The Spanish Government acknowledged before the Congress of Deputies that Cuban legislation prevents it from directly hiring local staff for its Consulate in Havana, forcing it to rely on a state employer, a system that Madrid claims to have been using since 2017.
The admission appears in a parliamentary response dated September 23, in which the Executive defended its hiring of the Palco Business Group, a Cuban state-owned company.
Spain awarded Palco two contracts totaling 1,374,039.16 euros to supply workers to the Consulate General and the Spanish Embassy in Havana. Both procedures were resolved with a single bid and without discounts on the initial budgets.
The largest contract, corresponding to the Consulate General of Spain in Havana, amounts to 1,131,295.68 euros. It was awarded by the Undersecretariat of Foreign Affairs on December 12, 2024, under file number 2024SWs00114.
The second contract, identified with the file 2024SWs00113, corresponds to the Spanish Embassy in Cuba. It was awarded on December 10, 2024, for 242,743.48 euros, also to Palco and with a single bid.
The amounts correspond to the value of the awards and do not imply that the entire sum of money has been disbursed.
The obligation recognized by the Spanish government
In its response to Congress, the Executive defended that the hiring was carried out in accordance with Spanish legislation and that the use of a Cuban state-owned company is a requirement established by the authorities of the Island.
The explanation was provided in response to a parliamentary question submitted by deputies of the Popular Party.
As a foundation, the Government cited Decree Law 384 of 2019, which regulates in Cuba the hiring of workers to provide services to foreign representations.
According to the Executive, diplomatic and consular representations were not allowed to hire local staff directly and had to rely on an authorized Cuban employment agency.
Madrid explained that this procedure had been in use since 2017.
The official response justifies the need to hire through an employer entity, although it does not elaborate on why Palco was the selected company or whether there were other authorized entities capable of providing the same service.
Cuba changed the law but maintained the requirement for consulates
On October 2nd, just nine days after the Spanish government's response, Cuba published a new regulation that modified the conditions for hiring workers in certain foreign representations.
The Decree Law 137/2026 expressly repealed Decree Law 384 of 2019, referenced by Madrid in its parliamentary response.
The new regulation allows foreign commercial representations to directly hire their workers or continue using authorized employer entities.
However, diplomatic and consular missions were excluded from that possibility.
Article 2 of the new regulation states that the hiring of staff for administrative, technical, or service roles in embassies and consulates must be conducted through employer entities authorized by the Cuban Ministry of Labor and Social Security.
Therefore, the reform does not eliminate labor intermediation for the Spanish Consulate in Havana, although it also does not establish that Palco is the only entity authorized to provide workers for it.
What roles do the employees of Palco perform?
Contracting takes on special relevance due to the volume of nationality files processed in Havana.
According to the data published by the Spanish government in September 2025, the General Consulate in Cuba had received 107,338 applications for nationality under the Democratic Memory Law, known as the Grandchildren's Law, which represents 12.24% of the applications recorded up to the first half of that year.
In its parliamentary response, the Government assured that the workers provided by Palco perform administrative, technical, and auxiliary support functions under the direction and supervision of the Spanish consular officials.
He also specified that they do not exercise powers reserved for public officials nor participate in decisions regarding civil registry files, passports, or visas.
Regarding access to information, the Executive stated that permissions to consult documentation and computer systems are limited to service needs and are subject to authorization, supervision, and traceability mechanisms.
He added that workers must adhere to obligations of confidentiality and data protection.
The response, however, does not specify which categories of documents contracted employees through Palco may access nor does it detail the specific permissions for accessing consular systems.
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