By Beatriz Diaz |
América Writing (EFE) descendants in Latin America, that their children can access Spanish nationality through the recent Democratic Memory Law (LMD).
When Pujol thought that he finally had the opportunity to grant nationality to his children, with the Historical Memory Law of 2007, he encountered the obstacle that the regulation only contemplated those under 18 years of age: his young daughter could get it, but not her older twins, so she preferred that none of them have it.
“I did not want there to be differences between my three children,” he said, although he now believes “that justice was done.”
The difficulty he faced was remedied with the new norm that “corrects the gaps” left by the 2007 Law, said the Spanish ambassador to Venezuela, Ramón Santos, in an act that granted nationality last week to 71 Venezuelans living in the Caribbean country.
The “law of grandchildren” to obtain nationality
The LMD, known as the “grandchildren’s law” and approved last October, allows the descendants of exiles during the Civil War (1936-1939) and the Franco dictatorship (1939-1975) to obtain Spanish nationality.
The differences with the previous norm allow access to Spanish citizenship to the children and grandchildren of Spaniards who lost their nationality as a result of exile (Annex I); the children of Spanish women who renounced their nationality upon marriage (Annex II), and the children of legal age of those persons who were granted nationality (Annex III).
The Spanish Ministry of Justice is in charge of counting applications for nationality, but, as of today, official sources told EFE that they do not have data due to the short time that has elapsed since the law was approved, although the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (MAEC) confirmed to EFE that they are going to reinforce the means and personnel in the consulates in response to the requests received.
Hundreds of thousands of petitions in Cuba
In countries where the Spanish diaspora was more numerous, applications are expected to skyrocket, as is the case in Cuba, where consular sources told EFE that between 200,000 and 300,000 people can claim citizenship, although they acknowledge that it is difficult to make estimates. in this case.
They point out that the largest group of applicants will be the children of legal age of people nationalized as a result of the Historical Memory Law, who did not automatically receive nationality, unlike minors.
For this foreseeable greater demand, the consulate anticipates expanding services at its second headquarters in Havana, opening more windows and hiring around twenty people.
Applications grow in Mexico
Meanwhile, requests are growing in Mexico, where an estimated 20,000 Spaniards arrived during and after the Civil War, making it one of the countries that received the most exiles.
According to diplomatic sources, in the first four months after its entry into force, thousands of applications to acquire nationality under the new assumptions were registered and certificates have already begun to be delivered to new Spanish citizens.
From the consular office they indicated to EFE that “the system has not been saturated” because they opened new spaces and they have “reinforcement professionals to carry out the pertinent procedures.”
Argentina, the largest Spanish diaspora
At the General Consulate of Spain in Buenos Aires, the one that brings together the largest number of Spaniards in the world, around 350,000, since the Democratic Memory Law was approved, 42,600 shifts have been granted to people who want to apply for nationality, as reported to EFE by the consul general, Fernando García Casas.
Of all of them, citizenship has already been granted to about 2,000 people. To meet this demand, it is expected that “in the coming months,” according to the consul, between 15 and 20 new workers will join the office, adding to the 78 officials that make up the staff.
Although between 1,000 and 1,200 people arrive at the consulate every day, the shift system avoids what happened with the Historical Memory Law when there were people “who spent the night on the street,” which allows “dignity and quality of care for citizen”, added García Casas.
Nationality for the exiles in Chile from Neruda’s ship
In Chile, the LMD is having an effect very similar to that of the previous nationalization process.
According to data provided to EFE by the Consulate of Spain, the total applications received since the entry into force of the law amounted to 1,135 last Friday, of which 996 accepted Annex III of the Law and 139 did so under Annex I.
“The number of applications is expected to increase considerably from April, with the incorporation of new contracts already approved by the MAEC. We will be able to almost double the number of daily appointments”, they pointed out.
According to official documentary testimonies, Chile received 2,200 exiled Spaniards in 1939, with a total of 1,160 men, 540 women and 500 children.
They all arrived aboard the Winnipeg, a ship chartered by the then consul and later Chilean Nobel Prize winner Pablo Neruda, which set sail on August 4 of that year from the French port of Poullac and arrived a month later in the coastal city of Valparaíso.
Peru, a remote place for exile
The remoteness of Peru and the dictatorship of Óscar R. Benavides made the Andean country a remote place for Spanish exile.
Therefore, few descendants of Spaniards in Peru can benefit from the Democratic Memory Law and yet, according to EFE diplomatic sources, the Spanish Consulate in Peru has already received some 600 requests and almost all of them have been resolved. favorably.
On average, some 300 petitions per month are received and registered and, as the cases are legally well oriented, almost all of them go ahead, according to official sources.