A piece of information revealed before the Spanish Supreme Court shakes the debate surrounding the so-called Law of Grandchildren: of approximately 1.2 million people who applied for Spanish nationality under the 2022 instruction, which defined as exiles all those who left Spain between 1936 and 1955, only about 900 have been able to document that their grandparents were exiles from Franco's regime (fleeing Spain between 1936 and 1939). This is currently being questioned in court and is the reason why the voting rights of these new Spaniards have been suspended.
This was explained by the lawyer Julio Rodríguez Pellitero, who is involved in the case before the Supreme Court, in an interview with CiberCuba. He detailed that it was the State Legal Service —representing the Spanish government— that provided this evidence at the request of the plaintiff. “The government, represented by the State Legal Service, has demonstrated, has provided evidence because it was requested by the plaintiff, that only 900 nationalities correspond to the grandchildren of exiled individuals.”
The data takes on greater significance when contrasted with the total: "Out of 1.2 million, only 900 people have been able to prove that their grandparents were exiles," the lawyer emphasized.
The reason for this disparity is twofold. On one hand, the instruction signed in October 2022 by Sofía Puente Santiago, then Director General of Legal Security and Public Faith, did not require proof of exile to obtain nationality: it was sufficient to demonstrate that the grandfather was Spanish. "If your grandfather was Spanish, you could either claim your grandfather's Spanish citizenship or additionally prove that he was an exile," explained Rodríguez Pellitero. On the other hand, proving exile involves gathering complex documentation, compared to a simple birth certificate of the grandfather.
This is compounded by a historical factor: "The number of exiles is actually quite small. Because the republican exiles mostly went to Mexico and Cuba, but they were not many," the lawyer noted.
On October 28, the Government submitted to the Supreme Court a nominal list of 163,355 individuals whose electoral rights were affected by the precautionary measure issued in September, when the Supreme Court suspended the electoral effects of approximately 170,000 registrations in the Electoral Census of Absent Residents (CERA) linked to that directive, ahead of the general elections on November 29. Of these 163,355 individuals, only 901 files included consular certification verifying the exile of an ancestor.
This Friday, the Supreme Court rejected the request to extend the suspension for those nationalized who are registered as residents in Spain, meaning that those who live and are registered in the country will be able to vote in November.
The appellants —Iustitia Europa and Vox in separate proceedings— seek the total annulment of the 2022 instruction, which would jeopardize the nationality of those who obtained it through the Spanish grandparent route without being descendants of exiles. Rodríguez Pellitero understands the argument but warns of its consequences: "I understand the appellant's point of view. If a Spaniard did not become Spanish through the proper legal channels, their vote should be nullified. Because their nationality has a defect." However, he considers it disproportionate to seek to annul 99.9% of the granted nationalities four years later, thus undermining the principle of legal certainty.
Cuba is the second country with the highest number of affected individuals, only behind Argentina. More than 350,000 Cubans have started the process for Spanish nationality since 2022, and the Spanish Consulate in Havana had over 137,700 pending applications. "This is an issue that clearly affects and can affect hundreds of thousands of Cubans," warned the lawyer.
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