Second-class Spaniards? The Spanish Consulate in Cuba violates the rights of naturalized citizens under the Democratic Memory Law.

After the long wait to obtain Spanish citizenship under the Democratic Memory Law, many Spaniards in Cuba are now waiting for the issuance of a literal birth certificate with the special notation that it is issued for the purpose of obtaining a national identity document (DNI) or passport. Some speak of "convenient delays" because unjustified delays allow, or encourage, certain corruption schemes.

Thousands of Cubans naturalized as Spanish citizens under the Democratic Memory Law are experiencing an absurd and profoundly unjust situation. Having legally acquired their nationality, they cannot obtain their National Identity Document (DNI) or Spanish passport because the Spanish consulate in Havana will not issue them a literal birth certificate with the required notation: "for obtaining the first DNI and passport."

"They mailed me my birth certificate in December. Look, here it is. This is me. However, this certificate is useless. I can't get my ID or my passport, simply because it's missing a little stamp on the left side that says it's for an ID. And I've applied for it through every possible means, and nothing," explains José M. Rodríguez, a Cuban-Spanish man now living in Zaragoza, who feels vulnerable:

"I can't work, I'm not entitled to medical care, they won't accept me as a tenant... in short, I'm a second-class Spaniard," he concludes.

A legal requirement that is not optional

This requirement is included in the General Directorate of Police's Instruction on the issuance of DNIs, which requires that the literal birth certificate expressly state this purpose. This is also established in the Regulations of Organic Law 4/2015 and in the internal guidelines of civil registries and documentation offices.

Without this phrase, police stations in Spain reject the process. It's not a formality, but rather an essential element for completing the citizen's identification before the competent authorities.

The certificate already exists: just need an annotation

The most unusual thing is that the literal birth certificate is already issued and registered. All that's needed is to add a line of text or a stamp. It's not a complex process. It doesn't require additional research or a legal opinion. It's a technical and routine process that, however, takes months.

Meanwhile, those affected are left in limbo. They cannot travel, identify themselves as Spanish citizens to the authorities, work legally, or access basic services in Spain.

"I can't believe this situation. It's absurd that you have to wait six or eight months for a stamp. If everything is digitized, when they issue the ordinary literal certificate—that is, the one without a stamp—they can add the DNI stamp. And if the applicant requests it, it's sent to them, period. That's their right," questions one applicant in Madrid.

Added to all this is a key factor: the literal birth certificate for DNI is valid for only six months from its issuance. This limitation, which is included in both the internal regulations of the Police and the instructions of the Ministry of Justice, means that systematic delays in its delivery render it useless.

The Ministry of Justice acknowledges the complaints, but does not resolve them

The Ministry of Justice accepts complaints when more than three months have passed since the certificate was requested from the Central Civil Registry without a response. However, in practice, the response those affected receive is a vague statement: "The file is under review," and it is indicated that the delay stems from the Spanish Consulate in Cuba, which has not completed the submission or validation of the document.

In many cases, applicants have been waiting for more than six months or even a year. Some have sent multiple emails to the Spanish Consulate in Cuba without receiving a response.

The creation of a specific appointment platform to request this certificate with the DNI entry hasn't solved anything: the system is practically never open or has no set schedule, and has become another arbitrary filter. However, the very few lucky ones who manage to get an appointment say they receive the certificate verbatim in their emails within a few days, without having to go to the consular civil registry.

As with other embassies, which have created similar mechanisms in their time, user complaints and dissatisfaction are not long in coming. And many see every bottleneck as an opportunity for others to profit.

"Nobody knows when they open, what days, or what time the appointments are given. What it seems is that they created this system to generate even more congestion. And as the saying goes, in troubled waters, fishermen profit", explains Yanelis, a Cuban woman who doesn't want to buy her ticket to Spain without a literal DNI certificate, and who is very clear that once she has it she will have to rush to register and complete the other procedures since the document is only valid for 6 months.

Suspicions of corruption: inequality as a business

The system's opacity and lack of clear controls have created fertile ground for abuse. Testimonies gathered by Spanish citizens indicate that some workers or intermediaries charge for providing the certificate with the necessary annotation.

“They wrote to me privately on Telegram,” says one citizen. “They saw I was asking for the certificate and offered to help me, but in exchange for money.”

The pattern is clear: a shortcut is offered to those who can pay, while the rest wait indefinitely. Another account is even more explicit: "An acquaintance was quickly taken away by a relative of a consulate employee for 200 euros."

These practices, which many describe as covert extortion, are based on a perverse logic: "Those who need this document are either in Spain or are about to arrive; so officials assume they have money and try to extort them," another source points out.

An unacceptable discrimination between Spanish citizens

The result is a system that distinguishes between first- and second-class Spaniards. Those born in Spain have unhindered access to their documentation. Those naturalized in Cuba do not.

This violates the principle of equality before the law (Article 14 of the Spanish Constitution) and the right to documentation and identification as a Spanish citizen, implicitly enshrined in Article 15 of the Civil Code and the Civil Registry Law.

Furthermore, it contradicts Article 9.2 of the Constitution, which requires public authorities to remove obstacles that impede the exercise of rights.

The Spanish State has the obligation to intervene

The situation cannot be considered a minor administrative problem. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs must urgently review the management of the consulate in Havana. And the Ministry of Justice must ensure that civil registries—both in Havana and Madrid—issue certificates with the required annotation without delays or arbitrary barriers.

Meanwhile, a basic right continues to be violated. A simple stamp, a phrase in an already existing document, is leaving thousands of citizens unable to fully exercise their citizenship. And it's creating a shady business for those who know how to operate in the shadows of this institutional inefficiency.

How long will it be tolerated that a right recognized by law remains sequestered in a consular office? How many more citizens must pay, wait, or beg for a document that is theirs by right?

A document as basic as the literal certificate with the notation for DNI and passport—which already exists and only requires a marginal note—cannot be allowed to become a commodity in the hands of corrupt intermediaries or employees.

This isn't just any document. The DNI not only proves identity: it allows you to work, travel, legally reside, exercise civil and political rights, enroll in social security, and access public healthcare. Denying it, delaying it, or conditioning its processing to a network of favors and intermediaries is a form of exclusion.

The Spanish government must intervene immediately, audit the operation of the consulate in Havana, and take disciplinary or criminal measures, if appropriate. A stamp is enough. A paragraph. A technical procedure. What is being denied today is the documentary dignity of citizens who are already, legally, part of Spain.