Spain’s new citizenship law for Franco exiles offers hope in Latin America

Consulates inundated with inquiries, with 700,000 descendants thought to be entitled to fast-track nationality

Once Spaniards looked across el charco (the pond) for refuge. Now traffic is expected to go the other way after Spain passed a law granting citizenship to the grandchildren of people exiled under the Franco dictatorship.

Lawyers and consulates in central and South America say they have been inundated with inquiries after the passing of the Democratic Memory law, which seeks to settle Spanish democracy's debt to its past". It is estimated that as many as 700,000 people could be eligible for citizenship under the law, which passed the upper house of parliament on 5 October and came into effect on 21 October.