consulates abroad had to follow arrived a few days later.
As expected, demand for applications exceeds the processing capacity of Spanish consulates and many descendants still fear that they will not have time to complete their citizenship process.
Despite the persistent claims, it has emerged in recent hours that the Spanish Consulate General in Havana is the one that has admitted the most nationalities, with almost 15,000, as the Europa Press news agency exclusively reports.
In general, 69,000 descendants worldwide have obtained Spanish citizenship thanks to the Law on Democratic Memory in the first ten months since its entry into force, diplomatic sources assured the aforementioned media.
DEMOCRATIC MEMORIAL LAW IN CUBA
With the future of the Spanish government still undecided, many fear that the process will not be completed before the law expires. And in Cuba, judging by the complaints, problems accessing appointments are becoming increasingly common.
The President of the Commission for Civil Rights and Participation of the General Council of Spanish Citizenship Abroad, David Casarejos, described the panorama in Havana as follows:
“In countries like Cuba, where the telephone and network system is chaotic, many people choose to ask family or friends abroad to make appointments on their behalf.”
However, Casarejos considered that “the worst thing” that is happening on the island is the “sale of offices and the lack of measures to search for the workers who collaborate with the mafias, not only the offices for the Democratic Memory Law resell, but also…” those of marriages or visas.”
You can obtain Spanish nationality through the Democratic Memory Law:
- Persons born outside Spain to a father or mother, grandfather or grandmother who were originally Spanish and those born outside Spain to a father or mother, grandfather or grandmother who were originally were Spanish,
- Also the foreign-born sons and daughters of Spanish women who lost their nationality by marrying foreigners before the 1978 Constitution came into force,
- And the adult sons and daughters of those Spaniards whose nationality of origin was recognized in the Law on Democratic Memory (Law 20/2022) or in the so-called Law on Historical Memory (Law 52/2007).
The Spanish Consulate in Cuba reminds that interested parties must submit their application within two years from October 21, 2022.
