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🇵🇾 Paraguay /Elections & Politics

Silent, unaware of the ruling or hopeful about voting: Cubans react to Spanish court decision

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire From a news agency In the courts
  • Spain's Supreme Court temporarily suspended voting rights and new entries into the overseas electoral register until consulates verify applicants' descent from Spanish exiles.
  • Cubans waiting at the Spanish consulate in Havana largely declined to comment, while some said voting would be an important right after naturalization.
  • The ruling does not cancel citizenships already granted or halt nationality applications, and it excludes applicants who can prove their ancestors went into exile for specified reasons.

Outside Spain's consulate in Havana, the long queue looked much like any other Tuesday. But the people waiting there reacted very differently to Spain's latest Supreme Court ruling: most stayed silent, some had not heard about it, and a few remained hopeful that Spanish citizenship would eventually give them the right to vote.

We are new to this whole issue, the nationality application, and I cannot give major or eloquent details. I am neither abstaining nor giving a true opinion.

· Pedro MatíasHe was one of the few applicants willing to comment outside Spain's consulate in Havana.

The court has provisionally suspended voting rights and new registrations in the Census of Absent Spanish Residents, known as CERA. Consulates must first establish that newly naturalized applicants are descendants of Spanish exiles. The line stretched beyond the entrance to the Lonja de Comercio, while applicants sought shade from the intense September sun and street vendors took advantage of the delays.

Many people refused to speak because they feared that saying too much could complicate their long-awaited citizenship applications. Pedro Matías, one of the few who answered questions, said he was new to the process and did not want to offer a firm assessment.

Obtaining citizenship does not mean only improving one's life.

· Marisol JiménezShe said her reasons for seeking Spanish nationality went beyond economic improvement.

For many Cubans, Spanish nationality represents a possible route out of a country that has lost more than one million residents since 2020 to migration. Marisol Jiménez, who is applying with her husband, said citizenship is not only about improving one's life. If she becomes Spanish and lives in the country, she said, she would like to take part in civil society and vote. Yénica Artaya, accompanying her mother through the process, likewise called voting a citizen's right.

If I am going to have citizenship and live in the country, I would like to vote.

· Marisol JiménezShe described voting as part of the civic life she hopes to join after naturalization.

The ruling does not revoke citizenships already granted or stop nationality applications. The provisional suspension also does not apply to applicants who can prove that their ancestors went into exile for political, ideological, religious or sexual-identity reasons. Cuba remains one of the countries with the largest number of applications under Spain's grandchildren law.

As a citizen, of course it is important that everyone be able to vote. It is a right. Of course.

· Yénica ArtayaShe was accompanying her mother during the nationality process and supported the right to vote.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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