Marcos Cabrera Coronel can trace his Jewish ancestry back to the 15th century, when Spain expelled tens of thousands of Sephardic Jews.
By VOA News – Graham?Keeley
Sep 01, 2021
So, after Spain announced in 2015 it wanted to atone for the expulsion of Jews in 1492 by offering Spanish citizenship to those who could prove their links to Spain, Cabrera wanted to take advantage of this opportunity.
Like thousands of others in developing countries, this Venezuelan businessman sought to escape political and economic strife at home and forge a new life for his family in the European Union.
He spent $63,500 to try to get Spanish passports for nine Venezuelan family members and after securing certificates from three Jewish organizations vouching for his links to Spain.
However, four of the nine applications were refused in March.
“I was devastated. We had spent our family savings. We wanted to do this to give my family a better chance in life than they can expect in Venezuela,” the 66-year-old businessman from Valencia, in Venezuela, told VOA.
He is among more than 3,000 Jewish applicants who have been refused nationality by the Spanish government this year, prompting to accusations of antisemitism by lawyers and activists who say there is no reason why Jewish applicants should be turned down.
The matter has prompted Teresa Leger Fernandez, a Democrat from state of New México in the U.S. House of Representatives to raise the matter with the White House.
In Spain, politicians from the conservative People’s Party to Jon Iñarritu of the Basque nationalist Bildu party have demanded answers from the Spanish government over the refusal of so many Jewish people.
The Spanish government denies the claim of antisemitism, as does the Spanish Federation of Jewish Communities and other lawyers involved in aiding applicants.
Ancient and modern history
In 1492, King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile ended Muslim rule in Spain and ordered the expulsion of Jews and Muslims.
Thousands converted to Christianity while many thousands more left the Iberian peninsula to live around the world.
Under the 2015 law, applicants had to show some proof of their Sephardic ancestry.
For Jewish people this could be shown through a genealogical report documenting their family history.
For so-called conversos – those whose family had been forced to convert to Catholicism – this could be shown through practices that were passed through generations.
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