Cubans clamor for Spanish passports

HAVANA, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Hundreds of Cubans clamored outside the Spanish Embassy in Havana hoping to apply for a Spanish passport under a new Spanish law.

The Cuban citizens were hoping to capitalize on a new law that allows the children and grandchildren of Spaniards who fled their homes during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco to apply for citizenship, El Pais reported Tuesday.

Some 500,000 are eligible for Spanish citizenship, according to Spanish authorities.

Critics of the new law said that it reignited old feelings of hatred for the Franco regime, which ended with his death in 1975.