93-year-old Mexican granted Spanish citizenship through great-grandfather born in 1821

Spanish citizenship was granted on 14 May 2025 to a 93-year-old Mexican who only proved a great-grandfather born in Burgos in 1821, a case not covered by the grandchildren law. The file contains an internal warning: «Careful, he is not entitled!».

Spanish citizenship was granted on **14 May 2025** to a **93-year-old** Mexican citizen whose only documented Spanish ancestor was a great-grandfather born in Burgos in **1821**. The applicant's parents and grandparents were all born in Mexico. The law used as the basis, the eighth additional provision of the Democratic Memory Law —known as the grandchildren law— covers children and grandchildren of exiles, and makes no mention of great-grandchildren in any case.

The file, processed at the Consulate of Spain in Mexico, contains a note from an office worker: a sticky note on the documentation reading «Careful, he is not entitled! Cancel shortly». According to consular sources, that official was told that the grant responded to «an order from the ambassador», **Juan Duarte**. The newspaper that published the case tried to contact the ambassador without receiving a reply.

## A great-grandfather born before the Civil War

Felipe Salvador Ruiz de Velasco was born in Mexico in **1933**. His parents, Felipe and María Luz, were born on Mexican territory in **1902** and **1905**. His paternal grandfather, Felipe Ruiz de Velasco, was also born in Mexico in **1857**. The Spanish ancestor invoked was Tomás Ruiz de Velasco Saínz de Baranda, born in Burgos in **1821** and died in Mexico in **1889**.

To prove the link, the applicant submitted Mexican church records, including a baptismal certificate dated **19 October 1862** for a brother of his grandfather. The certificate identifies the baptized child's father as Tomás Ruiz de Velasco, a native of Spain, and the mother as Teófila Leiva y de Carreto, a native of Chilpancingo. In other words, the document proves that the great-grandfather was Spanish, not that the applicant is the son or grandson of a Spaniard.

The chronology matters. Tomás Ruiz de Velasco died in **1889**, almost half a century before the outbreak of the Civil War in 1936. He could not have gone into exile for political reasons nor suffered reprisals from the dictatorship of Francisco Franco.

## The October 2022 instruction and its interpretation

The legal basis for these files lies in the instruction of **25 October 2022**, signed by **Sofía Puente Santiago**, then director general of Legal Security and Public Faith at the Ministry of Justice. The eighth additional provision of Law 20/2022 recognizes the right of option to certain descendants of parents or grandparents originally Spanish who had lost or renounced citizenship because of exile.

Puente's instruction separated two cases within the same legal paragraph: those born outside Spain to a father, mother, grandfather or grandmother originally Spanish, on the one hand, and descendants of Spaniards who lost citizenship through exile, on the other. The practical effect is that certain children and grandchildren can obtain citizenship without proving political persecution of their ancestors.

The instruction also established a presumption of exile for Spaniards who left Spain between **18 July 1936** and **31 December 1955**, provided the departure was documented. That presumption does not fit here either: the great-grandfather had died in Mexico in 1889.

## The loophole and the census figures

The case is not isolated. Another file published by the same outlet concerns a Mexican born on **7 October 1944** in Mexico City who obtained citizenship on **9 June 2023**, a month and a half before the general election of 23 July. His parents had been born in Mexico in **1913** and **1918**, and the file did not contain sufficient certificates to prove the original citizenship of the grandfather invoked.

According to official figures provided by the Government to the Supreme Court, since the Democratic Memory Law came into force around **2.4 million citizenship applications** have been submitted at Spanish consulates. The Executive has identified some **163,000 people** naturalized within the scope of the judicial measures relating to the right to vote. Consular sources consulted by the newspaper describe that figure as «absolutely ridiculous» and maintain that more than **90%** of the effective naturalizations in the consular jurisdiction of Mexico would have relied on the criteria of the October 2022 instruction.

The Supreme Court has precautionarily suspended the effects of Sofía Puente's directive, though not the processing of the files. Moncloa has activated the Ombudsman, **Ángel Gabilondo**, to file an amparo appeal with interim measures before the Constitutional Court, chaired by **Cándido Conde-Pumpido**. In legal circles it is openly described as a blow to the cleanliness of democratic elections.

It is worth recalling that the grant of citizenship is an administrative act subject to judicial review and that the precautionary suspension of an instruction does not by itself annul the decisions already issued. Any assessment of the legality of a specific file requires analysis of the complete file and, where appropriate, the opinion of a specialized lawyer.