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Autonomy for Cuba (Spanish Cuba)
Autonomía Concertada para Cuba (Cuba española)
AbbreviationACC
NicknameCuba española
Named afterPartido Liberal Autonomista
Formation2012
FounderFerrán Núñez (Honorary President)
Founded atParis, France
TypeNonprofit
HeadquartersMiami, Florida
Official language
Spanish
President
Maikel Arista-Salado y Hernández
WebsiteAutonomía Concertada para Cuba, Inc.

Spanish Cuba movement (Cuba española) is a contemporary citizens' initiative under the leadership of Maikel Arista-Salado, a Cuban national exiled in the United States, who has successfully filed a lawsuit in Spanish courts that, if successful, will grant Spanish citizenship to 90% of Cubans and Puerto Ricans. The initiative was originally launched in 2008 from an idea of José Ramón Morales (Caimito, Cuba, November 5, 1954-Miami, Florida, May 28, 2012).[1] Morales' original idea was twofold: (1) raise awareness against the dominant historical narrative which was built upon the premise of the Spanish Black Legend, and (2) plead for the re-integration of Cuba to the Spanish kingdom as an overseas territory upon mutual agreement between Cuba and Spain, followed by a referendum to be approved in both nations. Upon Morales' death in 2012, the idea was taken up by Cuban writer and historian Ferrán Núñez who published España contra los salvajes: una guerra civil olvidada,[2] providing evidence and historical support for Morales' idea. Núñez' work undermines the conventional narrative taught to and believed by most Cubans today about the origin of the nation as an independent country. Núñez also founded Autonomía Concertada para Cuba[3] as a not-for-profit corporation under the laws of the French Republic, where he legally resides. In 2020 Nuñez chose Maikel Arista-Salado to become the president of the organization. Arista-Salado incorporated a new one under the laws of the state of Florida, United States. Under Arista-Salado, ACC has experienced a revival with the successful filing of an action in Spanish courts seeking judicial review of the 1898 Treaty of Paris. ACC has since dropped its original purpose and redirected to promote Spanish citizenship for all Cubans, with the catchy slogan of "It's time to return home!".

History

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José Ramón Morales'[4] blog "Autonomous Community of Cuba, Spain," has received over a million visitors[5] since its inception and has generated bitter controversy in the network.[6][7][8][9][10] The idea of the reunification of the island of Cuba with Spain is connected with liberal and autonomist ideas that coexisted throughout the nineteenth century with the ideal of independence.

The entry of the United States in the Spanish–American War and its support for separatist Spaniards,[11] changed the destiny of the island, which in 1898 came under American influence.

Current historical research[12] tints Manichean positions developed by Marxist doctrine in Cuba,[13][14] aimed to prove the inevitability of the revolutionary movement that started in 1868 with the Grito de Yara,[15] and concluded a hundred years later with the power grab by Fidel Castro. Morales, a Cuban exile in Miami and a blogger, advocated for Cuba's autonomy under Spanish governance rather than independence. He contrasts this with annexation, emphasizing the rights and unity this status would afford Cubans within the broader context of the European Union. Despite facing threats for his opinions, Morales remained committed to his vision of a democratic Cuba integrated with Spain, seeing this as a means to ensure stability and prosperity.

After the death of José Ramón Morales, the movement was taken up by a non-profit association called Autonomie Concertée de Cuba (ACC) [16] led by Ferrán Núñez a Cuban exiled residing in France. Also known as Cuban autonomous community movement (Spanish: Movimiento por la Reincorporación de Cuba a España como Comunidad Autónoma) the movement advocates Cuba becoming the 18th autonomous community of Spain.[17]

In 2020, after eight years building Spanish Cuba movement Ferrán Núñez stepped down as president of ACC, and chose Maikel Arista-Salado, an American citizen of Cuban origin to continue the work he had started almost a decade earlier. Under Arista-Salado's leadership, ACC shifted its focus, formally abandoning all claims of annexing Cuba to Spain. Instead, the organization is now concentrating on resolving the issue of the denaturalization of birthright Spanish citizens as outlined in Article IX of the Treaty of Paris. The aforementioned article provided the following:

Article IX

Spanish subjects, natives of the Peninsula, residing in the territory over which Spain by the present treaty relinquishes or cedes her sovereignty, may remain in such territory or may remove therefrom, retaining in either event all their rights of property, including the right to sell or dispose of such property or of its proceeds; and they shall also have the right to carry on their industry, commerce and professions, being subject in respect thereof to such laws as are applicable to other foreigners. In case they remain in the territory they may preserve their allegiance to the Crown of Spain by making, before a court of record, within a year from the date of the exchange of ratifications of this treaty, a declaration of their decision to preserve such allegiance; in default of which declaration they shall be held to have renounced it and to have adopted the nationality of the territory in which they may reside.

The civil rights and political status of the native inhabitants of the territories hereby ceded to the United States shall be determined by the Congress.[18]

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The restoration of Spanish national origin for natives of Cuba and Puerto Rico, dispossessed of Spanish nationality under Article IX of the Treaty of Paris is a legitimate claim of current descendants of Spaniards living abroad has never been addressed by any Spanish Government, or the Cortes. It had virtually a non-issue up until recently when the legal initiative of Maikel Arista-Salado's challenging the validity of this article has spurred considerable attention by the media and commentators, primarily because for the first time in 125 years a lawsuit has been filed which could potentially force the European Court of Human Rights to weigh in the merits of this case and can settle this old claim of Spanish citizens who, at the turn of the 20th century were neglected.

An invisible claim

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Created by Maikel Arista-Salado
Coat of arms of Spanish Cuba movement

The new provisions for the acquisition of Spanish citizenship to the Sephardic Jews and the Historical Memory and Democratic Memory laws both adopted by Socialist governments of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in 2007 and Pedro Sánchez in 2022, only include provisions for the recognition of Spanish nationality to those descendants of Spanish who went into exile after the civil war. However, no mention is made of those Spanish citizens born in Cuba and Puerto Rico before April 11, 1898, who were denaturalized.

On February 7, 2014, the then-current Spanish government (Gallardón, Margallo, Rajoy; PP) announced a controversial bill[19] providing for the recognition of Spanish nationality for the descendants of the Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 following the Alhambra Decree by Their Catholic Majesties Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon. Thus, it opened a legal way for Spanish descendants in former overseas territories to request Spanish citizenship as well because they too were deprived illegally of their citizenship.[20]

Legal challenges: a petition/lawsuit to repeal Article IX

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The efforts to repeal Article IX of the Treaty of Paris (1898) are centered around addressing the historical consequences of this treaty, particularly concerning the nationality status of Cubans and Puerto Ricans. Article IX of the Treaty of Paris dealt with the civil rights and political status of the native inhabitants of territories ceded by Spain to the United States, which included Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam. Beyond legal aspects, this issue touches on cultural identity and historical recognition. It is a matter of acknowledging a shared history and potentially correcting a historical oversight. Such efforts can also influence international relations, particularly between Spain, the United States, Cuba, and Puerto Rico.

On October 7, 2022, Maikel Arista-Salado, a U.S. citizen of Cuban origin, filed a petition with the Spanish Consulate in Miami, the city where he was legally residing at the time. Under Spanish law, petitions filed with any governmental office pursuant to the Spanish Petition Act (Ley Orgánica 4/2001, de 12 de noviembre, reguladora del derecho de petición) are a constitutionally protected right (recognized in article 29 of the Spanish Constitution). In it, Arista-Salado petitions the government to denounce Article IX, or declare it null as it violates the 1876 Spanish Constitution which was in full force in Cuba and Puerto Rico at the time the Treaty was signed, it violates the current Spanish Constitution, European Law, American Law and International Law. The document goes on to request the Spanish government to restore Spanish nationality to all the descendants of those Spanish citizens from Cuba and Puerto Rico who were forcefully denaturalized. This petition challenges the validity of Article IX of the Treaty of Paris (1898), because it did not allow Spanish citizens born in its overseas possessions of Cuba and Puerto Rico to exercise the right to choose their allegiance, thereby stripping them of their birthright nationality.

  1. Arguments presented: Arista-Salado presents several arguments to justify his initiative:
    • The continuous application of Article IX has caused significant injustice by forcing Spain to denaturalize its citizens in Cuba and Puerto Rico.
    • Cuba and Puerto Rico were full Spanish territories under the Spanish Constitution, and their natives should be considered Spanish by birth.
    • The mass denaturalization was unconstitutional, null, and invalid as Spain lacked the legal capacity to withdraw citizenship from its own nationals.
    • The mass denaturalization, even if legal, was contrary to the law as it lacked due process and proper notification.
    • The act of denaturalization did not affect the transmission of citizenship rights by descent (ius sanguinis).
    • The mass denaturalization was never transcribed into the Spanish civil registry, rendering it legally unverifiable; also, no treaty can legally bind no Spanish citizen to
  2. Implications of the Petition: If the petition is successful, Spain would be obliged to grant nationality to a sizeable portion of the current Cuban population, excluding descendants of Cubans who arrived on the island after 1899.
  3. Political Objectives: Arista-Salado acknowledges political motives behind the petition, aiming to strengthen ties with Spain and address potential repression by the Cuban dictatorship.

Arista-Salado argues that the treaty affected the inhabitants of these territories at the time of its signing. He believes there are claims that Cubans and Puerto Ricans should pursue regarding the restitution of Spanish citizenship. His organization, Autonomía Concertada para Cuba, Inc. (Cuba española)[21] supports this initiative. Arista-Salado emphasizes that the treaty has not been challenged in court for over 125 years, and he believes that modern legal mechanisms could facilitate such a challenge now. He points out that Article IX of the treaty deprived Spanish citizens, who had been peacefully and continuously in possession of their citizenship for four centuries, of their birthright nationality. This, according to Arista, undermines the territorial integrity of Spain, as Cuba and Puerto Rico were not merely colonies but territories with full rights and with the added privilege of home-rule and legal personality granted by the Spanish government in 1897, in fact they were the first ones to be granted in the entire kingdom.[22] In summary, while the Treaty of Paris did not directly strip Spanish citizenship from the inhabitants of Cuba and Puerto Rico, its provisions set in motion a series of events and legal changes that ultimately altered the citizenship status of people in these territories.

First page of the January 17, 2024 Court order (Auto judicial) in the matter Arista-Salado vs. Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Case nº. 766/2023, 4th Division, Administrative Chambre, Audiencia Nacional)

The administrative petition was denied by executive order of the Foreign Secretary (Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores, Unión Europea y Cooperación), issued February 23, 2023, (File n.º V.37/2023, Document 2.8-9, pages 48–52) and notified to Arista-Salado on March 30 (Doc. 2.11-12, pages 63–65). The Spanish government's position through its Foreign Office is that under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Article IX cannot be denounced on the grounds of (1) public policy and that (2) the Treaty contains no provisions allowing for the denunciation. Regarding the first proposition, the Spanish government argues that an alleged denunciation of Article IX would be seen as an unfriendly behavior by the United States thus affecting its diplomatic relations, considered of great priority to Spain. As far as the lack of denunciation provisions in the treaty, the Spanish government conveniently forgets that under the same Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties violations of ius cogens are sufficient basis for denunciation.[23] The denial was challenged by Arista-Salado who filed suit in Spanish court. In the complaint, pending in the Audiencia Nacional, Arista-Salado petitions the court: (1) to declare the Foreign Secretary's order null and void. Arista-Salado, now Plaintiff, argues that the Foreign Secretary has no authority to grant the petition, let alone to deny it, as it involves a constitutional question; alternatively, (2) to ask the Constitutional Court to determine if art. IX is compatible with the Constitution through a constitutional question action, and to ask the Court of Justice of the European Union if art. IX is compatible with European Law through a prejudicial question; alternatively, (3) to redress the issue to the Spanish government who has the authority to denounce the Treaty. As of April 1, 2014, the court issued an interim order declaring the case at issue.

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Whether a state holds these legal competences—and, for example, whether a state like Spain has these legal competences—depends first on whether one is speaking about international law, its constitution, and its national laws.

International Law: In general, the international law perspective appreciates the view that each and every state has the freedom to determine its law regarding citizenship. This includes setting the criterion through which one may acquire or lose citizenship. However, the international law approach places some restrictions in order to avoid statelessness. A case in point is the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, which places an obligation on states to ensure that their rules on nationality, by avoiding the deprivation of citizenship, do not contribute to statelessness.

Constitution and National Laws of Spain: The website "Thejsonly" specifies the Spanish Constitution and the National Laws of Spain, which contain the most updated framework regarding the acquisition and loss of Spanish nationality. In this respect, Spain, as many other countries, provides for both automatic loss of citizenship in certain circumstances (such as the voluntary acquisition of another nationality) and deprivation of citizenship by the government in limited and specified circumstances. However, such provisions are subject to legal safeguards and are usually limited so as not to make a person stateless unless that person has voluntarily acquired another nationality. It is important to mention that citizenship can never be revoked on citizens by birth,

Background: Many things have changed in the legal capability of a state to revoke citizenship throughout history. Under the Treaty of Paris (1898), the legal principles that defined citizenship were not very different compared to those of today. The provisions of this treaty, viewed in relation to the citizenship of individuals in ceded or renounced territories, can therefore be considered in a contemporary political and legal context.

Human Rights Considerations: Modern international human rights law offers a bias towards the right of nationality and, in general, discourses against the arbitrary deprivation of citizenship. Any action by a state towards stripping citizenship, most likely to result in statelessness, is subject to scrutiny under international human rights norms.

Therefore, even though Spain, such as any other state with full sovereignty, can have the power to regulate its own citizenship laws and govern both voluntary acquisition and loss of citizenship, the power should have bounds and not cross international law, constitutional provisions, national laws, human rights, etc. It was of great historical context, such as that provided by the Treaty of Paris, through which context played a great role in understanding the legal dynamics of citizenship revocation.

Social media

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Maikel Arista-Salado next to the Spanish flag at an event in Perú (2016)

Arista-Salado's campaign to repeal Article IX of the Treaty of Paris has been gaining significant traction on social media. Article IX of the legal text has been targeted by Arista-Salado's talks for its discriminatory language. Leveraging platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube primarily, the campaign has effectively evolved into a newsletter and a podcast, sharing informative and historically valuable content, as well as personal stories to highlight the necessity of the repeal. This social media momentum is not only raising awareness but also mobilizing a diverse group of supporters, creating a groundswell of public opinion that is pushing for any change effectively removing Article IX from Spanish legal books and thus paving the way for all Cubans to become Spanish citizens. As a result, the campaign's online presence is translating into real-world discussions and actions, showcasing the power of digital advocacy in modern political movements.

References

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  1. ^ Antonio Moreno Ruiz, José Ramón Morales, un hombre bueno. Dignidad Digital. [1]
  2. ^ Núñez, Ferrán. España contra los salvajes: Cuba: la Guerra Civil olvidada (in Spanish).
  3. ^ Navarrete, William (December 18, 2023). "Cubanos y puertorriqueños nunca dejaron de ser españoles". Entrevista a Maikel Arista-Salado". El Nuevo Herald. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  4. ^ "Armando Añel, Cuba Española y la muerte de José Ramón Morales". Archived from the original on 2014-04-23. Retrieved 2014-04-21.
  5. ^ José Ramón Morales, Blog Cuba española
  6. ^ "Mildred de la Torre, El Autonomismo de nuevo, Revista Calibán". Archived from the original on 2014-04-22. Retrieved 2014-04-21.
  7. ^ Los nuevos autonomistas cubanos, Rebelión, Percy Francisco Alvarado Godoy.[2]
  8. ^ Eliades Acosta Matos, Cuba española y el autonomismo zombie [3].
  9. ^ Ingo Niebel Quieren que Cuba vuelva a ser una colonia de España, Contrainjerencia. [4]
  10. ^ "Movimiento para la Reincorporación de Cuba a España como Comunidad Autónoma | spaniards.es". 2010-03-25. Archived from the original on 2010-03-25. Retrieved 2022-12-19.
  11. ^ Moreno Fraginals Manuel: Cuba España. Historia común. Barcelone, 1995.
  12. ^ Marta Bizcarrondo. "El autonomismo cubano 1878-1898. Las ideas y los hechos." Historia Contemporánea. 1999. 69–94.
  13. ^ Tarragó, Rafael E. (2009). "La guerra de 1895 en Cuba y sus consecuencias". Arbor.
  14. ^ Navarro García, Luis (1998). "1898: La incierta victoria de Cuba". Revista de Estudios Americanos. Universidad de Sevilla.
  15. ^ 7 preguntas a Rafael Tarragó. Entrevista. Blog de E. Ichikagua
  16. ^ Autonomie Concertée de Cuba, Journal Officiel, 18 August 2012
  17. ^ "Movimiento por la Reincorporación de Cuba a España como Comunidad Autónoma". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2022-12-21.
  18. ^ "Avalon Project - Treaty of Peace Between the United States and Spain; December 10, 1898". avalon.law.yale.edu. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
  19. ^ Gobierno modifica el Código Civil para conceder la nacionalidad española a los que acrediten la condición de sefardí.
  20. ^ El Gobierno vende en EE UU su gesto hacia los sefardíes, El País, 15 mars 2014
  21. ^ "Bienvenidos". Cuba espanola (ACC) (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-04-30.
  22. ^ Esquivias, José María Ballester (2022-10-19). "Piden a Sánchez devolver la nacionalidad española a millones de cubanos". El Debate (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-04-30.
  23. ^ Brilmayer, L.; Tesfalidet, I. (January 5, 2011). "Treaty Denunciation and "Withdrawal" from Customary International Law: An Erroneous Analogy with Dangerous Consequences". Yale Law Journal. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
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