More than two thousand Cubans have requested political asylum in Spain during 2023

A total of 2,430 Cubans requested asylum in Spain in the first nine months of 2023, according to data from the Asylum and Refuge Office (OAR) of the Spanish Ministry of the Interior.

With these numbers, the Cuban becomes the fifth nationality in having more processes presented, only surpassed by Venezuela (46,585), Colombia (41,769), Peru (11,116) and Honduras (2,957), according to the Spanish radio network COPE.

However, according to figures obtained from the OAR, Cuban applicants do not appear among those with the most favorable concessions. Statistics indicate that only 10.2% (8,320) of the total cases resolved -81,383- have obtained refugee status or subsidiary protection.

The approval of the Spanish immigration authorities has been obtained, for the most part, by those originating from Mali (2,101), Syria (795), Afghanistan (768), Honduras (643) and Russia (595).

The majority of applications were submitted in the Community of Madrid (42,129), Andalusia (20,746) and Catalonia (10,856).

When it comes to obtaining any type of international protection, Cubans often face greater obstacles than people of other nationalities. In the case of Spain, the country's government presumes that emigrants do so for economic reasons, because they they do not recognize in fact to the Cuban regime as a dictatorship or a nation in conflict. On the other hand, that of Venezuela, which shares similar characteristics to the Cuban, Yeah.

Although the denial of asylum to Cubans is a practically routine process, Spain does offer Venezuelans a form of support to regularize their status through humanitarian means. For example, from January to September, of the 38,854 people who have received protection for humanitarian reasons, the majority are of Venezuelan nationality (38,179).

According to article 4 of Law 12/2009, people who request international protection in Spain may obtain asylum if the authorities consider that they have reasonable grounds to believe that returning to their country of origin would put them at serious risk of suffering any harm. serious enumerated in the law.

“Serious harm” is defined as the death penalty or the risk of its physical execution, torture and inhuman or degrading treatment in the applicant's country of origin, and serious threats against the life or integrity of civilians, motivated by indiscriminate violence in situations of international or internal conflict.

Despite the above, Spain occupies the second position among the world's recipient countries of Cuban citizens, only behind the United States, which welcomes more than 80%.

At a global level, the report of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) indicates that nearly 195,000 Cubans requested asylum in various nations during 2022.

According to the UNHCR graph, Cubans submitted 194,700 more individual applications in 2022 than the previous year, a three-fold increase.

In that same year, Cubans represented the third nationality with the most requests of this type worldwide. Only Venezuelans (264,000) and Afghans (208,500) presented more.