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Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Cubans queuing for Spanish passport

International news
Cubans queuing for Spanish passport
Published: Tuesday 30 December 2008 08:23 UTC
Last updated: Tuesday 30 December 2008 14:00 UTC

Hundreds of Cubans have been queuing outside the Spanish embassy in the
capital Havana on the first day Spain began taking citizenship
applications under a new law. As of Monday children and grandchildren of
Spaniards who fled General Francisco Franco's dictatorship can apply for
Spanish citizenship. The measure is part of a "historic-memory" law
adopted in 2007 by the Socialist government of Prime Minister José Luis
Rodríguez Zapatero. Spain says up to one million people could qualify
worldwide.

Officials estimate that some 200,000 potential applicants are Cuban.
Many of them see a Spanish passport as a way out of the country, though
they will still need permission from the Cuban government. Around one
million Cubans have left since Fidel Castro took power in 1959.

http://www.radionetherlands.nl/news/international/6115190/Cubans-queuing-for-Spanish-passport

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