Pedro Sánchez calls elections in Spain and leaves the Nietos Law that benefits thousands of Cubans in the air

The Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, has called early elections in Spain for next April 28. The news, announced this Friday, leaves in the air the approval of the Grandchildren Law, which would allow the naturalization of descendants of Spanish parents who reside abroad.

The Grandchildren Law is like an extension of the Historical Memory Law that opened the door for nearly 150,000 Cubans to obtain Spanish nationality since 2007.In this way, the Island became the sixth country in the world with the largest number of Spaniards.

For the elections to be held in Spain on April 28, the upper and lower houses must be dissolved before March 5. That means that the Grandchildren Law could only go ahead if it were approved before that date.

On June 18, 2018, the Spanish Senate approved Law Proposition 122/55 regarding the granting of Spanish nationality to descendants (Grandchildren Law), which seeks to repair unfair situations that occurred during the application of the Historical Memory Law . In essence, it would allow people to acquire Spanish nationality.people who meet any of these requirements:

1.-Grandchildren of Spanish women married to a Cuban (or any other foreigner) before the entry into force of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 since until that time, Spanish women lost their nationality when marrying a foreigner.

2.-Relatives of Spanish parents who did not obtain nationality when the Historical Memory Law was implemented due to age.

3.-Grandchildren of Spanish emigrants, who left Spain for economic reasons, and lost their Spanish nationality before their children were born.

4.-Grandchildren of Spaniards who had Spanish nationality as minors, but lost it when they were older for not ratifying it.

In principle, the Grandchildren Law should have gone ahead this year. It was a proposal from Izquierda Unida, which reached the Senate at the proposal of the Unidos Podemos-En Comu Marea coalition in December 2016.

With the call for elections, Pedro Sánchez closes a government of just eight months,which included a historic visit to Cuba. He is the first president to manage to govern in Spain through a motion of censure. The Catalan nationalists turned their backs on the approval of their general budgets and the socialist ruler terminated his mandate.