On May 1, Donald Trump signed a presidential decree imposing a new package of sanctions which notably threaten the activities of foreign companies collaborating with the Cuban state.
The Spanish hotel group Meliá announced on Wednesday the cessation of part of its tourist activities in Cuba “with immediate effect”, due to “the current situation”, at a time when the communist island is under increasing pressure from the United States.
“Faced with the events and circumstances that follow one another in the geopolitical, social, legal and economic context of the Republic of Cuba, Meliá Hotels International informs (…) that it has taken the decision to immediately terminate the provision of management and marketing services” of 15 hotels in Cuba (out of the 34 it owns on the island), the company, which is the largest international hotel operator on this Caribbean island, indicated in a press release.
On May 1, Donald Trump signed a presidential decree imposing a new package of sanctions which notably threaten the activities of foreign companies collaborating with the Cuban state. In its press release, Meliá does not explicitly mention the American administration but explains that its decision “results from a combination of circumstances which occurred independently of the management or action capacity” of the group, “all of which had a significant impact on the operation” of its establishments.
“The impact of this decision is limited to the extent that the vast majority of hotels are currently closed and without activity due to energy problems and the fall in demand experienced by the Republic of Cuba,” the Spanish company further specified.
A maximum deadline set by Washington at Friday
Meliá was the first foreign hotel group to establish itself in Cuba after the late president Fidel Castro opened the country to international tourism in order to emerge from the crisis caused by the fall of the Soviet bloc in 1991. In addition to the American embargo in in force since 1962, Washington has imposed an oil blockade on Cuba since January, having since then authorized the arrival of only one Russian tanker.
Washington has set this Friday as the maximum deadline granted to foreign companies present on the island to sever their ties with the military-economic conglomerate Gaesa, which controls a large part of Cuba’s economy, under penalty of restrictive measures. In this context, the Canadian hotel chain Blue Diamond announced on Monday the cessation of all of its tourist activities in Cuba. Then, on Tuesday, AFP learned from several sources close to the matter that the Spanish group Iberostar was abandoning the management of around ten hotels that it administered in partnership with Gaesa.
