Spain promises “prompt solution” to 70 thousand applications for Spanish citizenship in Cuba

The consulate of Spain in Cuba will provide a prompt solution to the 70,000 pending applications for the granting of citizenship to descendants of Spaniards on the Island, this was announcedlast week the Minister of Justice of that Iberian nation, Rafael Catalá.

As reported on Thursday by the newspaperThe International Region, specialized in European migration issues, the announcement was made during a meeting held by the owner with representatives of almost a hundred Spanish associations in Havana.

So far, Catalá reported at the event, the Spanish government has granted more than 150,000 nationalities to Cubans, according to data provided by the ambassador of that Iberian nation on the Island, Juan J. Buitrago de Benito.

"The law granting the Nationality Law for descendants of Spaniards - the ambassador gave me the data last night upon our arrival - there are almost 150,000 nationalities granted, leaving around 70,000 pending files, which the consulate will soon respond to each applicant. “said the minister.

The Hispanic community based in the Caribbean archipelago is home to some 97 associations from eleven Spanish regions brought together in the Federation of Spanish Societies of Cuba. Each of these organizations, with which Catalá met in the former Galician Center, focus their actions on charity, recreation and cultural promotion, among other aspects.

The minister traveled to the Cuban capital with the general director of International Legal Cooperation and Relations with Confessions of the Ministry of Justice of Spain, Javier Herrera García-Canturri, and a large government delegation.

“We have here a historical community in which we find Andalusians, Asturians, Canarians, Castilians and Leonese, Catalans, Galicians, Basques-Navarreans and other autonomies. "All Spaniards, who have maintained for many years in not very simple circumstances the memory of Spain and their own identity, and they also carry out very important welfare work since their foundations that date back to the 19th century,"

exclaimed Ambassador Buitrago de Benito, present at the meeting.

The diplomat considered that the minister's visit was "especially gratifying for them who have preserved the idea of Spain in Cuba for so many years." “I think it is a magnificent opportunity for them to know the interest of the Spanish government in what they do,” he indicated.