Spanish Passport “grandchild law” sees Havana consulate overwhelmed

Thousands of Cuban descendants of Spaniards flock to claim citizenship

In the seven months since it went into effect, over 165,000 Cubans have flooded the Spanish consulate in Havana to try to benefit from a law granting nationality to anyone who can prove that one of their grandparents was a Spaniard.

Referred to as the “grandchild law,” this item of the Historical Memory Law also extends to other Latin American countries such as Argentina, although the impact there has been much smaller, with only 10,000 applicants in a country of 40 million people.

For Cuba’s 11 million inhabitants, the law means a chance to travel and to start life afresh.

From December 29 of last year until July 15, 2009, the Spanish consulate received over 24,000 complete dossiers and approved 8,000 of them.

“At the rate we’re going, in two years we could see 100,000 approved cases,” said a consulate source, adding that 50,000 more people could benefit from a oneyear extension to the application deadline. That is still well below the estimated 250,000 figure that was forecast before the law went into effect.

Much of it depends on the speed at which Cuban registries

extend the various documents requested by the Spanish consulate, and so far the turnaround has been slow. For instance, applicants often have to wait five months or more for a document showing that their relative remained

Spanish or was never nationalized as Cuban.

Bureaucratic avalanche

The avalanche of requests for proof of citizenship, marital status and so on has flooded Cuban registration offices to the point that the government complained to Madrid about it earlier this year.

It is no secret that Havana authorities are not happy about the “grandchild law,” and in fact there are no Communist Party members among the applicants.

Of the applicants, only two percent are grandchildren of political exiles, while the vast majority are simply descendants of Spaniards who did not lose their nationality before having their children.

In an effort to ease the bottleneck, in April the Spanish secretary general for consular and migratory affairs, Javier Elorza, traveled to Cuba and resolved that Spain would be more flexible about certain documents and more liberal with deadlines.

Despite the bureaucratic hurdles, the economic and political conditions in Cuba seem to suggest that the Spanish nationality offered by the Historical Memory Law will continue to be a coveted prize here.

Spaniards seek some relief from the dog days of summer

Many head for beaches as temperatures soar; even politicians escape the grind

In Spain, August traditionally means vacation season and this year, despite the economic crisis, is not much different. Hundreds of thousands of Spaniards have packed up and headed for somewhere cool, relaxed, empty, crowded, or covered in sand, depending on their preference.
The beach remains a clear favorite for holidaymakers. Bathing and topping up he tan are obviously among the priorities for those who flock to the coast, but there are other attractions too. Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Cádiz, on the Andalusian coast, holds a thrilling horse race along its beachfront every year, with hooves splashing through the salty mudflats as locals and tourists look on. Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has been spending part of his summer vacation in Sanlúcar and will also be in Lanzarote, in the Canary Islands. During the depths of summer most political activity comes to a grinding halt — opposition leader Mariano Rajoy of the Popular Party, meanwhile, is spending the summer in his native Galicia, as well as the Canary Islands.
Not so long ago, the holiday season was confined to August alone, with most Spaniards downing tools on the last weekend of July, and returning to work at the end of August. In recent years, however, July has become increasingly popular for holidaymakers, meaning cities such as Madrid are near deserted for two months each year
Summer in Spain would not be the same, however, without some infernal heat and this year has not disappointed. The mercury has been well over 30º Celsius in many parts of the country in recent weeks, pushing over 40º in parts of inland Andalusia. When it gets very hot in the dog days of August, remember to avoid the sun, stay indoors and drink plenty of water— or just head for the beach

 The Guardian, Friday 24 April 2009

Quick reads … The Espresso Book Machine. Photograph: David Parry/PA

It’s not elegant and it’s not sexy – it looks like a large photocopier – but the Espresso Book Machine is being billed as the biggest change for the literary world since Gutenberg invented the printing press more than 500 years ago and made the mass production of books possible. Launching today at Blackwell’s Charing Cross Road branch in London, the machine prints and binds books on demand in five minutes, while customers wait.

Signalling the end, says Blackwell, to the frustration of being told by a bookseller that a title is out of print, or not in stock, the Espresso offers access to almost half a million books, from a facsimile of Lewis Carroll’s original manuscript for Alice in Wonderland to Mrs Beeton’s Book of Needlework. Blackwell hopes to increase this to over a million titles by the end of the summer – the equivalent of 23.6 miles of shelf space, or over 50 bookshops rolled into one. The majority of these books are currently out-of-copyright works, but Blackwell is working with publishers throughout the UK to increase access to in-copyright writings, and says the response has been overwhelmingly positive.

“This could change bookselling fundamentally,” said Blackwell chief executive Andrew Hutchings. “It’s giving the chance for smaller locations, independent booksellers, to have the opportunity to truly compete with big stock-holding shops and Amazon … I like to think of it as the revitalisation of the local bookshop industry. If you could walk into a local bookshop and have access to one million titles, that’s pretty compelling.”

From academics keen to purchase reproductions of rare manuscripts to wannabe novelists after a copy of their self-published novels, Blackwell believes the Espresso – a Time magazine “invention of the year” – can cater to a wide range of needs, and will be monitoring customer usage closely over the next few months as it looks to pin down pricing (likely to be around the level of traditional books) and demand. It then hopes to roll it out across its 60-store network, with its flagship Oxford branch likely to be an early recipient as well as a host of smaller, campus-based shops.

The brainchild of American publisher Jason Epstein, the Espresso was a star attraction at the London Book Fair this week, where it was on display to interested publishers. Hordes were present to watch it click and whirr into action, printing over 100 pages a minute, clamping them into place, then binding, guillotining and spitting out the (warm as toast) finished article. The quality of the paperback was beyond dispute: the text clear, unsmudged and justified, the paper thick, the jacket smart, if initially a little tacky to the touch.

Described as an “ATM for books” by its US proprietor On Demand Books, Espresso machines have already been established in the US, Canada and Australia, and in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt, but the Charing Cross Road machine is the first to be set up in a UK bookstore. It cost Blackwell some $175,000, but the bookseller believes it will make this back in a year. “I do think this is going to change the book business,” said Phill Jamieson, Blackwell head of marketing. “It has the potential to be the biggest change since Gutenberg and we certainly hope it will be. And it’s not just for us – it gives the ability to small independent bookshops to compete with anybody.”

The Spanish novelist Juan Marsé has won the Cervantes Prize, the leading literary award for works in Spanish. Many of his books use social realism to depict the poverty and the marginalization of society under the dictatorship of Franco. One, “Si Te Dicen Que Caí” (“If They Tell You I Fell”), was published in Mexico because of censorship during Franco’s rule. The prize, worth £125,000 or about $160,000 and awarded by Spain’s Culture Ministry, will be given to Marsé on April 23, in recognition of the anniversary of the death of Cervantes (1547-1616), the author of “Don Quixote” and Spain’s greatest literary figure.

When this 12-year-old talks, preschoolers around the world may be listening. Caitlin Sanchez of New Jersey is the new English- and Spanish-language voice of “Dora the Explorer,” one of the world’s most popular cartoons for preschoolers. It’s the first cast change in Dora’s voice since the Nickelodeon cable show debuted in 2000 (the original voice of Dora, Kathleen Herles, is now 17 and in college). The show is broadcast worldwide and translated in 24 languages, entertaining millions of preschoolers.

http://www.iht.com/bin/listen.php

GENEVA: A $23 million ceiling painting featuring hundreds of dangling icicle shapes that has been criticized for its hefty price tag was unveiled Tuesday at the U.N. offices in Geneva.

The 16,000-square-foot (1,500-square-meter) elliptical dome full of bright colors and torn aluminum took over a year to produce and it will grace the Human Rights and Alliance of Civilizations Room at the European headquarters of the United Nations.

Spanish abstract artist Miquel Barcelo used more than 100 tons of paint with pigments from all over the world, and worked with architects, engineers and even particle physics laboratories to develop the extra-strength aluminum for the dome.

“On a day of immense heat in the middle of the Sahel desert, I recall with vivacity the mirage of an image of the world dripping toward the sky,” Barcelo says. “Trees, dunes, donkeys, multicolored beings flowing drop by drop.”

The Spanish Foreign Ministry says the government is funding 40 percent of the costs, with the rest footed by private-sector donors. Of the public money, 500,000 euros (US$633,000) comes from a budget for overseas development aid and international organizations like the United Nations.

Spain’s conservative opposition Popular Party complained that this means money was diverted from projects to alleviate poverty and boost health care in poorer countries, but the ministry insists the funding for Barcelo’s work was separate.

The dispute reached Parliament last week, with Popular Party lawmaker Gonzalo Robles asking “how many thousands of children could have been looked after” with the money spent on the artwork. The ruling Socialists accused him of twisting the facts.

A Tuesday news conference with Barcelo and Spain’s foreign minister was canceled in Geneva. The government also has not said how much it paid the artist for the commission.

The Spanish mission in Geneva declined to comment.

At a ceremony with Spain’s King Juan Carlos, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon thanked Barcelo for putting his “unique talents to work in service of the world.”

“The artwork you have created for this room is innovative and radiant,” the secretary-general said. “I have no doubt that people will come to see it whether they have business here or not.”

Woody Allen’s new film set to attract US tourists to Barcelona

With his reedy voice and trademark shyness, Woody Allen presented his latest movie on Saturday, thus giving it its premiere in the city in which it was shot. “I wanted to portray an exotic, romantic location,” the veteran director said of Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

“One that is stimulating for the imagination of American tourists who arrive in the city for their vacation. A place with charisma— and theMediterranean.”

The 72-year-old went on to say that he is an urbanite whose natural habitat is New York, and that he was not trying to uncover the Catalan capital for its own residents. Rather, he was using the city as a backdrop for a crazy summer, as enjoyed by two young girls from the other side of the Atlantic. The film is going down well so far in the States, something that many are saying will give rise to a huge influx of American tourists to Barcelona.

According to Allen, “the city is currently exploding worldwide, just like Paris did some years ago.”

For the first residents of Barcelona to see the film, the portrayal of the city is little more than a postcard version — plenty of shots of the majestic Sagrada Familia basilica, the terrace roof of Gaudí’s La Casa Milà building, and the vibrant colors of La Rambla. Even an alleyway of the Raval neighbourhood, usually home to prostitutes, has a certain poetry through Allen’s lens.

Catalan identity

In the movie, Scarlett Johansson plays the bubblier of the two tourists. Rebecca Hall acts as a counterpoint, playing an apparently more down-to-earth character who is just about to get married, and is working on a thesis called “Catalan identity.” That is one of the few references to local culture that the film includes. “The difference [with Spanish culture] is well known outside of here, and I decided that one of my characters should be studying this particular aspect as if she were going to present it as an intellectual theme,” the director said of the plot point.

One of the strongest elements of the film is its cast, which has given rise to plenty of talk of several Best Supporting Actress prizes for Penélope Cruz. “When Woody Allen calls you up, you can only answer, ‘When and where?’” said her co-star Javier Bardem, who was also with Allen at the film’s presentation in Barcelona.

The Oscar-winning star went on to thank the director for having come up with such great scenes, including one in particular where he gets to suggest an erotic weekend in his bedroom to the two girls without ending up with a slap in the face. “I dedicate my life to finding people with huge talent,” Allen said, “and then I give them complete freedom to do what they want, and sit back and take all the credit.”

Barcelona, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2008

FERMÍN ROBLES

El País

Can you find a causative structure in Mr Bardem’s speech ?

Let me know ;>)

Bardem on back foot after ‘NYT’ interview

Oscar-winning actor Javier Bardem went into damage-limitation mode yesterday in an attempt to rectify what he says are “erroneous” claims that he insulted the Spanish in an interview with The New York Times. Bardem was quoted as saying that the Spanish public accuses him of having “sold out,” something that makes him want to say: “Stop it —you’re a bunch of stupid people.” Widespread negative reporting of his comments saw him release a statement yesterday saying that he had “never insulted the Spanish people” and that the misunderstanding came from “an erroneous interpretation of my statements.”

         Bardem went on to say that he was referring to a small group of people who “constantly attacked my work” and that he felt “respect and gratitude to the great majority of my countrymen    www.elpais.com     SEPTEMBER  11, 2008

IDIOM:

on the back foot

1. forced into a defensive posture

Dear  bloggers,

I’ll be pleased to mail further chapters to those interested. Please apply either on the blog or my.teacher.online@hotmail.com

Warm wishes

R.

http://www.bygosh.com/AIW/TOC/AIWTOC.htm

but I have a piece of advice for you.

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