Council of Spanish Residents in Cuba asks Spain for nationality for descendants of those who lost it in 1898

HeCouncil of Spanish Residents (CRE) of Cuba announced that it will propose to include in the new law on grandchildren the descendants of Spaniards who resided on the Island in 1898 and who did not ratify their citizenship, as established by the Treaty of Paris of that year, which ended the war. of independence of the Caribbean nation.

This proposal would be added to thepetition from Cuban David Martínez Ruiz to the president of the Spanish Senate, Pilar Llop, to support the recognition of nationality for the descendants of Iberians in Cuba who lost that privilege, many of whom were forced to stop being Spanish by Article IX of the aforementioned Treaty.

"Due to lack of sufficient information from those years, many did not declare the desire to maintain that citizenship and for fear of a major war conflict with the United States of America, the Spanish kingdom accepted said treaty, thus forgetting its citizens in Cuba," he said. Martínez, Galician's great-grandson, in a letter published on the Españoles de Cuba portal.

On the other hand, the CRE assembly discussed the group's work regarding care for Spanish citizens and their descendants.

“We stopped being information processors about where the issue of nationality is going, to intervene by giving our opinions at the Consulate on how to solve some problems. I think our participation in the creation of the Consulate's website was decisive,” said its president, María Antonia Rabanillo.

The owner stressed that periodic meetings will be held with the consuls and ministries to update all the services provided to the Spanish community on the Island, as well as the difficulties in their execution.

The CRE, which in addition to email will soon have its Twitter account, proposed that staff from the Consulate General and the Department of Labor give informative talks on nationality, visas and passports, DNI, consular registrations and cancellations, return and aid programs.

The number of Spaniards residing in Cuba increases every year. This has its origin in the well-known Historical Memory Law of 2006. According to official data from the National Institute of Statistics of Spain in 2019,145,167 Spanish citizens live on the Island, 5,316 more people than in 2018.

That figure could increase even more, since on January 2 the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) and Unidas Podemos agreed in their government programrecognize nationality to descendants of Spaniards born abroad whenever.

Both political groups advocate that these people can “opt for Spanish nationality in the event that their mothers, fathers, grandmothers or grandfathers acquire the nationality of the host country.”

To which are added the cases of those who lost their nationality in exile due to the Civil War or the dictatorship. The proposal must still go through parliamentary processing, in Congress and the Senate, before being approved.